Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am not going to lie to you mate, its just chelated iron

Ill check when i get home, but from memory its a yellowy coloured powder.

hehe yeah I would have said the same thing 2 weeks ago but got to reading a thread on here about Iron and how useable it is at different pH levels
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17117&p=403415#p403415
and also from this site:
http://verticalfoodblog.com/iron-in-aquaponics/
If you have the EDTA type then that is apparently not so good as it can only be absorbed at below pH 6.3 - 6.4... thats what I was using and it was a yellow colour too.

Hey Tom, Your system just keeps getting better!
mine has finally come right although still suffering from a ph above 8 the plant growth has been fantastic in the month+ since i added a broken brick top layer to my growbed.
Just wishing there was something I could do about my ph, I have found that messing with it just makes the issue worse and am having better results just leaving it to do its thing, although i cant help worrying about lockout due to the ph but hey I suppose in time it will come right.

Thanks Rob,

Maybe you could use a foliar spray with iron and other nutrients since the plants can take up nutrients from the leaves as well as roots? Iron would be one of the main nutrients getting locked out if you pH remains higher than 8 for a while. But a lot of fish actually prefer a higher pH and can handle great variations.

So i have been away fro 5 weeks and havnt seen the system at all... the neighbour was feeding the fish and no maintenance was needed, except for needing about 400 litres added to the sump when i got back.

There was certainly a lot of growth, I have taken some photos.. it will need a bit of a trim..especially the tomato plants which have gone nuts.

Kudos on building a system with low maintenance needs.

Thanks, when I get the solar system going for it and the auto top up for the water then it will be perfect (for me)

So for a while now I have been talking about adding an auto top up tank to my AP system but now I have actually got off my butt and almost finished it.

So I have built a stand to support 2 x 200 litre drums and they will be connected to each other and then I will run a hose to the float valve in the sump.

So far I have built the stand and placed it level and placed the tanks on top with added taps. I still need to concrete the legs for the stand and setup hoses and float valve..

Hi tom, great looking system mate, you're was not only the first system i looked at on this site, but also the one i find myself coming back to most often!!

Truly inspirational, and perfectly sized.. Keep up the good work!

Thanks Noddy,

Always great to hear that people enjoy what I'm doing.. I get most of my ideas from this forum or elsewhere on the net so it always feels good to share!

What cant we do with blue barrels?

work of art - and the view - monet

So I have finally finished the auto top up barrels.. I originally bought some taps that worked very poorly in the blue barrels (probably because the surface of the barrel is curved) but I got some quality ones finally and added some silicone too for good measure.

Each barrel has a ball valve that can be turned off in case they need to be isolated.

I used some polycarbonate sheeting to hold the float valve in place because I didnt feel like drilling a permanent hole through the IBC (Just another possible leaking place!)

Lately I have had an increase in fish suicides (so far probably about 7 out of 50 dish) They either jumped right out on the ground or got stuck on top of the shade cloth that partially covered the top..
Sooo that wasnt working as a solution and I didnt want to make a permanent lid of some kind because of all the pipes and hoses in the way and because the fish tank is in a small space and lifting the lid would be difficult.

My solution was to make 1 foot walls which seemed like a lot of work until I realised the bottom of an old IBC skin sits perfectly on the top of my IBC fish tank.. I have held it in place with those removable zip ties which makes it easy to take of if needed and cut a section at the front which can be slid of for better access... although I dont need to slide it off to feed the fish as I can see over it when I stand on the milk crate stool I use... anyways here are the pictures.

Simply solution, well done. Certainly looking god Tom. Cheers