Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks Charlie, I am enjoying the growth!

I thought it was time to do an update as I have done a few things:

- I finally got another airpump (Hailea v30 same as my other pump at 30Lpm) which is now supplying my biofilter media with plenty of air and providing a little AC backup air to the FT in case something happens mechanically to the other pump... I also have my battery backup 12v airpump which kicks in when there is a power outage.

- I have had major ant/aphid problems and have cleared all my beds and towers (the towers will now have foam mats instead of expanded clay as to not become ant/aphid nests). I have also flooded all my beds to flush out the ants/aphids. In the future I win't keep plants for as long as I did since it seems to encourage creatures making nests in the root area.. I can see why no commercial system would want to use media beds... I have even contemplated making them DWC since I have the RFF and biofilters now.

- I have replanted some of the pockets in my strawberry towers, although the heat still kills of the occasional plant that I haven't got roots on yet.

- I have harvested 5 fish and took some pictures of 3 of them yesterday that we ate.

- I have started gathering my materials for the window build in my FT... this will be happening in the next few months and requires me eating the fish I have. I also have my fingerling tank which I will be continuing to run and will be buying the Jades for this month.

I am planning on adding a window to my IBC FT and this is the measurements and layout for it... I have most of the materials already including the polycarbonate window, 4 metres of 3x30mm flat bar, 12v LED light but I still need to get the 42 m6 nuts and bolts.
When it is done I will let everyone know how it went and anything I may do differently next time.

Hey Tom, check out Rob's window in his tank. Might get some pointers.
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=8898&hilit=window&start=195

Thanks Bill, he had some good tips in that video.

So I am a little confused in relation to system ammonia levels..
I used to think that ANY ammonia reading (even 0.25) was bad in a system.. but recently I have read in a few places that a small amount like that is normal since there is a delay between the ammonia appearing and it being processed. Perhaps also it has to do with that I take readings often at morning time and that may coincide with ammonia release from feeding or something?
Also if I look at that chart for dangerous ammonia levels then I shouldnt have anything to worry about as water temperature never rises above 26-28 Celcius and my pH is never above 7 and more likely between 6-6.5..

So should I worry about often getting the 0.25 ammonia reading or if I have enough bio filtration or am I just being a big sissy?

I think it is as you surmised- you are measuring the Ammonia after the fish have had breakfast and produced it, but before the bacteria have had their breakfast of Ammonia. I'd say nothing to worry about, as you stay well within the safe range of temperature and pH for your low concentration of Ammonia. I rarely measure mine these days, but have seen 0.25ppm occasionally.

That's good to hear.. The highest mine has gone in the last year was 1 and that was a once off instance where I backed off feeding for a day and it went down to 0 again

In a perfect world, your system would be set up so that you would not have measurable ammonia, however, this is rarely a perfect world. Now, it will ALSO depend on what kind of fish you are raising as to how much danger having above trace levels of ammonia is.

Things I have found that might be of interest. Check and see if there is a different ammonia or nitrite reading from water in your fish tank compared to water coming out of your grow beds. If there is a marked difference, consider if your are perhaps stocking too many fish or feeding them too much high protein feed for the amount of water circulation turning over in your tank. Or perhaps check a few different times of day to see if it is relative to feeding time. Or if you are running timed flood and drain, check to see if the reading is different and the beginning or end of the "pump off" time. Some of this might be rather academic if your fish are eating well and don't seem to be suffering from the trace ammonia levels, However, some fish will be far more sensitive and can show adverse effects from long term exposure to trace levels and may be more likely to suffer from certain illnesses if they are constantly exposed to water polluted with their own waste.

In new systems (less than a year old) I have seen trace levels of ammonia and/or nitrite linger for a long time but once they go away, I like to be able to find the cause of even trace to .25 ppm of ammonia or nitrite if they come back in a mature system. Often times it is a sign of some build up somewhere or anaerobic pockets of something that is generally not good to ignore and could cause a drastic and even fatal spike if not cleaned up in time.

Hi TCLynx,

Thanks for the feedback!

I have Jade Perch... not sure if they are more sensitive to trace ammonia than others but I will look into it.

I always test the water from one of my sumps so I will take your advice and compare it to the FT water and also experiment with different times of day when testing.

My system is CF and the FT is turned over once per hour... the water also circulates from the ST to NFT tubes and 10 strawberry towers but that does not go through the FT but direct from sump so that may not matter so much.

Currently I don't think I am stocked that heavy as we have eaten a few fish and I originally had some jumpers as well so it is probably around 30-35 Jades at 350-550g... and we haven't been feeding very heavily I am guessing about 200 grams per day on average (they could eat way more at the moment as they are HUNGRY) but I have been limiting it because of the trace ammonia readings.

