Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Howdy folks,
Purchased an aquaponics system someone was selling on the local buy and sell (kijiji).
Got it for a good price (retail on the media is more than I paid )
Its quite a basic system, 1000L ibc (fillable to 600L) and a 10x3.5' growbed. Pump is in the fishtank (I know thats not ideal but it will do for now)
The media was still wet so I think it wont take long to get going.
Got the pump working today (had dried out with a bit of fish waste on it) so the water is flowing.
The move stirred up a bunch of gunk at the bottom of the grow bed so i'll let it settle for a couple days while I hang the grow lights.
In a couple of days Ill get a couple fish to go in the tank. I want to take it easy while the system gets going.
Ill upload a picture shortly (pic on phone wont upload to forum or photobucket )

Here is a picture of the system.

Looks good . I don't know if you got your basement system you were planning into operation or if this is the start but are you still thinking of Tilapia in the tank there in Alberta?

Cheers

No the basement plan has been put on hold due to the wife wanting to rent it out so this system is in my garage. It is unheated but since its attached to the house it gets a little heat from the house to stop it freezing. Since its quite cool out there I was thinking about trout (plus the licence required is $10/yr for trout $120/yr for tilapia) but that will probably be a few months down the road. For now Im just planning to use koi or goldfish.

Trout sounds like it's a good choice - you might have to watch it in the Summer if the garage warms up. If your garage is insulated and you have a south facing wall on the garage, a small solar air heater might give you some temperature control options in winter and is probably cost effective in your area.

North facing garage unfortunately/fortunately lol stays nice and cool in the summer and above freezing in winter. The only downside to trout I see is they are not omnivorous so I cant feed them a few plant scraps. That would be ideal as I could feed a few garden scraps to supplement feed during the summer.

A small setback in the system, the drain pipe has a slight slope back towards the growbed, that caused some dribbles to go back along the pipe to leak out of the system... It should be an easy fix at least. Ill either take an inch off the bottom of the tank drain or wrap a couple laps of guideline tape around the pipe to get the drips to fall in the tank.

The guideline tape did the trick. 6-7 wraps around the pipe 4" in from the end has the drips falling in the tank rather than on the floor.
Dug in a banana peel into the grow bed, should give the worms and bacteria something to munch on until I can get a couple fish in the tank. Hopefully tomorrow but we'll see... Still haven't hung the grow lights yet, work has been nuts, I've done 13 days straight and another 5 to go....

Well 6 koi are in the tank. They arent moving much though... Has me a bit worried if they'll make it... Its not very warm in the garage where they are located... Maybe only 2-3c. Anyone have any experience with koi in cold water?

Dayem that's cold!

No experience with water that temperature buddy sorry. But at 600 litres a nice big aquarium heater or two should really help don't you think? Will be a chunky bit of electricity though.

You can try to heat the garage using clay planters, many videos abound on youtube of how to its very simple and uses only a candle to give a significant amount of radiative heat.

I've found that the rock I'm using really tends to heat up/cool down with the system and am sure it muchs about with my overall water temperature. As the water is being repeatedly cylced through the media, again depends on what kind of GB you're running, the properties of the media is very relevant. The hydroton indoors shouldn't be a factor though.

Best of luck with your startup, do keep posting progress :]

Not a good day in the aquaponic world, only 2 of the 6 koi survived the first 21 hours
Not sure what the issue is, water quality looks ok (granted Ive been slacking and havent gotten any test strips yet )
The system came with a 300w heater, but it looks like it didnt work (cold to the touch after turning it on and after 12 hours)
After putting a thermometer in its reading 9c (that may be a little off though as it was within a foot of the new heater I just purchased today but it was only running for a few minutes before temp reading) so that should be an easily survivable tempeature for koi.
Had my dad come around for a look at the system and he thinks the pump is on its way out as its making a bit of noise when its on... Its a 1/6hp sump pump that's been on a timer (1hr on 1hr off) for about 6 months of operation (so I was told) It did dry out though and it had a bit of dried fish waste in it.
Media is a hydrocorn/hydrotron mix I think judging by what the closest aquaponic supplier had. Its a mixture of red round balls and rougher red bits with random shapes.

Not sure what to do now... I almost want to change the system (turn it into a chop) but with 2 surviving koi I dont want to harm them nor can I afford the extra expense right now after losing $40 of fish, having to replace the heater ($50) and probably having to replace the pump shortly ($100) plus getting a new air pump ($100) as the one that came with the system is a D cell backup unit for when the power goes out.
Maybe this wasnt quite as good of a deal as I thought

Chill out bro, you're not a fishkeeper till you've killed at least a 1000.

You can change up the system without hurting the koi, just put them into a temporary bucket or something for a day or two with an air stone while you do it.

Get confirmed readings on your temp and on your heater, try the heater indoors to be sure and in a separate socket so you know it's not a connection issue.

Get cheaper fish next time! Always good to get cheapos when cycling.

Try to take the pump apart and clean it properly, especially the propellor bit.

Don't touch heaters that are plugged in and turned on! Generally if you have a heater in the water don't put your hand in it, safety precaution.

Might be good to run the system without fish even for a bit to make sure no bad bacteria came in with your wet media.

Don't give up! This is standard system cycling, once you get it down growth will make it all worth it.

I checked the temp again and its still reading 9c.
The new heater is working (I see bubbles forming on it) so it was a dead heater issue. It is plugged into the same extension cord the pump is so I knew it wasnt a connection issue. Thx for the safety tip tho.

The system was ran for over a week with no fish to evaporate the chlorine. The worms in the system (they came with it) are doing ok so I had assumed they would show issues if there was too much bad bacteria.

The pump that is in the system is way overkill, its pumping 5000L/hr at the head hight its installed at so its 10x more than needed (5x if the timer is factored in but there isnt any need for the timer). So after thinking about it perhaps the pump is too strong and the koi couldnt swim away from it?

I got the koi as they were basically the same price as goldfish. Im not sure what other fish there is that could survive cold water. The only other option I knew of was feeder fish but they always have health issues. I saw at least 2 feeder fish which had what looked like fungal issues and another 3 that were on thier last legs. Didnt want those issues getting into my system.

I know that Bluegill will work and Yellow perch should work as well unless your set on ornamental fish of some sort.

Not set on ornamentals at all. I'd love edible fish, its just a case of whats available and what requires a licence or not. Eventually ill probably wind up with rainbow trout but its just a case of getting the licence for them.
I will look into if there is a supplier or not for bluegill and yellow perch. Thanks!