Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Liked the sequence of additional GBs draining into sump tank, looks like you need the pump to kick in earlier - have fun and good luck on the house

Yeh, I've since got it starting & stopping pretty reliably. The float still rubs against the side of the bin though, so I'm a little worried it'll actually stick one day and the pump will run dry. Will work out a solution before I get it going 24/7.

Settled into my new house - time to get back to Aquaponics.

I took a couple of sick days and went over to Mum & Dads to find that my greenhouse had been destroyed by high winds. This time though it was because it was pressing the sides of the greenhouse in and they were actually sliding along the white poles which are supposed to keep them apart! Anyway, I fixed that by putting in pins either side.

I put a large peice of plastic over the top, replacing 2 pieces with 1 should make it more wind resistant.

I replaced the 2 bin system with a bigger bin (simplicity is best).

I re-siliconed all the barrels, still got one small leak.

I replaced the garden hose with 19mm poly pipe.

I have bought 19mm taps for the poly pipe, so I'll be able to adjust the flow rate.

Photo's to come. Hopefully I'll get my grubby hands on it this weekend. Otherwise I'll fall horribly ill again.

Option One sounds like the best one

I'm busy going to airports and playing soccer Saturday and I have a friend coming over Sunday to help me set up my home cinema (roof mount projector and speakers)....gah, I'm feeling a little ill right now, I'm going take an early mark!

Been reading about air lift pumps, the bernouli effect etc, and whilst it's all very rad and I learnt alot, I've come to the realisation that I don't need any of it.

Because I'm using the good old siphon effect to get the water from the tank to the beds through 19mm poly pipe, I'll have ample room (and suction) to lift solids. The only problem might be the solids getting caught in the partially closed taps.

Will still need to put an aerator in there && hopefully I can get that powered off solar (I have 240V there, but I want to go solar eventually...)

It's been running for nearly a week non-stop. Yesterday I seeded the beds with some material from our fish tank and slowly introduced 50 newly delivered Koi Carp. As of midday today I have no casualties.

I didn't put in salt before introducing the fish on my brothers advice, he said that I should introduce salt slowly so they can aclimatise properly.

Its good to finally get the actual system underway. Photo's to come when my girlfriend brings back my camera from her holiday.

i thought the point with the salt was so you dont aclimatise the itch thus meaning that you need to add it all at once

Oh.

That is spot on.

Ok, well it's day 2 and I've no casualties. 1000L tank, should I bang in 3kgs salt? (according to these forums the recommended dosage seems to be 3-4ppt).

I got some test kits:

Ammonia 0.25
PH 7
Nitrite 0
Nitrate < 5

This seem fairly healthy for a cycling system?

Not sure with Koi and/or if they're not exhibiting an "flashing" or other weird behaviours then you probably don't need to salt...

But yes if you were going to then 3kg is what you'd need.

Watch your ammonia figures though... if you're cycled then maybe you need to ease back on the feed a little

I don't think its cycled yet. Will ease off on the food and just keep an eye on the ammonia as suggested.

All 50 of my Koi hang around the hose housing. It's the only thing in the tank, so you look at this 1000L tank and it looks completley empty, then you move the hose housing and find 50 fish.... it's odd. I think I need to put something else in there for them to hide in.

Koi need a LOT of oxygen. Get the water returns to make as much splashing as possible on the surface of he water. Maybe add an airstone. See if that helps.