I know there are no dead fish in the FT as it is very clean and I can see it all. I have also had an RFF that I added perhaps 3 or 4 months ago for when I feed more in summer and I drain the solids from it every 3-7 days into a MT and then bubble that and reintroduce the water for 3-7 days (when I next drain the RFF). When I dig into the GBs (3 x 300mm deep IBC GBs) they seem very clean and there is no smell coming from them.

About 2 months ago I also added 50L of K1 media which I have placed in laundry baskets in two of my sumps and added another 30L/h air pump to mix the 2 x 25L of K1 media.

I am going to try measuring in different areas of the system as some of the water flows less than others ( I have 3 x700L IBC sumps linked and a full IBC FT which makes for about 3000L of water) perhaps that has something to do with it.

Also I may try feeding really heavy, as much as the fish want and then measuring ammonia levels at various times and locations to see if there are any spikes.... and maybe I will clean my testing kit test tubes a bit better, I just rinse them with AP water before and after use (it would suck if it is just my sucky testing procedure )

Well I haven't updated this thread in a while so here goes..

1.)
I have some fingerlings now that I got from SEQ here in Brisbane.. as a matter of fact we got them TWICE as there was some confusion with my dad who got the first batch and because of confusion with instructions he placed the fingerlings in the bag (open) in the tank let the temperature adjust and added water to get the pH to similar levels but then thought he was supposed to leave them overnight IN THE BAG.. ofcourse in the morning al 65 Jade Perch were dying or had died due to lack of oxygen my bad.. so the next batch i got myself and put in and they are alive and well so far with only 1 or 2 deaths since being put in a few weeks ago.. they are eating ferociously and putting on size quickly.

The older Jades in the main tank are feeding well and I will start thinning them out as the fingerlings will not be able to be kept in that small barrel tank i have on top of my main IBC FT for long.

2.)
I have all the materials I need to build my fish tank window now, however I have been putting it of as I have not wanted to drill 80 holes through 3mm of stainless with a hand drill (my drill press kicked the bucket.. it was S*** anyhow) However I really should try and sort that out as it would be better to do it before moving the fingerlings into the main tank after culling the larger fish.

3.)
Plant growth has not been that great.. I think this has been due to the hot weather and also to pests and plant choice to some degree.
Lettuce has bolted in the last few months and the celery hasn't grown too quickly. Also my rhubarb really struggles as it seems to hate the direct sunlight but not thrive in the shade either.. only just surviving for the last year.
Aphids are my worst enemy and are assisted by the ants and seem to love strawberry plants and bok choi.. I am hoping that I can get them under control when it gets cooler, as lately i just pull the plant out and give it to the chooks if it looks bad.

4.)
As I have written earlier I have replaced my expanded clay media in my 10 towers with matala mats cut into circular shape.. this has helped reduce pests and ant nests but has been difficult to evenly distribute the water flow in as the water channels and the plants dont always survive when that channeling changes path in the tower. Also algae loves to form in the pockets of the tower on the matala matt and tends to rot the strawberry plants. Also as I have 10 towers and a lot of head height one of my pumps has to be used just for supplying the towers and that flow is not too high even with one dedicated pump. Unlike my 3 IBC GBs and 3 flooded pipes on the wall which are supplied by the other pump of equal size.
This has led me to believe that I may replace all the towers with flooded pipes since it has been more successful. Also it is also more tolerant of water blockages as the flooded pipes contain water for a while if flow is interupted unlike the towers.

Sorry for the lack of pictures but there isn't anything of too much difference to show except for some so so grow beds

But I will be sure to take some pictures when there is something of interest to show! Perhaps the window install if I ever get a new drill press

Such an awesome green house

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

Thanks

So I have a question for all.

I have had my 65 Jade perch fingerlings for about a month now and they seem to be eating very well… although I have had about 5 deaths now.. 2 were near the beginning and then the others have been here and there the latest a couple of days ago.

So I am wondering if that is normal?.. my last batch of Jades I only lost 1 or 2 in the beginning and then as they grew I lost a few as jumpers but fixed that with a barrier.

The only difference to this batch is that they are contained in a half barrel above the larger tank and therefore have only about 50L of water (but they have huge tank changeover and lots of extra aeration).. also these days I often have trace ammonia readings of 0.25… could either of these be concerns for the fingerlings… I have read that they are more sensitive to ammonia when young… my pH has been around 7 and the daily temps between 21-24 in the water.

Thanks for any input

So I have been a little slack with images lately so I thought I would change that and show whats growing and two of the fish that we smoked yesterday