Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hmmm, so you're not an exhibitionist then

a little shade cloth on your balcony railing and noone will know what youre doing while youre smiling and waving at them!

Waving what at them?

his fish of course, what don't you wave your fish at people Rope?

just me cods mate... just me cods

fingerling?

Don't ask him to "get his trout out!"

No pics please!!!!!!!!!!!! cods fingerling? trout?

Hi all,

So today I added the gravel. As I don't own a wheelbarrow, that meant have a meter of blue steel gravel (10mm) shifted by the bucket!

A word to others, when you are carting around buckets of gravel to fill your grow beds, if you have any grow beds at the top of a flight of stairs, do those ones first! Walking up the stairs when already tired is not an enjoyable activity.

I have had to modify my design slightly. The outflow pipes were all linked together, but I have found that it was taking too long for the grow-beds to drain. I have had to add hoses for each bed so that it drains individually. At this stage it takes approx 6 mins for the grow beds to drain. I can adjust that as each bed has a tap in the outlet pipe. I will be adjusting the tap so that they take about 15mins to drain.

Tomorrow I am going to be adjusting the flows etc. Then cycling will start. I was at an aquarium last week and they have the bacteria for the grow-beds available by the bottle. Has anyone ever tried using them? I was thinking about using them to speed up the cycling process.

Simon

The bottled stuff would definitely help the cycling process, no one is sure exactly how much it will speed up the process. Keep in mind the bacteria will colonize and multiply proportionally to the amount of ammonia and nitrite in the water. So I would compliment the bottled stuff (which introduces the bacteria) with some goldfish or even the urine method... which seems to be very popular.

many times the bottled bacteria contains only heterotroph (sp?) type bacteria. They are still classed as nitrifying, but it is estimated thata single nitrosomonas bacteria can process 1 milion times the ammonia. Unfortunatly nitrosomonas and nitrobacter to not lend well to being stored for many months or years.

I "fishless cycled" in about two weeks using pure ammonia. Don't try it unless you are sure it is just ammonia and doesn't have surfactants or detergent or fragrance in it as well. If you shake the bottle and it foams then its bad, or if it has a pine or lemon smell.

Simon,

Just use a "trucker's friend"! Take an empty bottle or cup with you into the bathroom the next time you have to wee. (Make sure you have no plans to reuse the bottle or cup later though.) Then take your "fertilizer" out to the "pressure tank" (the bucket) and dump it in. No one on the highway or at the choke and pukes will no any better.

A word of warning! Those juice bottles half full alongside the road might not contain Apple Cider! :tongue6:

Kevin

When i was driving never had success with those juice bottles [neck to small ]

Most of the guys over here prefer certain brands because of the size of the opening to the bottle. Gatorade and one or two brands of water seem to be the favorites. Me, I just look for a spot that has a restroom during the day or do a "tire inspection" during the dark!

I was wondering if the large tub you had for the fish was one of those barrels that they use on the highway as a safety bumper. (Use them a lot in construction areas, and at the ends of bridge abuttments/piers.)

Kevin