Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Had a few issues with rain at the end of last week go figure..
The sump over flowed 3 times over 24 hours & I have no real idea on how many litres were lost all up..




Although all that water went to waste I still have a massive issue (off the chart) with the nitrates & am concerned about the fish's health.. Will be going out to buy seedlings tomorrow as well as changing out 500L over 2 days to see if that helps..
Also looking at adding a solids filter in this weekend.. Thinking about making a radial flow out of a large drum but not 100% sure yet...

Update clip coming in the next day or so with one of the fixes you suggested Charlie

Hi Rob glad you came through ok, I have to replace nearly all my plants as well and yet to do a test.

Be glad to hear how you go over the next week, cheers

Nitrates still high so I figured that if replace another 500L it might lower the level a bit.. I know someone posted that they can take a fair amount of "Ates" but really don't want to take the risk on losing the fish.. Also planted out a load of more seed & a few different lettuce mixes to help soak them up..
Another problem I think we have been having is that 2 of the bell siphons just are not breaking fast enough.. I think it is impacting the growth in these beds as they just don't appear to be growing as well as the other 2 as they are acting like a shallow constant flow bed..
There are 2 reasons I think they are not breaking properly, 1 is that the grow beds have settled & lowered the angle of the drain pipe & the 2nd is that the 2 pipes in question being rather long so the air is having problems returning back up the pipe to help facilitate the break..
Found an easy fix on here or another forum (can't for the life of me find the page & lost the bookmark)
All I did was install as riser in the drain pipe..

This allows air to have another point of access into the bell to help break the siphon.. This has worked very well & hasn't missed a beat since..

Also fixed the flow rate & water tracking issue in the constant flow bed, Thanks Charlie The constant flow barrel is now fed through a surrounding pipe & looks to have picked up already Also ordered a 3500LPH pump from Guppys aquarium so that will allow me to increase the flow to the beds as well as add a radial flow filter into the system..

Here is an update clip I did on the 30th if you feel like a gander..




Have a good one all...

You seem to have a lot of fish in there and maybe this is pushing up the nitrates. I would start eating a few even if they are small
Another great clip Bob thanks

There are only 30 Jades & 14 goldies in there.. The system hold between 16-1800L Mantis.. You think that is too many fish ??

I would stick with the fish, they can handle up in the mid 200 I have been told. Check what you have on the bottom of your tank and just pull back a bit of feed to see what happens. My rates are in the high 100 at the moment but just about to do a vacum of the tank to see what I pull up.

How many litres of growbed do you have.
It looked like more fish than 30, my mistake

There is about 1000L of media in the grow beds all up so think they would take about roughly 300L of water in all when full..


The bottoms of the tanks are clean Bear but have had solids clog some of the pipe work so am looking to add the filter to remove as much as I can... I sort of figured that removing solids might help reduce the "Ates" levels..


Thanks for the help guys

400/500 litres might be a better number, I put 40/50% of volume as water.

Thanks for the update Rob, the CF bed looks much healthier

And man those fishies are growing fast!!

Made up a radial flow filter for fun as well as for hopefully levelling off the nitrate levels.. I have been told the fish can handle a lot but thought I would add this in as a precaution.. Don't think the soil garden will mind any waste they get.. Will also come in handy hen we add the extra tanks & fish methinks




Was a really easy build & am happy with the way it is working at the moment..

Also did an update clip this week..




Have had the water turn murky last Friday & again today for no reason that I can see... The floor of the tank is nearly always clean as far as we can tell... Is it possible that the fish can get the "trots" & fowl up the tank over a short period of time ???

Went out & bought a 3500lph air pump as well... Bit of a beast but should come in handy in the re build..

Enjoyed the update! Everything looks like it's growing great and the filter looks to be working well

System is going crazy Rob! Looks fantastic. Now thats what AP is all about. Im very jealous of your most beautiful system.

Glad the CF bed has picked up too my friend... Id say we nailed it

Growth is looking bloomin marvelous indeed!

You are not wrong charlie, that system is a beaut.

I would say thanks but the fish & bacteria deserve all the praise..