Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've known about aquaponics for some time but never attempted to set up a system until now.

About my system:

Fish reservoir is a 20 gallon tote with 15 gallons of water

Pump is a 390 GPH pond pump


Grow containers are (2) 3' L x 6" W x 8" D

Grow medium is lava cinders and coco coir (cinders are on the bottom of the grow containers for better filtration) and coco coir fills the top 3/4 of the grow containers. The top of the medium is damp to the touch

It's designed as a continuous flow system. Each grow container rests on the tote and has three drains each returning water to the fish hold. Seems to be ample flow of water and oxygen returning to the tote. For extra measures, I've added an 8" bubble stone. The drains allow for about 2" of water to collect before returning to tote. I've added three 1 1/2"goldfish that have survived the first full day of cycling. My PH is 7.0 and ammonia is at zero. The fish are very active so I gave them a little fish food today. I also went to the local Tilapia pond today, grabbed a rock and added it to the fish hold to hopefully add beneficial bacteria to the system. I have not tested for nitrates yet. I figured I would wait a few days until I do. I have added maybe 15 or so earthworms to each grow container. I have also added five pole bean seeds to each grow container to help with filtration when they start to grow.

This is my first attempt at aquaponics and any suggestions are much appreciated. I look forward to having a sustainable system in the near future.

Welcome to the forum

Your pump might be a bit of overkill depending on the height it's pumping to but it looks like you're on the right track.

I'd estimate about 2' on the height. I plumbed a valve and a tee all 1/2". The valve is about 80% open. Any more and the plant containers overfill. Any less and drains don't operate fully. The water is settled about 1 1/2" from the top of the plant containers at this configuration. Top of the medium is moist to the touch.

Thanks for the welcome.

A photo would probably help but it sounds like the water level needs to come down just a bit. The only time you want the surface to be moist is when you're planting seeds but going from descriptions isn't always that accurate.

Good Morning all... Question, the Coco Coir as the permanent grow medium, won't it give problems along the way due to insufficient drainage? I'd imagine as soon as fish poop starts building up anaerobic zones will form. Your earthworms will also feed on it as it is biological matter.
I'm using 100% 3/4" gravel and my system is as healthy and productive as the garden of Eden probably was... I of course also added earthworms in my grow beds. I'd recommend maybe filling your setup with only the volcanic cinder. I'm using the Affnan AutoSiphon in all my growbeds and they've served my perfect for close to 3 years now...
Just my thoughts, otherwise... Welcome to the obsession killagolfa

Eventually the coco coir will break down and could cause problems but if weight is an issue or cost, or even the type of crop, it might make sense. If it were me I'd probably go with all lava rock but this is very much like a wicking bed and those work great too.

Bad news. My fish died. I guess I kinda expected this. So now I raise the questions, do I leave the dead fish in there? Do I get new fish? Or do I remove them and start over?

Today's test results:


ph 7.0
nitrates 0
nitrites 0
ammonia 0

Thanks in advance.

I've tried uploading the pix. File sizes are too big.

Tutorial that should help with the photos - viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21754

Do a search on fishless cycling, that's one option. Using another batch of fish is another and the dead fish will also generate ammonia to build up your bacteria but that's not the most visually appealing thing to have. There are lots of options the choice is yours.

Thanks for the tip on uploading photos.

Correction on all fish being dead. One was hiding really good I guess.

So now the questions are:

Do I leave the dead fish in the tank or do I remove the dead fish for the sake of the live fish?

Here's a link to view photos: http://s1025.photobucket.com/user/killa ... u.jpg.html

Update:

The one goldfish remains alive. Actually seems quite happy.
My Ph is still at 7.0
Ammonia still at 0.

Did a 1/3 water change because the water was beginning to look like tea. Suppose from coco coir.
I'm not getting the ammonia spike I thought I'd have by now. I'm sure the water change won't help my situation and I'll need to do another water change in a few days because water still brown.

Any clues to how many fish should be in this system? I'll probably end up with 8 or so plants total and running about 15 gallons of water.

I'd just go with three fish like you had before but all I can do is guess since I still have no idea how much filtration capacity the coco coir/ volcanic rock combo is going to give you. I also don't have any idea what killed the fish you had. Your system didn't show any ammonia or nitrites. Was it something in the media, was it lack of oxygen .

You need to figure out how much water you're pumping. You want to turn over the volume in the fish tank at least once an hour. You also want to figure out how many gallons or liters of media you have in the grow beds. You can calculate a ball park estimate of the number of fish based on this, using the information in this thread - http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6646

Remember that it lists maximum stocking densities and they are based on final grow out weight.

Hi, from my experience with starting new systems and then loosing gold fish or Koi in the first few days, it's usually one of the following that caused the deaths...
The pH differs between the container they came in and the new fish tank which shocks them
Temperature difference between the tank's and the container... Shocking them
The tank was filled with municipal water and the Chlorine levels was too high
Transportation of the fish was too bumpy which stressed the fish way too much...

As for how many fish, try and get your first 3 fish surviving for at least 2 weeks, then based on your water Volume, if you have a small species gold fish, you can eventually go as high as about 10 fish. If you anticipate your fish getting big as in about 1 pound and bigger, then stick to a ratio of 1 fish per 2.5 gallons (us)

As far as leaving dead fish in your system so help the Ammonia levels... Different schools of thought on it, I don't recommend it as decaying fish stink and attract all kinds of other pathogens...

If you can't use something initially to start your system like Seasol or SeaGrow or asking the petshop where you're buying your fish from for some Water/Biofilter squeezed out soup... Then rather just leave about 1 teaspoon of fish food in the tank to decay (over and above the food you fed the fish) , which will cause an Ammonia spike. Much healthier than decaying meat

You will only start seeing Ammonia and the Nitrification process happening once your fish starts eating and actually pooping in the water, and that Poop goes through to the GrowBed where the cycle can start

Best of luck mate

Aloha. So far so good on system. I ended up buying some feeder goldfish and added them about a week ago. Ammonia level is still 0 and ph is 7.0

I did end up building another system and it has been cycling with fiwh for 5 days. The ammonia level is 2.0 and i cant get the ph lower than 8.0 (dechlorinated tap water). Here is a link to the new system:

http://s1025.photobucket.com/user/killa ... 6.jpg.html

At what point should i be concerned with high ammonia levels?

Should I be worried about the high ph?

I put 19 Tilapias 2-4" or so each. Fish tank is kinda small i know but i will get a 100 gallon trough very soon. Fish seem very happy. I caught them at a local pond. It took about two days for them to start eating. Now they always seem hungry. I feed them 3 times a day.

Water is about 80 degrees.
Lava cinders as medium
Grow bed cycles a little more than 4 times per hour.
Ph 8.0
Ammonia 2.0

Thanks in advance.