Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I after what seams like hours have finally caught all the gold fish and put them aside, did a water change for the Barra, then put them aside, so now the Barra are in the IBC and the goldfish are swimming in the large fish tank, going to fatten them up for winter and add the trout! For when it cools down, changed some off my piping today to get ready for the lids for my fish tank and sump tank, soon I will start on my DWC, on top of the sump tank,

So far just the one goldfish loss due to yabbies/marron,

Ok, so its raining again? Tank temps are 21.3deg ft 18.9deg st, off course with all the rain the sump tank is overflowing again, through the overflow pipe fitted. so on the good side the colder water on top is draining? ATM there is 1350ltrs in the system that’s its max level, with the overflow on the sump tank! When everything drains back with the timer running, I have digital temp gages on both tanks within 10th off a degree, it seams all those worms I added to the grow beds are paying off? They have made their own compost and are happily doing what worms do?

don’t you just love it when a beginner gets it right at the start!

Temps are staying good still, the silvers seam to have benefited from the extra space as they have grown a fair bit since putting them in the IBC? Only feeding twice per day but they are larger then when they went in, the barra don’t seam bothered with the IBC, the big build starts again tomorrow as I will start to build the new lids and capping for the tanks FT/ST, I have four days off work, government worker, plus the Australian day off rest!

Bathurst !

Why did you do a water change, I thought your water was super filtered already?

I have the 200ltr indoor tank, with four large barra in it, the water requires changing every few days, but now I just have the nine small goldfish in the indoor tank, fattening them for when they go back into the IBC system after the Barra visit the bbq, around the same time I buy some trout, and keep them cool indoors until winter, that way I can buy small fish that cost less then transfer them outside when the weather permits, I thought that was a good idea?

And the IBCs are running perfect thanks! Instead of top-ups with tap water I am adding aquarium water with ammonia nitrites and nitrates with the same PH levels, and the way I have my system setup, I can turn off each grow bed in turn and add 100ltrs of good aquarium water and let the plants soak up the goodies for an hour or so, I use the sump water to water my pot plants,

Cool as, they way I read the first post I thought you had changed the water in the ibc before putting the barra in there.
love to see some pics of them, I'd love to be able to run barra.

I will try and take pictures soon, the Barra are 30cm long now so are two off the silvers, I may need to buy a bigger BBQ?

Ok here are the fish!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNjbjuhJ9PQ

Sorry they are still a bit shy but you can see them, they are getting bigger by the day,

Ok here’s one for the gurus! Temp today 34deg, this morning FT was 23.4 at 4.25am yes I don’t have a life, but I start work early. This afternoon FT 25.6 -ST 25.0 ? Normally the FT is 3deg warmer than the ST? I have the timer to start at 7am-8pm on constant pump flow, then for 15min per hour after 8pm to keep aeration to the ST/FT,
Plus the air pump running constant, that never gets turned off,

So any ideas as to why the temperatures are almost the same?

Well I'm no guru Blizz just a noob however it was 35°c today so the gb's being a heat exchanger would have picked up heat and returned it to the sump I would imagine. Would your system turn over the ft water every hour? All the water in my system stays fairly constant but I am running the system the old way as I am not as innovative as yourself due to my conservativeness.

About 600ltr per hour through the filter, FT is 750ltr max, then overflow starts up, Gbs start syphoning after 10min and empty in five, sunken out feed pipes into the ST. runs real quiet? Just the out feed from the filter can be heard, I don’t think I can sink that pipe? ST max level is set at 700ltrs, I have an overflow on that now, the sun is off the FT/ST by 4pm off the Gbs by 6pm,

Its not to much of a problem as Barra like 22-34deg, I just wanted to work out why the sump tank that is submerged halfway can be the same temp now as the fish tank, insulated both with covers?

I will think on it a bit?

Another day in paradise! Fish are happy and well fed, plants are doing good, temps are still holding up in fish tank, yes we have Barra in Perth outside with no artificial heating, my nitrate levels are now up! In just four months? Time to plant more,

I am just adding this for those that want to raise Barra in Perth, everything is working perfectly as planed, I am still new at this but I don’t need to follow others mistakes in doing things right the first time!

So I am recommending a precise water flow and a good filter for all those that want to start aquaponics,