Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Looks like you're in good shape on the ammonia toxicity because of the low pH and temp but watch out for a nitrite spike as well .

Over the last few days I've been trying to bump up the ph with larger amounts of 8.2 water twice a day, then the morning tests show a pull back in ph even though I'd been adding calcium carbonate.

I went with Darren's suggestion and transferred a fish to the sy2 tank to see what would happen. I kept an eye on it every couple of hours as it went from 6.8 to 8.2. I trialed it for 24 hrs with no complaints so I transferred another 19 this morning, they fought for some feed then again this evening and all appeared cosy. I left 4 in sy3 tank to help keep things going.

System 3 update - the cabbages and broccoli are growing well now the temps have gone down. Some cabbage moths managed to lay some eggs so I inspect and remove any grubs every couple of days.
I've got 6 trout about 4-5" long feeding on 1 teaspoon of fish feed twice a day providing the nutes.
I've got about 20 broccoli plants spread around thel three systems as well as the 82 plus in the glass house.
The glass house got a clean and was repopulated last week, it's nice and warm in there.

there appears to be a lack of fish tank immediately outside and PVC piping in that greenhouse photo Pete.....

Behind them glass panels is wifeys domain so sneaking some space to raise AP seedlings is shifty indeed let alone starting another system.

haha, I'll just stick this seedling tray under this here shelf and she'll never know they are there! Oh wait... it's a glass house you can see them from outside! DOH!

The fish tanks are at 8-9 C these days as the mornings are around zero C, plants are going well but lost one of the six fish in Sy3 a couple of days ago it must have jumped out amazingly between the shade cloth and the edge of the tank. It was about 7 1/2" long. I made a new domed roof for the tank.

I moved the Broccoli tray out of the glass house to sit on the Sy2 bed a couple of weeks ago so the seedlings could acclimatize to the cooler weather.

I took some pics of the fish but they were too fast so I videoed them and got these two swimming towards me to grab some food before doing a flip and splashing water all over my phone.

The tapered bottom seems to be working well, you can see algae growth and undissolved calcium carbonate at the very bottom but most of the fish waste seems to get taken away. I haven't brushed it clean yet.

Here are some progress pics, some of the 5 remaining fish in Sys3 and the new roof.

I'm thinking of shuffling some fish soon.
I want to move a few of the largest 9'+ ones from FT2 to FT1 where there are the original seven survivors and move the remaining 5 in Sy3 into FT2.
This will free up Sy3 for the next batch and improve the balance of the fish to GB ratio .

It'd be even funnier if it did not happen often, silly us. Your system still looks amazing; Neat and professional looking.

I picked up my next batch of 30 Rainbow Trout this arvo.

In preparation I lined the insides of the tank with towels and had scrubbed it out a few days ago.

I did a water test this morning and the temp ranged between 3 and 5 degrees C.

All fish survived the 45 minute trip and while acclimatising I put one of the air stones in the bag.

They had no dinner and after watching them for a while an hour later I've left them alone, so we'll see how many survive the night.
Some of them are up around the 8"mark while most are between 4 & 6" so once they've adjusted to the new tank size I'll move the larger ones up to FT2

The last batch took a week to settle down so I'll start removing the towels about then.

I'm considering attaching an NFT system around the out side edge that would hold about 48 plants to help with the nute consumption.

Your system(s) looks amazing. I love the FT covers too.

Looks good Pete. One thing I did notice is that the Kale is showing an iron deficiency in your pics from the 15th (obvious in the 3rd picture) so you might want to foliar feed with iron chelate or maxicrop plus iron.

"Success 24 hrs no fatalities!"

The water was just 2 deg C this morning and I was not looking forward to pulling fish out but to my surprise they were happily swimming around.
Later around noon the sun was beating right into their tank so I took these pics then put the camera down and rested the right side of my chin on the side of the tank to get a look at their behaviour further down the covered part of the tank. Within 30 seconds they were swimming right up to my face just a few inches away and hovering there for 15 seconds then moving on.
Some were snoozing in the bottom V, some playing and darting in behind the towels while others cruised around like sharks.
I tucked the towels up higher to reduce the wicking effect as they drained more than an inch over night.
Thanks Boss and yes Scotty I have been adding Iron Chalete to the bed at 5grm per week for 3 weeks now. The cabbages and some of the broccoli looked a too light green.

Nice looking trout Pete. Hope they do well for you. I'm enjoying mine now