Aquaponic update some lost fish plans for the pipes

A few Goldfish deaths :(

Lost a goldfish a few weeks ago & found 2 more laying on the bottom of the tank on Monday..
I had no idea at the start as to what could of caused the deaths so went looking online for some idea of what it could of been.. I came across a few sites with the one listed bellow being fairly comprehensive in its listing of different diseases & their symptoms..
http://www.csh.rit.edu/~tonyl/goldfish/testarea/symptoms.htm


I had no idea what might have caused the deaths at the time but am now fairly certain it was a sudden drop in water temp that may have caused them to perish..  Another theory put forward by a viewer is that it could of just been tired after mating... Apparently, as the gills & eyes looked so healthy this could of been a possibility.. Have never read of this happening before & really hope I didnt bury a few fish alive..  The goldfish are destined to go to a new home soon I dont know if I will get to test this theory.. 

Update walk through..
Bit late I know but here is the latest update clip for the aquaponic set up..


I found sometime this week to finely sort out how I will be altering the pipe work on the system so that all the water will run through a filter to remove solid fish waste & un eaten food..
One of the first things to make up was the 90° elbow units..

At the moment I am using normal 90° fittings on the pipes to redirect the water but it was pointed out to me that making up these nifty little units out of 2 x 45° elbows will let the water flow a lot more efficiently increasing flow rates throughout the whole system.. An upside to that is I think I can now down size the pump to one that should be slightly cheaper to run..


 As the system can’t be left off line for any length of time I have been making up these elbows & pre fabricating the other pieces needed so they can be added on all in one go..  I really want a whole day set aside for this just in case any unforeseen events arise needing extra parts & time to finish the job.. 


Thats about it for now as I really should be out there harvesting the Yacon..For more regular updates & pictures from the patch come visit us on our Bits Out the Back Face book page..
Thanks & take it easy all..
Rob..

Read More..

Why I wont get fish for now and compost tea experiment

The farm from above

Its been over a month and half now that I have set up the tower farm. In the process of cycling, I have discovered that eggshell can release ammonia (I should have guessed right ?), that pH drops quickly once the beneficial bacteria are established, and that the pH climbs back up in absence of new ammonia. I have also lost my green onion and basil.

The farm from bellow

pH has decreased then increased since no new ammonia was added

Since the system has "cycled", I have hesitated in what fish to get. I will not get fish for now. Why that ? After all the point aquaponics it to get fish to right ?
The reason is that I decided to have an apprenticeship about aquaponics with  Citizen Schools and while discussing with the Citizen Schools people, the fish seemed to be a down side for my plan, so I ruthlessly removed the fish from the picture.

Citizen schools is an association that brings professionals to teach after hours classes (apprenticeships and other programs) to selected middle schools in NYC. Only schools that have 85% of student who are eligible for free or reduced lunch due to their parents low income. Since the fall semester I have been volunteering there for an apprenticeship where we teach our students about heart health. Anyway, A few weeks back I proposed to have an apprenticeship where we would build an aquaponic system with the students and learn about the basic science behind it. So after discussion with the school staff I settled for an "other"ponic system, instead.


Since my all point about starting the system was not only to grow some food at home, but also on a sustainable manner, hydroponic seems like a bad alternative to aquaponics. From the sustainability point of view, hydroponic seems a bit difficult given the need to do full water change, and the need for concentrated fertilizers. An Internet search for compost tea tends to make one inclined to believe that compost tea is the panacea for organic gardening, because of beneficial microbes and a balanced NPK. This is why I have been experimenting with compost tea.

The farm has cycled, and nitrate dropped to 0

I have been making compost tea in the last 3 week ends, increasing the amount of worm compost each week. After "brewing" the tea, I measure the amounts of nitrate and ammonia. So far, I was not able to have a nitrate (or ammonia) level above the detection limit. last week end, I have "brewed" a compost tea using 1/4 of a cup of worm compost, 1 table spoon of molasseses (unsulfured) and shredded seaweeds in 2 cups of water, brewed it for a day and half. After a days and half, it still smelled like molasseses (I like that smell).  I also added some of this greengrow plant food, very diluted. Because I have just seen the nitrates dropping, I decided to add some ammonia source, I though about eggshells, but the pH has increased to 7.4; so given the pka of 9 for calcium carbonate (witch is what eggshells are made of)  I am not sure it is a good idea. Instead I bough a 1/2 gallon bottle of ammonia at the dollars store and added one mL (a bit less than 1/4 of a teaspoon) of it on Monday and Tuesday ( gave ~ 1 ppm reading) nothing yesterday, and now ammonia is back to 0. I will keep adding 1ml everyday for now, until I figure out how to make a strong enough compost tea (if that is possible).
I am keeping track of my experiment hoping that I could make a sustainable "tea"ponic system for the school.

Read More..

