Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi,
I am new to this and have been setting up a system over the past few months. Finally had the IBC's in place and with rain on the way decided to fill them up from my rain tank last week. We were away over the weekend and the water has turned a greenish color and has evidence of algae. Was planning to add the gravel to the beds this weekend, top up the system and start cycling. Not sure wether I should dump the water and refill?, with all the rain last week my tank is full again, but seems a waste to dump all that water. But will it hurt the fish I am planning to add, was thinking of gold fish to get started and moving to Silver Perch once everything has settled. I have 2 x 1000 liter IBC's as fish tanks.

I have set up a flood and drain system and was wondering if there was any benifit to the algae in the water in the form of organics to get the beds started?

Thanks Alastair

Gold fish should eat it, ensure you block the light out of your tank. Light encourages algae growth. Paint or wrap some insulation around the IBC and cover the top

Thanks

Thanks for the advice. The tanks are now wrapped and the gold fish have taken care of the algae. I am up in the Dandenongs outside Melbourne. At the moment I have the 2 x 1000 litre IBC's as fish tanks inside the greenhouse as well as 6 ibc grow beds with scoria ( I haven't filled 2 of the beds with scoria yet only due to time but they are plumbed in). I have around 1600 litres of sump outside also wrapped and covered.

The gold fish seem pretty happy so far and I am now thinking of adding some edible fish, my first thought is Silver Perch. My big issue I need to overcome I believe is water temperature. In the winter months the sun drops below the tree line and we have limited thermal energy in summer we get full sun. The greenhouse is working well and will definitely extend our growing season. The highest temp the water has hit is 22 degrees C so far. So unless we get sustained 30 degree plus weather I can't see the water temp exceeding 32-35 degrees in summer but in winter may be lucky to maintain 10 degrees.

So far the nitrafication cycle hasn't started we have a few plants in and we are seeing growth, following advice on the forum I have added seasol. Still very lightly planted.

Will Silver Perch be my best solution long term? Ultimately I am hoping to grow trout through winter with a population of perch through summer. I believe I will have to stock lightly due to limited plant growth through the cooler months due to the lack of sun. I don't really want to heat water if I can help it.

Thoughts on fish type and stocking levels would be appreciated. Once I have enough posts I will add some pictures.

Is there anyone else in the Dandenongs

Cheers Al

Al, I am in spotswood and have 150 silver perch. Slow growers. Rainbow trout are good to 18c and down really low temp. You could use goldfish as the base level then trout in winter. Perch will take 18 months minimum unless you can feed perfectly each day.

I have had trout in through winter and we have been harvesting. Water still below 15 degrees but will need to keep an eye on it. So far we have had 6 trout out of the system biggest being around 600 grams. Will be harvesting a few more tomorrow.

I am hoping to give silvers a go again through summer. I plan to add 20 as soon as I can get them. The plants are going really well right now and we are picking continually. In the greenhouse I have all the usual greens and have started tomatoes etc.

My tank is glass so algae is an issue because it gets a lot of sunlight coming through. I have one big gibbyceps catfish in my tank and it does an excellent job of controlling the algae by constantly rasping it from the tank walls. They're a peaceful fish and it gets along just fine with my perch. They're a tropical species originally from South America so your water will need to be at least 22c.

You might get away with running trout all year round

Yes, gibbiceps catfish is a good idea, I also have this fish and it works for algae.

Welcome to the forum JW

Thank you