Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I installed some seed trays on the 4th and yesterday evening I noticed the first seedlings emerging after just 5 days.

2 of the marigold which will be companion plants for the tomatoes and some radish.

Thanks Myst, will give Finlays a visit.

So, some more seedlings are now visible, 1 off 1 planted Melon seed, 2 off 4 cherry tomato seeds in addition to the 2 marigolds and 2 radish cherry globe.

The cherry tomatoes have the first small tomatoes hanging on them, its all growing pretty fast, have to make some more pictures soon.

There are now 3 cherabins living in the system, but only until i catch some redclaws. 1 more cherabin is living with the three hospitalized barras in the "barra retreat" keeping the floor clean.

The salinity is now up to 2ppt in the tanks and 10ppt in the "retreat". And the fish looks a little bit better, 2 barras were on their sides in the tank but they are swimming a little bit again and at least resting in a normal position.

Water temp is up to 28.6 degrees celsius now, nearly time to stop heating or i will have slow cooked barra on the bone...

Got another microprocessor gifted today (just a week after i bought a smaller one). That will organise the heating, pump cycles, light control, pump and air stop during feeding, water top up etc. for me.

Hello

Soo, that was the last day with the heater running, nearly hit 30 degrees celsius.

Here some updates on the GBs.

Going well mate, my tank hit 21c today hope it keeps going. Cheers

I see they reckon the dry is over, you will have to get shade up soon.

There is a 65% shade overhead, might extend it a little bit...

Btw. the one of the hospitalized Barras which was swimming with his moth pointing up is now swimming properly mixed with resting on the aquarium floor... i hope that means he is on the way to get better...

Can only hope mate, cheers

Just ordered a backup aerator for the upcoming wet season... Or maybe the main aerator when I get one or two solar panels up.

XL66 - Hailea ACO-003 Air compressor
60L/min. 12v DC Air Pump.

I have the same for my backup system. Has worked fine so far. When we had the power off for 6 days it was working for every 4th hour during the day and then for 12 hours during the night while the generator was of. I Let it run for 1 night every fortnight to check it is working ok.

I have a little bit of a fight with these air stones, even with the SLO the ft level goes up a little bit and because of the difference in the two tanks, the tank with active water pump doesn't get as much air.

I hope the new pump is much higher pressure to solve that problem. On the paper my old pump makes 4000l/h at 0.02mpa and the DC pump 3600l/h at >0.06mpa.

Anyone an idea how many air stones I should use and what size? I got two 300mm air stones and when I add another the air bubble just go through the top one.

The piston pumps require to be worked under load, Gwyd. Approx 10 - 20% as it prolongs life due to the back pressure. If you under load the pump or 'free' run the pump it will rattle itself into a short life. Ive had my Hailea 70l/m for about a year now and is still going strong.

Good air stones are rated in litres per minute. So to give you the 10 - 20% load you need to add stones accordingly. An example would be for a 100l/m piston pump you would use approx 80l/m of air stones, so say 4 x 20l/m or 8 x 10l/m. Ill let you do the math for your circumstance.

Thanks, Charlie. Now i just have to find an online store where it tells me the l/m on the airstones. The shop where i bought the pump didnt have any information and were out of stock on most of the airstones anyway.

Hello, nice setup you have there.

quick question, how much did you pay for your barra fingerlings?

Starting a new system in darwin but I think minimum 50 fish order will be too many for the size of my setup..

cheers

Nice system and thread, bounding along with updates and lots of photos. Cool.

What size system do you have, Fogazi?