Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

G'day all
Just got back from Perth a 4 hour drive south of here. After taking the kids to the Perth Royal Show & seeing the display by Woodvale fish & lily farm ,

I got inspired & picked up 10 Barra ~100mm long from them, also picked up 500L of expanded clay, so I'm ready to start the expansion of my AP system.
I've isolated/quarantined & salted the Barra @ 3kg -750L water{ ~4ppt} for 24 hours.
They all seem good, will give them a couple of days before starting to feed them.

My original AP system consisted of :
5 ibc grow beds - 1250L
an old rain water tank cut in half & lined with pond liner & 3 ibc fish tanks - 4000L
NFT system with Bio & RFF filter

I recently added a 3000L FT. I transferred most of my SP into it, salted the tank to 3ppt & isolating them for 36 hours. This caused an algal bloom & water turned like pea soup. The water readings remained relatively stable & after integrated the tank into the rest of the system via the NFT the water cleared up a few days later. So now the old FT is the sump & the 3000L FT returns to the sump via SLO.

I now want to add more filtration/grow beds & make the system into chift pist by adding 1.2m /2.4m/30cm GBs
There is a 30cm height difference between the top of the 3000L FT to the ST, hopefully this will be enough fall for a CF GB return to the sump. I can adjust the height of the ST if required.
Ill post more photos as I start the GB build.
Any comments or suggestions welcomed.
GTK

Gday All
Just an up date.
Before I left to go back work I put 2 large Marron & 15 Yabbies into the sump tank. I got back from 4 weeks @ sea to find the sump leaking @ a rate of 600L / day The Kids managed to keep the tank topped up with water from the well every morning & night. (ironic: I go to work for weeks @ sea & keep water out of a tub then come home & in my leisure time try to keep water in a tub )
I moved the Marron, Yabbies {must have been carnage in the ST while I was away as there was only 7 yabbies left } & the rest of the SP into the 3K FT & emptied the sump to find the liner full of small holes ( pinch marks ). Seems the Marron punctured the pond liner @ the folds along side of the tank. So I bit the bullet & ordered a new 1500L poly tank which got here this week. The Marron wont be able to chop holes in that.

This means the Ill be doing more of a redesign then expected. To get the FT in its final position Ill have to move the fish twice [first move them into the new sump tank & then once the FT's in its final position, move them back into the FT again] hopefully with no morts
I've started building a new 500L GB wich will go between the FT & the ST, filling from the FT via the SLO.
Had only one Barra mort 2 days after they arrived home, the rest seem to be growing well & are feeding twice a day. The water temp is constantly over 21*c now day/night.
Anyway more photo's to come as the rebuild progresses.
Catch Ya
GTK

Progress !
I pumped the water out of the 3000L FT today, down to the last 150L & with the help of two mates moved it into position , the last of the water got a good stir up & the fish did a bit of surfing in the tank, but I think it was a lot less stressful than being chased, caught & transferred in a net twice.

This is the culprit that did the damage to the old tank liner, he's destined for the boil up pot !

After refilling the tank, letting the water settle & bringing the NFT system/pump back on line the water test are :
Ph - 8
Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrite - 0.25
Nitrate - 40
Temp - 23*c
The fish seem to have settled down & were feeding well this afternoon.
Also finished the Grow bed & got a coat of paint on it ( just some exterior paint I found, hence the dodgy colour. )

So now I can measure up & get the levels for the grow bed position. Then make the base for it to sit on. It looks like there is a lot more space to fit all the components in & continuity of flow through the system will be greatly improved.
More Photos to come.

GTK

That marron is huge!

I didn't know they got that big. I don't think it would have taken much for him to get through the pond liner.

