Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey how did you work your bathtub plug out? I have some students making a bathtub fishtank

Jay, standpipe is a piece of 40mm pressure pipe with a slip joiner, which i beveled on the bench grinder till it wedged in snugly into the drain hole.
If I was to do it again I would use a fiberglass tub, a uniseal and just run 50mm dwc straight through it.

Well this cooler weather is keeping the trout happy!

Ahh okay - I have to plug it up as its the fish tank. But I could make a standpipe for overflow purposes Good thinking 99 - will check today if its 40mm

A milk bottle lid fits into the plug hole snugly also, I have another bath for my ducks and its held up for many years, I put a generous dab of silicone in the plug hole stuck the bottle top in then applied some more silicone just for good measure.
Its been used in one way or another since my very first system 5 or so years ago.

We went to the trout hatchery at ballarat this morning to pick up some more pellets and one thing led to another as things so often do and we came home with 10 big brown trout.


Also moved two of my rhubarbs from the bathtub GB to the IBC GB to hopefully shade the scoria a bit and help keep temps down as the weather warms up, not that its a problem today, back down to 14 today.
Nitrites are still really high so I have added some more salt and i'm running the pump flat out except while feeding, i think the build up of uneaten food that was hiding under the big rhubarb plants is where they are coming from, which was another good reason to move them to the other bed as I now have a clear view of where the water flows out.

well its stopped raining for the minute so i'm off outside to plant some more seeds

The Browns seem to have settled in and are feeding today which is good, the temps are still down around 14 so hopefully get a bit more time for all of them.
nitrite was still high this morning so I'm still running the pump constantly with a short break for feeds.
I know I probably shouldn't be feeding while the rites are up but I will keep an eye on it, there is no sign of ammonia.
picked a bunch of kale, spring onion and silverbeet for dinner tonight, which is cool too.

Well I have stepped up to 3 feeds a day now that the days are getting longer and the fish are getting bigger, not sure but at this rate I might just get a feed out of these guys

Woohoo! Good luck with the growth :-)


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I have noticed a move in my Ph.
the system has gone full Switzerland
ammonia is thankfully back till nil and the nitrite is coming down too, water temps are sitting on a lovely 14c.
might have to bag up some shell grit for the sump but other than that I'm pretty darn stoked with the whole thing.

plant pics

PH is still dropping, I was thinking of dropping a besser brick into the sump? what do people think of that as a buffering idea?

Temps are back up to 20c after a 30ish deg day yesterday and with a hot day again today I have knocked up a quick shade house, I put a couple of 3lt ice blocks into the sump and filled the sump (which was running low as the timer is on full time) the combination of these 3 has brought it down 1 massive deg. I was warned that the ice wouldnt do much but it was in the freezer already so i figured it couldnt hurt, but the shade and the extra water should help.

Just raced home from a very rare date night as the kids where freaking out because there is a black out here, back up system is running like a charm only problem is I never extended it to the second tank.
fingers crossed that the fish in there will be ok, there are 15 trout in there, they are not at the surface or anything so hopefully all good. The power ha been out for a couple of hours and won't be back on for another hour so they say.
also have a nice puddle all around the system as the grow beds have emptied back into the sump that id filled this morning oh well the grass will be happy.

temps back down to 16 overnight, nice cool day again today.

funny ive never wanted shitty cold weather this much in my life, lol!

not to far off of the s#!7 hitting the fan here at the moment, ammonia and nitrite spikes
found a dead yabby but also stirred up a bit of uneaten food from one of the tanks, couldn't find any dead fish which is good.
I have added another kilo of salt, dont know how much is in there atm as ive had a bit of water changed lately due to the power failure the other weekend, it was at 6 parts but don't know now?
I have the sump filling up now to dilute the amm an nitrite and ill run constant flood with no feeds for a few days with my fingers crossed