Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Nahhh I'm confused .. big time.. all my tested have been: pH 7.6, ammonia: 0, nitrite: 0 and nitrate: 0 ...

I can not see my tank bottom under 1/2 .. way too dark.. I'm un-sure if the other fish alive or dead ...

I'm just hoping dead fish float...

I think it might be that I killed the algae too fast, someone mentioned to me last week that killing the algae too fast isn't good ....... but yeah only that has changed.... everything else has stayed pretty much the same over the last 4 weeks ..... the algae has died off a lot, it's just a shame 2 fish has as well

Edit: I'm thinking that I might have to drain the tank so I can have a look at the fish.. I know that is drastic but I can't see below half way of the tank .... I don't mind having to start over but I'm also thinking that might be a stupid idea ... that said tho', it makes sense to me to drain the tank2/3rds considering I can't see below half way.... nor can anybody else for that matter

Just re cap.

pH 7.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nirate 0 (slightly higher these last two weeks)

Anyways..

My tank is 1500 litres. Right now it is full to 1200 litres.
Over the last week I have killed off a noticeable amount of my algae, using some metal sheets (shade) and lots of water circulation in the form of a big diy fountain.
I'm feeding my 3 goldfish and 10 silver perch about 3-4 large (heaped) tablespoons per day.
My vegetables that I have in the grow bed a thriving atm

Ooooookay I am really surprised by those test readings then, because that is a LOT of food for that many fish! Really, really lots. I have about ten goldfish (four of which are huge) and around 40 silver perch, and I feed them about a tablespoon and a half worth of food at the most, less on days like the last couple where the water temperature is out of their comfort zone. If I fed them much more than that I'd expect to see short-term ammonia spikes, because that's what my grow beds can filter - I'm building more and will have more flexibility in food amounts when I get them up and running.

Are you using floating or sinking food? If it's floating, do you see it still in the tank uneaten later in the day? If you aren't sure if the other fish are alive, I'm guessing you don't see them coming up to eat when you feed? It's best if you only give them as much as they'll clean up in a few minutes (though you can do that multiple times a day if you want, just so long as there isn't leftover food hanging around for long). Uneaten food sitting around in your tank or washing into your growbeds will rot or grow fungus, which you really don't want.

Another thought - what's your water temperature? If you're having hot weather like a lot of places lately, that could also be part of the problem...

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Redcap Builds A System

Sorry Mel I meant teaspoons.

I agree about being really surprised about those test readings.

I started out giving all the fish probably half a teaspoon of crushed up pellets so they are disappearing regardless but it was the 20kgs food that I got with the tank set up .... but yes seeing as I've been testing the water at least every 72 hours, I was expecting an ammonia spike to happen and was very careful the amount I fed the fish after reading about I'm eating fish food turning into ammonia ....... so yeah I was kinda careful about how much food I was putting in the tank.......

That said I think I know what it might be that caused my problems, I just emptied out 1/3 of the tank and so that the 3 goldfish are alive... but that there were two other dead fish....... the water that they were swimming in the was very dirty, see because I'm in a wheelchair I don't have the best reach and that means not properly clean the bottom of the tank it seems ..... obviously the people who were helping me were not doing a very good job of it, but the person helping me clean the tank today, just now said ''jeez man I think you need a filter'' but I kinda knew cos I had a hunch that it wasn't getting cleaned properly each week but didn't give it a 2nd thought ....

I'm not sure if dirty water can kill fish but after looking at it I'm sure that it could cause them quite a few different problems that I'm unaware of ........ ohhh as for temps here in Perth has been cool the last few days

Oh phew

Huh! Dirty water, yeah, that's not good. It might be mostly dead algae that hasn't been cleared out yet, but even if that's what it is, it means your water isn't filtering properly through your growbeds. Either you don't have sufficient turnover through your tank and/or your pump isn't picking everything up, or solids are washing straight through your beds and being returned to the fishtank. If your system is working properly you really shouldn't need to clean things out every week at all.

Adding a filter might help, or it might just be a matter of fixing something else that's not working right.

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Redcap Builds A System

*reads back through the thread*
Okay, your pump should definitely be putting more than enough water through your growbed to turn over the tank volume fast enough. The picture you posted looked like it's got a fairly fine screen on its intake, so I'm guessing it's just not picking up the solids and putting them into the growbed; if it's got any sort of pre-filter on it on top of that, like foam inside the plastic etc, it won't pick them up at all.

