Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Macgyver has been busy rigging up the shade tunnel again. I'll have to go do a 'proper job' once he's gone.

just need to trim the cable ties - job done

Hmmm, funny, but that's not what the lady of the house said Apparently there's still some tidying and beautifying left to do.


Was hoping to get some fish this weekend but the nitrite and nitrate readings are off the scale so I'll leave it for now. Water is still dark green as well, even with 90% shade over the tanks. Plants are happy though so I put a few more in

Took a drive down to GP last Monday to get some fish for the system. Ended up with 50 fingerlings and 3 yearlings ( 3 larger ones were an impulse buy... saw them... wanted them ). Brought them home in a 50l esky with the battery backup air from BYAP. They were all ok on arrival but after swapping out half the water ready for transfer there was one casualty.

All the others went into the tank and that was the last I saw of them until yesterday when I was testing the water. At the moment I have 90% shade cloth over the two tanks to try and reduce the algae. Not sure how much it's helping. Water is still dark green, so can't see my fish To test the water I peel back a small area of shade cloth and collect and test the water samples. Yesterday while doing this a fish magically appeared on top of the shade cloth where I was testing. At least one still lives and appears to be chasing insects

btw, I'm currently feeding 20g per day and just for the record...
water tests show zero for all except nitrates which are ~100
Water temp was 20
ph 6.8

Hi all, thought I'd update with some things I've learnt over the last few days of hot weather here in Perth.

1. Complacency is the enemy.

Thought I was well prepared for the warmer spell. Everything shaded, plenty of water splashing about. Water temperature holding around 20C. Only 50 little fish with 7000 litres of water. Water testing at zero ammonia and nitrites and plants taking off. Checked the system Saturday afternoon. Temperature was 32. Bugger!!


2. Shade cloth draped over a tank doesn't cut it on a 40C day in the Perth hills.

Although I went to the effort of shading the tank I neglected to allow any air flow over the water surface and so no cooling evaporation. Removed the shade cloth and topped up the sump tank. Water temp was down to 29 a couple of hours later. Was back down to 26 in the morning and has remained there. Currently remodelling shade for the tanks.

System switched to constant flood

Fish lost to this learning experience 2 fingerlings + 2 yearlings

3. ALL water inlets MUST be fish proof

With the system switched to constant flood the water level slowly rose to the level of the overflow. Somehow some fish managed to find their way into the pipework which made matters worse since the water backed up higher and allowed more fish to enter the pipework.

Fish lost to pipe work 6

4. Salt before fish become stressed.

Now the shade cloth is raised above the tank I can now see the fish MUCH better. I think we have Ich . About to go get some salt

Bring on the cooler weather

With the ich issues Ive seen on the forum lately (from GP) Id go straight for 3ppt, you can get a 20kg bag from bumming for about $10. If Im right usually the warmer water (assuming you have sufficient aeration) should do them good for riding infection. You have switched to CF so your on the right track. Did you get the overfow pipe blocked somehow? A proper grated fitting it best, dont use shade cloth as Ive made that mistake before, it clogs and then you will overflow your tank.

Hi Charlie, thanks for the input. Overflow wasn't blocked. Just didn't have enough of the 12000 lph diverted back the sump it would seem. Now have the divert valve wide open and the dead fish removed from the grow bed feeds. Did find one still alive in there Not sure what I'll use as a grate for the 90mm overflow. I'm sure there'll be something at the green shed. 3ppt it is then.

Keep in mind that your growbeds are the real heat axchangers rather than the fish tank.. Even though they are shaded.

Still your silvers should be able to handle those temps ok...

G'day gwb

Yep, the Perth Hills are harsh in the summer

The trick with shading the system is to have the shade cloth up as high as possible to allow for worthwhile airflow (as you'vew already worked out). Of course you need to rig it well of the frackin' easterlies will destroy it for you.

I'd advise you to stay with constant flood throughout the summer as I find it keeps the system cooler than F&D.

SPs shouldn't have any prob with the temps we've been having, as EB said.

You don't have to go to B to get the salt either - Big Bubble (next to Midland Mowers) also sell it for the same price.

Thanks for those tips. Can use all the help I can get when it comes to my fish. Complete novice I'm afraid. Lost quite a few fish over the last few days. Really don't know why. Can only guess I was a bit slow catching the ich problem. Fish can no longer be seen hanging around the surface near the water inlet, in fact I don't think I've seen one since I salted and the temperature dropped to ~25. I haven't fed them since the weekend. Have salted to ~3ppt. Water temp was 19 this morning. Ammonia and nitrites still at zero. PH was up though, which I thought was strange. Has been at ~6.8 for the last couple of weeks. Was pushing 8 this morning. Water is still dark green with algae.

Good news is I'm doing much better with the plants than the fish.

You're not wrong about those easterlies Chillidude. Had to rework some already reworked shade cloth over the fish tank this morning. Heard it blow over last night.

Also reworked my SLO. Replaced the single vertical pipe with a slotted horizontal pipe running the width of the tank. Found that dead fish were getting stuck with the suction and causing my overflow problems. Didn't plan for dead fish floating about in a dark green tank.

Seriously, does every Aussie own his own earth moving equipment?

This is getting annoying.

Ha ha, not all of us Martin.

That is a sweet ride though I must admit. Everyone should have one.

Well you have your tractor mower.

Well, it's that time of year again. Weather is warming up, the fish have been ordered and so I'm feeling the need to expand... again

Plan is to include another 4 bya beds, but then this will mean the 2k sub tank will be too small for the timed flood and drain system I'm running at the moment. To remedy this, I was thinking of swapping out the 2k tank and replacing it with an ibc next to the fish tank and then installing multiple (maybe 4) ibc's under the grow beds feeding back to the main ibc next to the fish tank. Could then use the top of the 4 ibc's as grow beds for a separate system using the 2k tank.

Can anybody see any flaws/holes in my plan?

Thanks for all the inspiration/help thus far