Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

ok update time

original system is going along, put a shadehouse over the top of it, plants seem to be happier now although the celery has gone a bit longer. Also getting hammered by aphids on the celery at the moment so will need to look at a control.

2nd system is progressing, just hooked up the sumps yesterday, the ibcs are cut and frames..

So I have the following to do on the 2nd system

- setup standpipes
- fill with 20mm peagravel
- finish off piping from FT to GB's
- get a pump!


For a pump Im thinking about 3000L/h pump should be fine as I wont have that much water in play but close too, only thing is the head is about 2m. What pump would be suitable? would prefer a lower watt pump if possible.

Once I have the pump sorted i'll contact troutman for some rainbows, I should have most of the system setup by the weekend with gravel hopefully done on the weekend.

Old system update

New system is coming along, nearly ready!

top work roo

the best thing I have worked out with the afids is to just hit them with the hose, I havnt had much luck with chilli sprays etc.

The hose is quick and easy.

update yet again

So my 2nd system is just about ready to go, have a few aesthetics to do like cover the grow beds/sumps in shadecloth but the basics are tehre. Used 18mm pea gravel, 2.5 trailers worth of it, one bed is about 80mm or so lower then I would of wanted, need maybe 100mm more gravel in it really.

Anyway was hoping to have my pump this week, hasnt turned up yet!

The 3 beds are set as follows

1. 40mm stand pipe, constant flooded. Yeah 40mm is a bit excessive but at the time I could only get a 40mm tank inlet.

2. 25mm stand pipe with a bell siphon, used a 65mm bell siphon over it and the stand pipe goes from 25mm to 32mm up the top, I coudlnt get a 25-32mm adapter so I had to use a 25mm and 32mm joiner and they fit in each other nicely. There is a nice gap between stand pipe and bell siphon now, I did use 40 mm int eh standpipe but it was too wide.

3. Setup the same as number 2.

Tested both autosiphons and they work like a charm, tho I only filled them both once, will see how they go when the pump turns up.

Few things I learnt about building this system recently

1. Dont drill holes in the stand pipe shroud, they are 100mm gravel guards and the holes are too high, i had to sand back the holes as they cut my hands to shreds
2. use 150mm gravel guards, i have big hands and they dont fit down 100mm!

update

not very impressed with the reef onlines delivery time for the pump, they only marked ti for shipping on Tuesday, a week after I ordered it!

Auspost tracking isnt saying much other then its ready for pickup from their end

argh!!!

Well pump was finally delivered yesterday, quick trip to bunnings for the pipe and the system is now running, 2 siphons working well, I was a bit concerned aobut the sump size, thinking it would not be enough but its fine.

Just have to wait for the water to clear, there was a bit of algae growing in the tank which had fallen and settled but topping the system up made it get very stirred up, so hopefully it will settle by the weekend.

Hoping to get trout from Troutman next week, 45 of the suckers

tested yesterday

Old system

PH - 7.2
Amm - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 100+

New system


PH - 7.6 - treated with a drop of acid, I want the PH lower then 7 ideally.
Amm - 0
Nitrite - .25
Nitrate - 40+ although when I checked it 20 min later it was rather red.. so could be higher.

Hopefully as I had the tank cycling before turning on the beds I will get a quicker cycle time. I dosed with urine a few days earlier so Im guessing thats the nitrite reading.

The old system suggests you could add more plants...

Yeah i have done roo, going to add more soon once i get some seedlings on weekend

Update.. last night doing some alterations to the system... I turned the pump off to clean the cover.. and this is where I discovered a bit of a flaw in my system.

Disconnecting the pump hose from the pump it created a siphon from inside the fish tank and it started draining the tank back into my sump. Lost about 100l of water. Needless to say I have made the inlet into the fish tank now sit right at the top of the water rather then just hanging inside and down!

Trout should be in right now hopefully, Troutman was delivering 45 of them this morning.

Water is a bit green, ive had the fishtank covered in shadecloth but I think the sumps are not helping as they are getting light. I have had chux cloths on the GB inlets from the SLO collecting stuff, should clear up soon (I hope)

Ok an update

Trout are in, fed that arvo although they are shy

Covered the fish tank with some weedmat on top to cut out more light so I can clear the tank.

Tested water and results are as follows

PH 6.6
AMM 2
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 80

Added a touch of acid to drop the PH down a bit, to give me a bit more leeway for the ammonia, will keep testing to keep an eye on the nitrite level, I added another airstone from my air pump to it, it now has 5 of the 6 stones in there.

Added a couple of golides to the sump tank, just for the kids, and 3 guppies.. oh and 3 plastic floating ducks for the kids too lol.

Tested 24 hours later with the results

PH 6.6
AMM 1
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate - did not test

Hopefully my plants start sucking up some of that nitrate, beds have got lots of small plants in there, eg seedlings.

update time

Trout are going good, they have more then doubled their size

Plants are so so, no outstanding growth(nitrate is ~80 last test) but that may be due to the time of year. Broccoli is starting to go well.

One thing I have found is the SLO pipe cleans the tank awesome but I am getting some solids buildup in the pipe going to the GB's. Easiest fix for that is to pull the reducers off the last 2 beds and let it drain out all that fish poo goodness into the beds. Worms will be loving it.

your right - good work. AP systems arent maintenance free... I regularly remove my supply pipes and hose them out, clean the pumps and drain my CF beds right down, turn my media guards, clean the air stones etc etc.

Being a mechanic I treat my system like a car or truck or whatever you like... regular maintenance is a good thing and a nice way to spend a sunday arvo with a cold beer.