Do those fine holes on it get clogged up with solids, or do they collect elsewhere on the tank floor? If you can get the pump itself to pick up solids (take out any foam filter it's got inside, maybe make bigger holes) and swirl the water in the tank to bring solids to it (direct the water coming from your growbed to one side and put the pump where solids collect) at the very least it should improve things and make it easier to clean.

I don't know if your pump is actually one that will handle solids, too. Some pumps aren't designed to push anything but clean water; fish poo is generally small and fairly soft so with any luck it won't be an issue!

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Redcap Builds A System

simply turning water over will keep lose material suspended.

so two issues are - are the pumps adequately pulling in material from across the pond floor (to your grow bed)
and are you getting enough circulation of simply causing solids to be suspended.

can you describe how your pump is set up or even better a picture of it.
what works, if pump supports it, is to put a length on PVC onto the pump to get better flow into the pump.

as you have a circular pond you really want a bit of circular current feeding a pipe extending across the bottom of the pond.

>> I'm not sure if dirty water can kill fish
maybe not but you probably have bacteria etc as well. And that is not so good for them.

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Darren ( dlf_perth )

May the fish sh*t and the plants grow.....

OK guys cheers for the feedback.

Darren I will get a photo of how my pump is set up and get back to you.

No the pump does not get clogged up at all that was the first thing I thought too. Either they are passing straight through the pump or they are collecting, suspended in the bottom 1/3 of the tank..... not sure myself tbh.




I will get a picture later but I will try to explain right now my setup... as you know I have a 1500 later FT and a 1.2mx1.2mx40cm 500 liter? grow bed. It's a suburban Aquaponics setup, medium sized one........ the pump in the main tank is just placed right next to the wall the tank, in the same area that the water returns from by gravity ... the grow bed is slightly overhanging the main tank. Put any thought into thought about the placement of the pump, so it's possible that only one side of the tank is getting circulated and the other is collecting debris/general muck/solids in the form of an eaten fish food and fish waste.



That would solve the problem of one side of the tank being circulated and the other side collecting debris/general muck/solids etc .... when you say "a bit of secular current feeding a pipe extending across the bottom of the pond" ..... what do you mean? ( I understand better what you mean, cheers for the diagram)

I'm pissed with myself.

I'm currently having decking being installed [over the last few weeks] and somebody must taken out aerator but unfortunately for the fish didn't put the plug back in properly. The extra aeration from the water splashing added some aeration but only for some. See usually I ask my son if he sees bubbles in the tank, he knows to check seeing as tho three fish are his but without both my wife and son, checking the tank for bubbles isn't regularly done as I can see into the tank until the decking done .... I'm in a wheelchair+shit terrain=no access atm .. but jeez I'm pissed off with myself tho

Net is bought and I'm going switch pumps, then add a grow bed or tower.

I wonder if the reason why the lettuce have been growing so fast is because of the extra nutrients from the dead fish?

Plants are doing good-real good, a corner well and truly turned fingers crossed .. real happy here

got any updated photos ?

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Darren ( dlf_perth )

May the fish sh*t and the plants grow.....

So the backyard has been rearranged. The layout is:

 

 

 

it was more like this before..

I find it way better, so it wasn't forced on me this moving around of the tank and growbed. Personally it means (for me) easier access to the growbed now that its resting on a basic frame not the fancy wrought iron table it was before - not to mention its closer to the mains, so no need for 10 meter of extention cord to run the pump....... all in all I'm very happy with everything, the water cleared up too and that pleases me much as it was so green for so long.. ohhh as for the fish they are healthy and growing nicely but I think the pellets I'm using are too big or too fine when crushed up, what sort of food would be ideal for 3x goldfish and 5x silver perch (all around 15cm of size) .. 3mm pellets? ... the food I have is ok but the fish are growing a bit slower than I expected .. thats all.

Ohhhhh as other features up coming lol, I had half buried an IBC container and I'm going to store rainwater in there and hope use that water running thur a drip irrigation set up.. pond water from the main tank could be used that way too in the garden when its not raining for example. That is also another reason why I moved the main tank tbh, it gave me the space to store IBC container up the back.