Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks Pete, I've just been reading the dramas you had early on. So its an enouragement to hear from your experience. Like you I am hoping to try trout. How did you go with insulating your FT. Do you have any photos or tips?

Thanks Dave

Water chemistry is looking better today. Ammonia has dropped to zero.
Nitrites have dropped to 1.0ppm and nitrates have dropped to 20ppm

Strawberries are going mad flowering and fruiting. Chillis still look sad and rest are OK, not brilliant but doing fair. Plants seem to using the nitrates and the little bacteria are doing their job. Hopefully not long before fishies are able to call it home.

On another note I started on taking away the industrial look and going for the rustic look which SWMBO likes better. I made up hardwood rebated frames and then added tongue and groove brushbox flooring to the frames - all of which I scored for free

The flooring had been out in the weather for a while before I got it so it kinda adds to the rustic look. Not sure on whether to leave it as is or to apply a decking oil to it.

Can't do the FT yet as I am waiting on some polystyrene foam to insulate before I clad it.

Altered the pump position in the ST for batter access as it was hidden away in the corner and would be a pain for access for maintenance. Put a set of double 45 bends and moved it closer to the hatch position.

As I am tossing up between trout and silver perch I have been thinking of the air requirements. I have added a venturi to the return line to the FT and I am wondering if this is enough (plus the three auto siphons dumping and the return line from FT via RFF back into the ST). This would mean that some of the water being pumped back to the FT is already partially aerated and then is aerated some more via the venturi. Would this be enough for trout? I know trout require high DO levels. From what I can gather there are two possible options: You can see some of the aeration I am getting in the ST in the bottom picture.

1. Separate air pump with airstones
2. Separate smaller pond pump with a spray bar
I am thinking about running costs, reliability and best bang for buck (setup costs) and the noise factor.
What are peoples thought on this and recommendations?

On my back up pump (in event of blackout) I have the same venturi on the 12volt bilge pump (3400L/hr) that I have on the return line to the FT, but this could easily be converted to a spray bar if this was a better option for aeration when I lose power.

Nice job with the cladding, the system looks good

Hi Dave,
I'd be very careful about applying coatings to the wooden surfaces above the FT and GBs. It may soak in and look wonderful but later when it rains may release toxins into the water.

Insulation has the ability to slow down and minimize air flow which carries a different temperature. Generally speaking the best insulators are the most expensive but since I was trying the IBC's as FT's I didn't want to go overboard until I knew what I really needed.
I purchased translucent IBC's as they were easier to get, however they are light in colour which fish are not so happy with(not so sure about that now). In an attempt to get it darker in there and reduce some air flow I wrapped them with black coreflute and and shade cloth. Realizing this would attract the solar heat I covered all three tanks with two layers of a white tarp and the northern end with white coreflute. Worried about the mid summer heat I set up a framed beach cover over two southern most tanks which provided shade while allowing the breeze to go through.
I did use polystyrene sheets on the GB's to help keep them cool as well as trying to keep the water that flows through them cool. The highest I saw my FT water was 24.5 C. I used up to 30 lt ice to reduce to 22 C on the hottest few days in a row.

I've since obtained enough 140 mm thick polyurethane panels to build a cool room that could contain 3000 Lts of FT and filtration equipment. Recently, while observing the performance of the Sy3 FT I'm considering replacing the IBC FT's with rectangle tapered stainless self cleaning tanks.

Thanks Pete for the timely reminder. I remember reading that and forgot about it. Looks the "Natural" look will have to do. Maybe a clean off with the gerni every now and then to freshen it up when needed.

Any thoughts on the aeration aspects? I know you started with trout. What have you used and are you happy with it? Any improvements you would do?

Thanks Scotty. It was a condition of having the aquaponics when I spoke to wifey about using IBC's. It had to look good

I'm a believer of "ïf it works stick to it" and will research before I need to improve or replace it.