HI Colum
Yes a bit of an oversight on my behalf (seemed like a good idea at the time ) its one of the biggest I've caught, wild caught with the Yabbies. I think it was dominating the tank & probably killed most of the yabbies in the sump as well. I was thinking it might be ok for breeding but the more I read about them the less likely its is to happen, so I'll just stick to the Yabbies for cleaning the algae in the sump tank.
I did a sketch of the water flow through the system from FT- GB-ST to work out the heights/levels each of components. Seems I'll need to dig the sump tank into the ground ~30cm to get the right height. ( I need to learn how to use sketch up )

In the mean time it full of AP water collecting Bio film & a few frog are hanging out in it. Its there breeding season for the frogs here & they are laying eggs in any body of water they can find, tadpoles later will become food for the Murray Cod.


GTK

After a few delays (work) I finally got the base made & big red Growbed in place.

Just need to reinforce the top edges to stop it from bowing with the weight of the water/expanded clay & line it with pond liner. Ive marked out where the sump tank will go & need to dig that out about 25-30cm. Hope to have that finished by the weekend. The FT water temps are around 23*c now so will need extra filtration to strip the ammonia out before it becomes toxic to the fish. The water readings are stable for now but I have noticed a lot more algae build up on the sides of the FT.


The centre of the SLO is level with the top of the Growbed, it's a 80mm outlet & will be reduced down to a 50mm pipe "T" of & running the length of Growbed with holes drilled into it every 25cm. Hopefully there will be enough fall to get the SLO to work efficiently.

GTK

Ok
Finally got the hole for sump tank dug out, bit of a delay though, had to stop for a ROOT !




( Not that kind of a root, get your mind out of the gutter ! )


All the major components are in place, now I can start plumbing it all together.

The water readings are: Temp-24*c
PH-8.2
Am-0.25
Nitrite-0.25
Nitrate-60
Have been cleaning the RFF & Bio filters daily, pouring ~30L of muck on to the dirt garden, my pumpkins have never looked so good !
Hopefully have the grow bed lined tomorrow & start washing the grow media ready to fill it.
GTK

Today I managed to get the sump on line. Circulating the water through the FT/SLO to the sump & bye passing the GB.

I was amazed the amount & size of algae lumps passing through the SLO. I decided to try to filter out the biggest of them bye placing a paint filter bag around the outlet.

It's been running like that for a few hours now & already has a build up of algae /slime in the bag. I'll leave the system running like that till I can finish the "Big Red" GB.

Its going to take some time to wash 500L of grow media !
GTK

Gee those paint filter bags are a good idea! There real good at getting the algae out and finding the leftover feed,

that’s a nice system you have there gtkmarine, well thought out.

Thanks Blizzard
The paint filter bags have become very useful. I first got them to make/strain compost tea for folia spray in the dirt garden. But have used them for many other applications since.
The systems starting to take shape, I wasn't to sure on the expense at first but the Poly tanks should last a life time & will be money well spent in the end.

Finished lining the grow bed on the weekend, washed grow media & filled the bed with it, the water has been running through it for 24 hours. There's no leaks.



The water readings are : Temp 25*c
PH 8.4
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 60
Over the last few weeks the water temp has been rising & the fine algae also been getting thicker, its so cloudy now I can't see the fish. Hopefully this will clear up now there is more filtration. I've also put up more shade cloth to minimize the sun getting into pond & stop the NFT tubes from heating up in the sun.
Now I can plant out the bed , I'll use the larger plants out of the NFT system & a few seedlings then spread seed through the rest of the bed.
GTK

Planted out the grow bed yesterday & this evening cleaned about 400L of water/gunk out the RFF & Bio filters to try to clean up the algae bloom in the FT.

When I emptied the RFF I found the pipe connected to the outlet drain had fallen off, this has allowed the waist to build up on the bottom of the filter to a depth of 200mm.
Ill test the water in 24 hours after it all settles down & see if has made any difference.
In the mean time I have stoped feeding the fish in the main FT.
GTK

Looking awesome!

Barra are my weakness. Your doing a good job there gtkmarine.
Looks like you have spaced your plants so that they can fully grow in place too? I am using tarps for now and a little insulation to control algae. A little bit is ok. You will even get it in your pipes. But as you cover up watch for spikes! Algae eats what your bacteria eat. So as it settles back it releases the nutrients back into the system. Well it did in my system. Its still going up and down the algae that is.

Keep us all inform, cheers!