Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Everybody, I’m new here and new to aquaponics, I’ve built a chop and flip system, my grow bed is 1.2 x 1 x 300, I have filled the bed with clay balls, when the bed is full the siphon initiates at 250, the layer on top remains dry as desired, my problem being that the entire bed is now floating on about 50mm of water, so now the entire bed and plants go up and down with the fill and drain, how can I fix this issue?

Try running it constant flow for a while and see if the Hydroton soaks up more water and doesn’t float so easily.

You may also have noticed that plants go missing since they fall over and become buried in the expanded clay.

Best way to fix this is to reduce the water level in the grow bed so that all the expanded clay remains on the bottom of the grow bed - so long as the roots can reach the water. There is enough weight from the media above to keep the expanded clay in position as long as you don't put too much water in the bed at once. Not all expanded clay has this trouble but it's fairly common - usually the clay will float up less and less as it ages. If you're having any troubles with the siphons not breaking then change to Constant Flood (media will float up when the siphon doesn't break). A lot of us have switched to Constant Flood since it makes expanding the system easier (don't have to keep enlarging the sump every time your system grows).

Thanks for helping

Hi, I can’t seem to get my bad amonia levels down, I did 3 water changes over 2 weeks, the last being 80%
I tested the replacement water before hand and levels were good
I’ve slowed the feed down to 1 small feed per day
20 small Talapia mossies in 500l of water
Please help, I’m pulling my hair out

Oh and I also salted 500g salt to 500l fish tank to protect my fish.

Was your system your system cycled before adding the fish? If not there isn't much you can do but keep doing water changes and wait, you should see nitrites next and keep doing water changes until the nitrites drop to 0/trace amounts.

Funny thing is, I am already showing 140 nitrate NO3 which is also high, my ph is good at 6.8 - 7 my plants don’t seem to be taking up the nutrients as the leaves are getting yellowish with green veins

Probably an iron deficiency if it's the new leaves that are turning yellow first. Iron and potassium are pretty common deficiencies when just starting. Pictures would help.

Need some more info for the ammonia issue and tell where you're at toxicity wise -
Water Temp?
Ammonia level?

There is a chart located here if you don't already know about it - http://ibcofaquaponics.com/information/tables-and-charts/

You might want to let some of the top up water sit around for 24hrs then test it for ammonia. I doubt you'll find any change but you never know. Does the top up water have chloramines added? Stop feeding the fish if you haven't. Any dead fish in the system or other organic matter will generate ammonia as it decomposes so check for this as well.

Hi, no chlorine and no amonia in top up water, I test it before doing the change, water temp 23 deg celcious
No2 is 1, NO3 is 140, NH4 is 0.05, KH is 3, Ph 6.4

This is kinda what it looks like

My Grow bed

It looks like you have multiple deficiencies.

It could be down to,the system hasn't cycled yet & there's not enough nutrients in there yet or the fish food.

You also have some greedy plants in there,they use a lot of nutrients.

What are you feeding the fish?


Is it the API NO3 test?

Jbl test kit and I’m feeding high protein pellets, gone down to 1 small feed per day.

OK, so it looks like you have an iron deficiency and a potassium deficiency (and perhaps some other deficiencies due to the low feed levels). The ammonia levels as currently tested aren't a problem. What were the ammonia levels when you were having troubles getting them down? If they were the same as what you have now then it's not an issue at your current pH and temp. If the temp or pH goes up or the ammonia reading goes up then check the table here to see if the ammonia levels are in the toxic range - http://ibcofaquaponics.com/information/tables-and-charts/

Assuming that your ammonia levels were roughly what they are now, then you can feed again - just don't let the total ammonia reading go into the toxic range or you may lose some fish.

Another thing you may want to do is spray apply iron and/or potassium. Many types of iron can be spray applied. If you want to add iron to the system water then you need to use a version that is available at the pH of your system water (your pH is low enough that finding something that works probable won't be difficult - people with higher pH's usually use FeEDDHA). Potassium bicarbonate would work for the potassium.

Deficiencies like this are pretty common in new systems, takes awhile for a reservoir of nutrients to build up. Feed quality can cause nutrient deficiencies. If the feed isn't designed for growth or is only designed as a supplemental feed for fish then often it doesn't have the nutrients needed. The feed quality may be good but low feeding levels can be the cause of nutrient deficiencies in the plants.