Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Whenever I lift the lid on my FT my trout rush over and up to the surface for their food, if I stick my hand into the water with pellets they'll crash into my hand to get to the food well before it drifts away. It's been like that for quite a while and I've had them less than 2 months.

When the ammonia spike happened, that can stress fish out to the point of not eating and they may take a while to recover.

What is the pH?

What type of fish? Cool water will slow many type of fish from eating. Trout being an exception since they are cool water fish.

Heheh, yeah Jay they are getting that way with me now too.

My ammonia and nitrite levels are constantly zero and the fish are feeding well. I'm struggling to get home when its light, so am only feeding in the morning. When the days get longer I should be able to get in a second one. I swear they have grown a few cm's in the last couple weeks.

Lynx - The ph has just dropped to ~7 from 7.4, and I'm stocking trout btw. I think I was just having an old fashioned freak out and just need to let them settle in.

Updates!!!!

You can find automatic feeders for pretty cheap these days. Have you considered putting one in to feed for you in the evenings?

Righto, update then. I've been struggling to keep the pH levels above 6.0. Every few weeks I add half a tablespoon and it comes back to 6.4, so my guess is it's typically in the 6 - 6.4 range.

I've been feeding heavily to grow the fish out before summer which has caused my ammonia to constantly sit around 0.25 and has once or twice spiked to 1.0+. Similarly, my nitrites sit constantly at 0.25 and occasionally spike to ~2.0. It's obvious when the levels are bad, as the fish won't jump enthusiastically for the feed and the water seems to change consistency somehow .. maybe I'm imagining it, but it seems to become almost syrupy...? Nitrates never drop below 80 and are usually around 160.

It's been raining quite a bit in Melbourne and has been generally cold, so my water temps are still max 12 during the day. I expect they will start to come up quick in the next few weeks. I've bought a chest freezer and am considering running a small pump to circulate some water from the tank on hot days.. anyone done this? Maybe I should just freeze some big blocks of water.

Some photos. Rainbow chard and bok choy from a while back:

Jayendra gave me some seedlings which I planted immediately and promptly forgot what they were. I ate their leaves for a long time thinking it was some sort of kale, but they eventually turned bitter when the leaves grew larger. Right before pulling them out I noticed one with a broccoli or cauliflower head and within two weeks I had a bunch of these:

Two harvests for the price of 1.

Replanted most of this bed, with the broadbeans and snow peas still in the back and some kale still growing:


Other bed with a new batch of rainbow chard, pak choy, garlic, a chilli plant, parsley and some carrots:

Those cauliflowers are beauties. We just started eating the romanesco leaves. They work great in stir frys. I wonder if they would make good sour kraut...

Wow that looks fantastic
My guess is that trout particularily in a small system would have that water towards the end spiking - mine sat at .25-.50 alot.

Next time I'm up I'll bring some more seeds and seedlings

Got any ideas for tomatoes?

Been away from my house for the last 2.5 weeks and it seems I have lost maybe 550L of water from my tank. It's mostly shaded and the temperatures haven't been that extreme in Melbourne .. could it be possible I have lost this much due to evaporation, or should I start searching for a leak in the rubber?

I removed all my trout before heading off. The largest was only 450g, and the average was 300g .. so quite small, but I expecting that as I was late adding them and had issues feeding for over a month. Rubbed them in 2pt salt 1pt brown sugar then smoked them the following day .. delicious!

If anyone reads this and is interested in the evaporation query, it is answered here:

http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20172

Hows the system going Torcz

Going well. I have been away for 3 weeks with a friend feeding the fish most days .. they are looking good, but a bit small because he only fed them on small feed. The plants have been attacked by rats I believe, also, the birds are more interested this year and actually use my fake plastic owl as a launch pad into the spinach.

Going to do an overhaul of the garden and get it cranking again.

I've just received a 6x4m plot in an excellent community garden in Collingwood. It's premium soil and just down the road.

How's your system? I'll check out your thread tonight and try to get some shots up this weekend.

Excellent good to hear about the plot. Say hi to your family

Hey Torcz,

Your system looks awesome. Noticed you're in Collingwood. I live up the road and would love to come buy and check out your system some time.

I have a quick question about your standpipe. I see you are running a 40mm standpipe and I'm thinking of doing the same. How's it working for you? All good? I see it is more common to go with 20mm or 25mm. Is there a massive difference with the 40mm?

I'm currently putting together a system and am trying to work out all the plumbing.

My system will be a 500L FT, one 300L GB and a 700L ST. CHIFT PIST.

At the moment, I'm thinking CF or timed flood and drain.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.