Unfortunately when I went to get a couple more Aqua Pro Air Pump Dual Outlet DC 300 with Rechargeable battery back up the supplier said they were unable to get them any more. So the search was on for a similar device.
I found many smaller capacities and non back up types before I found Hopar aerators which produce 3 L/m (720 L/H) from each outlet which operate in pairs, together and or two stages of time delays.
Just a quiet as the previous one, a little bigger and heavier but don't come with hoses or stones.
I'm running FTs 1&2 off the same pump, each being supplied by a pair of hoses and finger stones cable tied to the bottom of the SLO. I have one as a spare (imagine if you lost fish because you couldn't blow bubbles) and moved the Aqua Pro to Sy3.
I never run them at flat out, in hot weather at 90% and normally at 75%. The Hopar has a timer facility so it can turn itself on and off to save power but I don't use it because I don't yet understand if there'd be any benefit to the fish, unit or me.

Recently I purchased more trout and put them into Sy3 conversion tank. As previously (sy1) they were calm for the first couple of hours then started knocking themselves off by banging into the walls. After chasing my tail searching for a reason, I've concluded that its because they gone from the freedom of a very large tank into a small tank, then when they're excited or in flight mode they think they're still in the big tank.
At this stage I think its a good idea to line the inside of the tank with towels so that they can absorb the shock for a week while the new residents become accustom to the size (if they've come from a very large tank).

Pete

What does the following mean L/m & (L/H)??

Litres per minute & litres per hour, I put the L/H in brackets as the total capacity of the unit.

That's why I had a hard time figuring the following you wrote "I found Hopar aerators which produce 3 L/m (720 L/H)" so you have 4 ports at 3 L/m ea. = 720 L/H total?


"from each outlet which operate in pairs, together and or two stages of time delays." That threw me a loop.

Do you have a P/N for the Hopar aerator?

Correct.
The model number is LD-10000. There was a smaller capacity with only 2 ports as well.

I did a bit more cladding on the grow beds today and basically finished these. Also made a hinged lift up cover over the portion of the sump tank visible. This makes a seat/storage area when it is down and provides an access hatch to the sump tank when needed.

I went out yesterday morning to conduct my first harvest from the aquaponics to get the nice red strawberry that was growing but was beaten to it by a bird. Damn early birds. I have some netting in the shed that I will have to dig out and string up.

All my sugar peas and snow peas have little baby pods. I hadn't even noticed that they were flowering.

I put in some silver beet on Sunday and it was a bit how you going when I bought it from the Big Green Shed, as I don't think they know how to water their seedlings, but I noticed tonight all the limp leaves have firmed up and are standing tall.

I am not sure but I think I may be cycled. My nitrates went down quickly and then I added some more urea after testing last night

Th results tonight show no ammonia, little nitrites and again high nitrates. I will test again tomorrow morning. I forgot to take a photo before I tipped out the results but the ammonia was yellow, Nitrites were pale mauve and Nitrates were blood red.

Any way those of you who have more knowledge can interpret the figures and the graphs and let me know.

So it means your bacteria is busy converting nitrites into nitrates while there is not much to consume the nitrates. They'll sit there in storage until consumed.

You're not quite cycled, but you're getting there - you need the nitrite test to be pure clear blue. Since you added urea yesterday it won't have converted through into ammonia yet (remember it takes 2-4 days), so keep testing; if you've got enough bacteria grown to take care of it as soon as it shows up, you won't get an ammonia spike. If you do get an ammonia spike, you need to give them some more time to grow.

That's the low range pH test there, right? It's showing the top of its range, so it'd be a good idea to test again with the high range pH test, to see what your levels actually are.

Yay for growing plants, and boo for strawberry-stealing birds!

Thanks Mel. I have been testing the high range pH as well. Those results are in the speadsheet.
Yeah I was looking forward to the strawberry too. I will drag out the netting tomorrow as there are a few more coming along. It might help with some shading as well as the plants are in full sun most of the day until late afternoon.

BTW I read your thread on the other forum the other day. You are a champion building your system with the arthritus difficulties and all. Good on you for going at it like you did.