Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

After randomly stumbling accross this website and forum a little over 3 weeks ago and getting lost in the discussions/information available, my wife and I decided to jump in and give it a go!

We are by no means keen gardeners, but the science behind it tweaked my interested and the potential of fresh fish and veg got the misses involved.

After much reading and hunting round for a good local source of IBC's, we spent the last 2 weekends putting our system together.

So far, we have:
- 2 IBC's, 1 for a 1000L FT and chopped the other up for 2 GB's one ~250L and one ~300L running flood and drain on a 14/45 minute cycle (Total cost $150)
- XU1 submersible pump - 6000L/H - ($49 from Bunnings)
- Roll of 19mm black pipe and assorted fittings/poly pipe ($100)
- Scoria to fill GBs ($40)
- Arduino driving a 240V relay for the pump timer - (had all the parts already)
- API freshwater test kit ($39 off ebay - yet to arrive)

Total cost to date, ready for plants and fish ( i think?) - $378

Questions I have so far:
- Water has turned a horrible redish colour after adding the scoria. I pre-washed it, but obviously not good enough... I have left it cycling for the last 24 hours and I don't think it has cleared at all. I have read some other posts where poeple suggest just letting it settle out, however I'm tempted to just dump the water and fill it again as it doesn't seem to have changed much in 24 hours or should I leave it longer?

- My pump sits on the bottom of the tank and sucks water up through about a 3cm gap at the bottom... There is nothing stopping the fish from being sucked up unless they are smart enough to stay away... Should I put some form of guard around it to keep the fishies out, or are they quick enough to swim away when they realise they are being sucked in?

- I'm thinking of puttng 25 Silver Perch in. My FT is 100L, but drains down to about 700L when the GBs are full, is this okay or am I overstocking?

- Whats the best way of growing from seeds? Just throw them in the GBs or pre grow them in soil first and then transplant into GB?

- Whats the best way of getting my system going? I've read of peeing in it, getting water from another system or Charlie Carp? Charlie Carp seems to be the most recommended as it is a measured quantity with no unknowns being introduced to the system. How much should I put in for my size FT?

I think thats it for now... I'm sure there will be more as I get further in to it, however to date it has been a fun journey! I've never gutter a fish before, which I put down to my dodgy fishing skills, however I get the feeling I'm gonna have to learn pretty soon

Good to see you have made a start Waymouth and welcome to the forum

Gee you have really got a balancing act there with the bricks. Make sure things are nice and solid.

Your questions..

In regards to water, turn the timer off and run your system CF (constant flow/flooded) then put a bag of pillow material under your GB supply pipes to catch all the silt as it enters your GB's... you should see it clear up within a few days. You may have to change your piping to allow you to do this.


Dont worry about the pump sucking fish in. Sometimes it happens but its not a regular occurrence. You can put a make shift guard around it if you want piece of mind but not many people bother.

Always stock to your filtration volume. We recommend 25 fish per 500L of GB, in your case you have about 300-400L of GB so maybe start with about 15 - 20.

You can sow seeds straight into your GB but with a virgin system I would either buy seedlings or grow your own in a seedling mix to start with till you get a bit of season in your system. Remember to add a cap ful of seasol every couple of days during the first couple of months.


Personally I like the fishless cycle with charlie carp but its quite fine to start out with fish. Just make sure you understand how the nitrification process works.

Hey,

Thanks for the advice. I left the pump running for a few days and the water cleared up but still had a horrible brown tinge to it in the tank.

Turns out it had covered the bottom of the tank in a layer of sludge, so I ended up draining the tank and cleaning it out and refilling it. Figured it was best to do it while the system was new then regret it later.

Once refilled, we dosed with Charlie carp and threw some seeds in. See results in below pics... I'm really happy with the growth and it couldn't have been easier!

The few big ones we just planted today... 2 strawberries and a watermelon.

My water test results on the 23/11 show:

Ph: 8
Ammonia: 0.5
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 0

and today, the 2/12 show:

Ph: 8.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate 10

I'm a little concerned about Ph being so high... should I add anything to bring it down or will it settle over time?

Do you think I'm ready to add fishies now?

Thanks.

I'm getting a heap of long strands of algea growing in my tank... What's the best way to get rid of it? Just fish it out with my hand?

I'm getting a heap of long strands of algea growing in my tank... What's the best way to get rid of it? Just fish it out with my hand?

Long strings of algae are pretty common in a new system. The fix is to reduce direct sunlight, and (as with most things aquaponics) just wait a while. After a few weeks the algae seems to die off and never return.

My system went from pea soup to perfectly clear in the space of a day.

System looks good btw.

Okay, I've added a double layer of shadecloth above my tank to cut out sunlight. Algae has cleared up over the last few days even before adding the shadecloth, so maybe as you say it is just a symptom of a new system.

I am still concerned about my PH being at around 8.4. I've just measued my tap and tank water and they are both about 6.8, so not sure why it's up at 8.4 in the tank.

My growbeds are filled with scoria, so I just put a handfull in a glass of vinigar as I read somehwere else and I see a few bubbles coming off it, but nothing like a glass of softdrink or anything like that.

Does this mean my scoria is turning my water alkaline?

Will it go back to neutral over time or will it continue to leak alkaline until I replace it?

I havnt heard of scoria raising PH significantly so I wouldnt be concerned with your media choice. PH will lower over time as the nitrification process is acidic but you are in an undesired higher PH bracket and will be experiencing some nutrient lock out.

Heres a link that will give you every thread that has the words 'high PH' in the title... believe me this subject has been thrashed. Do some research and if your still not sure on the approach to take stop back in and we will be more than happy to help

search.php?keywords=high+ph&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sk=t&sd=d&sr=topics&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

I would imagine that being so porous, you would see small bubbles escaping com the scoria for some time simply due to the air being trapped, unless you tested some well drenched pieces.

Added 25 Silvers from live fish.com.au on Wednesday.

All arrived fine even though it was 40 degrees for the 3 days they were in transit which I was a little worried about!

Fed them for the first time today and they all came up for floating pellets, which was the first time I'd seen them since putting them in, so good to know they are still alive and havn't been sucked up by my pump

Hope all is still going well. I'm still waiting to take the plunge and was looking at the XU1 pump in store today. Are you happy with its performance?

Hi pelican,

Yes I've had no issues with the pump at all!

It hasn't missed a beat since I put it in. It's a little overkill in terms of flow rate, as it fills my grow beds in about 5 minutes and that's with a t-piece set up to return some of the water direct back to the tank before it even makes it to the grow bed.

It's nice and quiet too which is good.

My biggest worry was that due to it's power it would suck my little fishes in, but they have been smart enough to keep away.

Overall it's been a great experience for me. It started off really good, then we had some issues with plant growth which I believe is because I over planted. Right now things are growing like crazy... In fact I think things are growing too fast as my tomatoes are splitting before they ripen up.

To date we have not really harvested much edible produce from my system which is a bit disappointing, but I put that down to learning.

I have just planted some snow peas from seed straight in to the gravel and they all germinated and are about 5cms tall after 2 weeks, so they are looking promising!

My fishes are doing really well too which I'm sort of surprised about after my track record with goldfish!

Take the plunge and get into it... You won't regret it. My system is very low maintenance. I feed my fish once or twice a day and that is it. Since I set it up I havn't had to change a thing... Only maintenance I've had to do was once pull some roots from my standpipe as they were starting to restrict the flow.

Sorry for the long response to your quick question

Cheers.