Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So an update. Planted heaps of seeds, so hope to be up and running again soon(ish). Ammonia has been high (1ppm), so I've salted and am adding 1000 litres water every second day. Will buy a few established seedlings as well.

Lost my test kit (it'll turn up), so it has been a few days since I tested water. But fish look good (no ich, not any flashing).

Need to pull finger out once it cycles again and get yabbies and prawns again.

Also really need to get an aerator, my dwc stuff struggles, think I need more aeration. But budget is a little tight as I'll be spending money on plants

Can I suggest if it's not too late for tomatoes and basil in your area, take cuttings from someone's established plants if you can? It'll cut your costs and get you up and running much faster (especially tomato suckers) and will fill in your system while you find money for other plants.

There are probably other things you can grow too in that way, but those two things I've never had trouble with and they're often stronger than seedlings from seeds too. I rest the cuttings in jars of water on my windowsill and they have roots within a few days (just in ordinary tap water, can't wait to try it with AP water!) and the tomatoes ALWAYS fruit before others when I grow them this way.

What's your filtration like for the DWC? I found mine struggled before I got the media bed before it, and the flow was slow. Been growing everything happily in there since.

Tomatoes are going nuts in there now!

And the lettuce seeds will pop up in a matter of days, really quite amazing.

Yeah filtration probably isn't quite good enough. Because beds were so deep and the water was getting 50% filtered (my original "worm farm" filter just can't keep up with my water flow these days) I wasn't as concerned with solids (this probably doesn't make sense .... Beds are close to a metre deep, so slowish flow and depth I thought would be keep fines away from roots).

Flow is also probably my biggest problem. Ever since turning off system I haven't been able to get the balance of flow right (remembering I use the "bad Chop 2" setup where all water is reliant on pressure to distribute). Plus I was trying to get more water thru GB's as I thought this might be why I was having persistent low level ammonia.

A lot of my plants in DWC are dying off, so I'm doing something wrong.

Keep experimenting I guess!

Yeah filtration probably isn't quite good enough. Because beds were so deep and the water was getting 50% filtered (my original "worm farm" filter just can't keep up with my water flow these days) I wasn't as concerned with solids (this probably doesn't make sense .... Beds are close to a metre deep, so slowish flow and depth I thought would be keep fines away from roots).

Flow is also probably my biggest problem. Ever since turning off system I haven't been able to get the balance of flow right (remembering I use the "bad Chop 2" setup where all water is reliant on pressure to distribute). Plus I was trying to get more water thru GB's as I thought this might be why I was having persistent low level ammonia.

A lot of my plants in DWC are dying off, so I'm doing something wrong.

Keep experimenting I guess!

I had unfiltered water going into my DWC at one stage, and the plants weren't dying, just growing slower.

What are the roots looking like? Very dark? Or a light brown?

You might not be getting enough flow through all the beds with the chop 2 design, considering it's all split between the FT & GB's?

My thoughts might be more oxygen related if the flow of water is too slow with the DWC.

Have you thought about adding media below the DWC beds? So fill half the freezer with gravel (or clay/scoria if the gravel is too heavy for the freezer to handle)? It'll give more area for nitrification & turn over the volume of the DWC beds faster. Then you could put your inlet pipe at the bottom of the bed, it'll give some filtration through the media to polish it up a bit.

And with the ammonia, I'd imagine the bacteria got killed off with the fish, so you're back to cycling mode again.

Ammonia was pre disaster, it's higher now. I'm going to put yabbies and prawns in bottom of DWC's, so staying away from media there. Yeah I think flow is my issue. Unfortunately setup doesn't really allow for flowing back from beds. Need to put RFF in, and work out how to increase flow I thinks.

Got the seeds today Colum, very much appreciated!

Plumbing up a RFF, remembering I am one of the "naughty" ones who has Chop 2 ahaha. Next will be a bio filter with K1 (25L-50L worth donated from Rob Bob of Bits Out the Back fame, he took pity on me with my recent disaster. Funnily enough it was given to him by Paul from Earthan Group ahaha) and milk bottle caps (funnily enough I get a few of these ;p). I've put lots of valves on this so they can be turned off and on for cleaning, maintenance, and also so I can join Swede and Dasboot on their wonderful tour of Wonderland via Minerlisation Tanks ahaha.

Because of my Chop 2 setup, filters were needed (for any newbs reading this, you don't have to have filters!). Plus I want to push fish limits, and have clean water for my DWC. I love the little bit of flexibility both PVC and Uniseals give you. Though fingers crossed I haven't used it too liberally and end up with leaks. I must admit draining from the bottom of the IBC is a tad nerve wracking. But I really wanted to do it both from picking up solids point of view, plus my original plumbing I did the SLO's a tad high, and couldn't push the FT's too much. Have only hooked up one tank so I can test it individually and make sure I haven't buggered it. Fish will get moved to this tank once I am happy with work, and that way I can do first tank. Anyway, some pics!

This is where the water leaves the FT. I cleaned bottom before hooking up, I've been using this tank to add water whilst I am having to do water changes, and it doubled up as bottom watering for all my seedling trays.

Inside of RFF, without standpipes as I still have to play with heights, also without inside buckets obviously. I have an in, an out, both with standpipes for adjustments sake, as well as being able to drop water when I want to clean. Also have a bottom drain to get solids out. All 50mm. Also left input with an extra spot so I can hook up second tank.

Back of house plumbing. It's becoming a maze back there!

It'll be step by step tonight, I'm in a posting mood. Oh, if anyone like tennis, first game of Aussie Open is on, and it looks like a cracker!

Happy with water coming out fairly level

Finished product. Got the filter so I can push 2700 litres thru it, so should handle both IBC's. Still got to hook up bio filter, but apart from uniseals and valves, got heaps of plumbing left over so shouldn't take long. I've got the K1 and plastic bottle tops in an onion bag in a tank, to start bacteria cultivating on it, so time to ramp up soon!

So apparently some of my new fish (stuff I'm catching in yabbie traps) have watched Finding Nemo, found two of them in radial filter. Slots in outflow pipe would only just allow em to get out, and it ain't getting fixed for a couple wildies. Got another few today, so 20 Banded Grunter and a couple of Spangled Perch. Trying to get fish mass up again, but budget is a bit tight.

Plus a few general photos of system as it stands now.








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