Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The number of F***s goldies give about water quality is usually zero so you should be good.

Be prepared to lose fish, you have to kill a thousand at least before you can call yourself a fishkeeper. Luckily this becomes much easier when they start having babies and you can count the fry that get eaten into your kill count.

How big is your FT here? I think its a 200 litre barrel from I read and just three goldies in that is no problem at all.

If you haven't already though, tell the young lad to stop going number onesey in the barrel

Almost 3 weeks of plant growth. Lettuce is ready to eat and the parsley is finally taking off. Spring onions look strong and the Lebanese cucumbers are growing like mad. The basil is looking a bit dull but that might be because I was a little rough with it roots when I put it in. Chilli plant is looking ok, tho I think have a magnesium deficiency.

Keep an eye on the basil, in my experience once it get's cracking there is little you can do to stop it from taking over the bed. The deficiencies are just part of the cycling process, seasol or seaweed extract will get rid of that and once the bed matures it will provide everything they need.

Looks good and healthy, but you should determinately get some more fish to help provide the nutrients for all the plants. Should be able to get away with a dozen goldies in a 200 litre barrel hooked up to a GB that size.

Hi Abdul

I currently have 2 barrels that a about 3/4 full, about 280litres of water(total), when the GB is fully drained. So far I have 7 goldfish, are you saying I should get more? The goldfish are able to swim from barrel to barrel through a pipe that connects the two. The photos provided should show you what I am talking about.

I also added about 2g of chelated iron to the water and was think about added some magnesium later at some point.

Thanks
Chase

280l of water is plenty for 7 goldies, I'd say get 5 more and make an even dozen, as you're tracking the levels also it should be no issue, if things spike just restrict feed for a couple of days.

What is worrying is the pipe joining the drums. It's, well, really small. The goldfish must be pretty tiny to get through there. You know goldies get stuck in pipe yea? That is what killed the most fish in my first system till I found a way to protect the SLO. And in the 1 inch pipe it's very messy to get the goldies out.

Make sure you aerate in the second barrel so that there is some splashing in both.

I had a couple of goldfish die on me today, which is unfortunate. I have no idea why they died as they have been ok for the last 5-6 days since I bought them. I am currently feeding them with goldfish flakes and some goldfish pallets.

Water PH is hovering around 7.4-7.5, ammonia levels are down to about 0ppm but nitrites are still through the roof (5ppm or greater), nitrates looked to have dropped to about 80ppm from 160ppm.

I have air stones in each barrel as well so aeration shouldn't be a problem.

Hmmm looks like the nitrite spike is the culprit, maybe it got a little warmer overnight? ammonia and nitrite is more toxic at higher temperatures.

Anyhow, worry not and replace them. The system isn't cycled yet to so you have to lose some more before it's all done.

Restrict feed for a day or two till the nitrites come back down, then start again slowly, should keep the spike from getting any worse.

Bought 4 more goldies today and when I got home from work one was already dead. Not sure it was one of the new goldfish or one of the older ones.

Still seem to have a high nitrite level of around 2-5ppm, I can never tell which level as the colours on the card look the bloody same, though I have noticed it doesn't go purple as fast. Nitrates look to have come right down to 20ppm.

I also did another 1/3 water change tonight just to get those nitrite levels down. We have also had some pretty high temps here in Perth over the last few days/nights and upcoming 36 and 37 degrees over the next few days whilst not dropping below 20 during the night. Need to get a temp sensor so I can keep track of what the water temp is doing during the day night cycle.

Anyway new photos coming soon, AP system has gone ballistic in terms of growth. Not sure I like the smell if coriander tho, argh stinks!

And thanks to Abdul for your continued comments

Chase

I got my system up and going thanks to the support I received from people on the forum so it's the least I can do Chase :]

Keep at it, soon it will be cycled, the plants going mad is a really good sign.

Here are some up dates on my system so. It looks as tho my system has finally cycled as nitrites and nitrates have come right down. Also ammonia is hovering around 0.25ppm.

Here are the pictures of the system as at 19/02/14. I also harvested some lettuce, the first crop to be ever harvested and eaten, yay

Tonight's Dinner with APLettuce

Already planning my new AP system as I want to go bigger in the future. It will take me many many months if not a few years to accomplish. So here is prototype number 1. Im using sketchup atm but if anyone else has some better CAD software they could mention, please do!

Thanks
Chase

Sketchup is the best... because its free and everyone shares ! check out the Sketchup warehouse if you haven't already.

Congrats on your first harvest!

Well system is going fine, or so I think.

I have had 7 of my 12 goldfish die and I am at a loss as to why. The only thing I can think of is that I am topping up with water at a much faster rate than I would like due to a leak that has popped up about a week ago. I am using straight tap water from the hose and I think I might be stressing the fish out with the chlorine that is in WA water, that is if there is Chlorine in the water.

The other thing that might be killing them is that I added the fish to the tank when nitrites were sky high, 5ppm or greater, so they might just be taking a while to kark it.

I am not really sure as to why they keep dying. I had 4 die really quickly when the nitrites were high, that was a couple weeks ago. I have lost 3 more over the last week all within a couple of days of each other.

I have a volume of about 280L of water, TOTAL! and a volume of about 200L for the GB, which is an old bathtub. I have two barrels containing the fish, see pictures in previous posts, with one air stone in each barrel to provide aeration. I feed them normal goldfish pellets which they seem to eat as I never see any leftovers floating around.

Fish look to be healthy, they swim around a lot staying near the bottom... well they stay near the bottom every time I look at them.

There is no algae from what I can see, NONE!

I have these values:
Ph: 7.4
ammonia: ~0.25 of less
nitrites: 0 ppm
nitrates: 0 ppm

The only things I have added to the system is seasol (1 capful every 2/3 days), chelated iron (about 2g) and a teaspoon of dolomite lime, added a few days ago. I add the chelated iron weeks ago, it solved my veiny yellow leaf problem and I added the dolomite lime to provide some magnesium to the system.

I hope this is enough information to go on for anyone to provide me with some assistance or some ideas.

PS: We are also having some consistently hot weather here in Perth, between 34 and 36C for a least two and a half weeks, and with such a small system the water temp could be fluctuating a lot, who knows? I should get something to test the water temp I guess.

Thanks
Chase