Aquaponic update vlog with lazy fish winter tomatoes

Has been nearly 3 months since the last aquaponic vlog update so here you go folks.
Winter has struck here & the fish are starting to get a tad lazy due to the cold water but the plants are still growing strong.

The tomatoes have had another trim today with a few branches strung up due to the weight of the new fruit forming.
Have noticed that the water level is dropping a bit more than normal so shall be investigating to see if there are any leaks developing on the pipe work. Im hoping that its just just the growth spurt weve seen over the past week or so that is causing the increased water usage.

Best be off & start working in the patch.
Cheers & all the best folks.

Read More..

Aquaponic update Water quality Algae bloom testing Buffering pH Happy Fish

Time for a bit of an update on the water quality issues the system was having last week..
I think time was all that was needed for the cloudy water to rectify itself & I sort of stressed myself out for nothing as it wasnt an algae bloom like I thought.. At least I got to learn a few more things about system management & in particular how to test for an algal bloom.
Would like to thank Paul from Earthan group again for taking time out of his busy schedule to give me a call & a hand in working out what was going on.. They can also be found on Face Book..





Will finish off the buffering filter over the next week or so & shall show you what I come up with..

For more regular updates about the patch come visit on our Bits Out the Back Face Book page..
Have a great one All...
: )»

Read More..

Have fish will grow

This is one post I am very happy to be able to do as I think we are finely there… It has taken us a while but I am now happy with the way the Aquaponic system is going… The last 2 grow beds have finely been plumbed into place after being used first as de chlorinating trays then being invaded by tadpoles… Although it was great to see 2 different species of frogs use them to grow into fully functioning members of the amphibian community it is great to see them used for their intended purpose…To begin with we were tossing up with the idea of using gravel in the grow beds but as We already had 3/4 of a bed worth so it & had been very frugal in other parts of the budget we decided on splurging on Aqua Clay for these 2 beds…  The pipe work was another part of the system that I had been undecided on… Initially I wanted to stay away from ridged pipes but found them the best way to plumb up the system.. The clip bellow brings you up to where we are up to at the moment…

Something I didn’t mention in the clip is that the Ammonia & Nitrites are only showing trace readings at best & the Nitrates are not really showing up at all.. The pH has been stable at 6.5 so thats also good.. Fairly happy about that as it means all the nutrients are being used up by the plants.. It will be something I shall be monitoring over the next week though with the added grow medium..
The first thing that was planted into the new beds was some purple Vienna kohlrabi & some rainbow chard seedlings… The first bed had some of the strawberries thinned out & moved over with all but 1 green onions also being transplanted as well..  I must say that I had no idea how many strawberry runners had taken hold I the original bed.. There are now over 25 from the original 5 or 6 that were planted in there originally.. All the smaller spring onions got a trim then were planted out into Bed #1.. All but 1 of the larger ones got a trim & were planted into a new Grow bed..  The one that was left is being  used as a guinea pig for a detergent based aphid spray along with the bulls horn Capsicum & the Chinese red shallots we got from a You tuber on the Sunshine Coast.. I think the Strawberries shall be pulled soon & added to a grow tube or 3 to make room for more greens in the beds in the future..
The only part left of the system that really should have been completed is the backup air system for the fish tank just in case of a power failure.. We have the pump & the Relay used to allow power from the car battery to run the pump... All that we need is the battery itself & a small 9v adaptor to run the Relay..  We have the sparky lined up to set up a permanent power supply to the patch & a utility light for night time viewing as well as attracting fresh insect food for the Jade perch.. The only thing stopping the power being laid is my motivation & a few extra coins in the jobbies jar to pay the sparky..

Thats about it for now... Shall try to post at least once a month for anyone who is still following..
Have a great one....

: )»

Read More..

Time for an aquaponic system update the first fish harvest

Did another backyard aquaponic system update last week.. Its all travelling along rather nicely at the moment & am happy to report there have been no dramas as of late..  **knocks on wood**
Plant growth is still coming along nicely even though the temperatures have been dropping a bit.. Thinking we are still right to plant out a few more seeds though..

Should have the site for the mini fish farm all sorted by the next update hopefully..

Have taken the first 4 perch from the system to share at a bit of a family get together over the weekend.. 3 were not the largest but wasnt expecting too much.. Might pull a few more over Winter but not sure yet, shall see how we go..

Information on the iki jime method of despatching fish can be found here
http://www.ikijime.com/
& is well worth the look I think.

For more regular updates & pictures from the patch come visit us on our "Bits Out the Back" Facebook page..
Have a great one All...
Rob..

Read More..

Aquaponic IBC system update Cooling down the fish

With the high temperatures we have been having the water in the fish tank has been slowly rising to the 30°C/86°F mark... This is outside the comfort range of the Jade perch & I was getting worried about the amount of dissolved oxygen they had available so needed a quick fix.. Found a very easy fix by doing next to nothing at all..

Might contemplate adding some frozen bottles of water into the tank to try & help reduce the water temperature tomorrow..

Have a good one all...
: )»

Read More..