Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks for the heads up TimC. The flow out from the autosiphons in the beds to the sump splashes a hell of a lot and the return from the sump to the beds agitates the water of the tank.

I have actually bought a air pump but haven't put it in. No fish at the surface gulping for air so it's ok for now.

But I guess as temperatures rise and the fish grow I'll probably need something extra, I'll put it in ASAP (or I might get one of those battery backed ones).

Dad tested it for me yesterday:

Ammonia was less than 0.25 and close to zero.
Nitrate was somewhere above 5 but less than 10.
(Didn't measure nitrite).

No casualties.
I planted some seedlings to start sucking up the nutes.

I also fixed one of the autosiphons. It wasn't working and I'd spent hours trying to get it right, and at about 1:30am as I was drifting off to sleep I woke up and said "I've got it"! For the autosiphon to break properly, it needs to suck air up through the drain pipe, and I had a slight angle on it so it remained filled with water and unable to pull the air through to break the siphon! So I fixed that and it works perfectly! Nothing to do with inflow/outflow rates at all!

The autosiphon resistance movement will triumph one day!!!!!

Another one that tips it on its side and wonders why it won't work....or lets the GB legs sink so that it topples



Today Gemmell.....tomorrow EB (converted to the bell )

I blame the sinking legs on john howards unwillingness to address climate change

good enough excuse there Steve

Two hitches last night:
1) My RCD killed the power to the pump between when my Dad checked it at 1pm and when I got there at 7pm, hence my sump overflowed with water and the tank was 1/4 full. Thankfully because the siphons get less effective as the water level goes down, they didn't empty the tank completely.

I was real pissed off, so I removed the RCD. But then mum said she'd been moving rocks over where my cord was running.... maybe it saved her life? So I put it back on. Anyone else had problems with RCD's giving "false positives" and cutting out?

2) Rats/Mice got into my koi feed. Had to move it inside.

I'm assuming that an RCD is the same as a GFI - Ground Fault Interrupt. It kills the power if it detects a fault in the circuit. I have had them cut out when I was working on the system, but never without provocation. I'll keep mine, thanks.

Just ask your Mom to double-check the system if she has been working in the area.

RCD = GFI as far as I know.

Good sound advice there.

Now for some photos:
My veg at 1 week!



My revised sump (much simpler).
A trickle:

A autosiphon going:

I need to go there during the day sometime to be able to get some good photos and to show you all the extent of the changes (and the fish!)

what sort of night time temps are u getting there gemmell?

Minimums of about 5 degrees C at the moment. No idea how cold the water is getting, don't particularly want to go out there and measure it at 4am =)

Fish seem happy though.

Come on! - take one for the team
the temps won't change much between 4am and 8am - so what are your 8am(ish) temp readings in the fish tank

Damn. I thought I was going to get away without mentioning this and showing how much of an amatueur I really am.... I don't have a thermometer. I'll get one soon! Honest!

BUSTED

The night temps are still fairly low here (about , but the day temps are now high. This has meant that I can now have the GBs running again all night. After running beds all night, temp this morn of tank at about 9am was 19.6C and at 6pm tonight 26.6C. Needless to say, I have now decided to also turn of the little fish heater that is in the tank, because eventhough it turns off at about 22C, is better to let the tank cool down a bit more at night to stop the day temps getting too high. Will soon also reverse the panda so white side is out and black is in.