Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

This is my starter/testing system for AP with a ~30 gallon FT, 3 growbeds, and 1 DWC/NFT tube. It's been running about a week and a half. Including sump, growbeds, and tube there are about 70-75 gallons of water in the system in total.

Right now it has 4 goldfish in it, I'll probably add a few more once it's cycled.

In the growbeds I have some lettuce (Bibb and Romaine) and some carrots I had overwintering that I transplanted in.

Water stats so far:
Temp: mid-60s (Fahrenheit)
pH: 7.8-8.0 (well & rain water)
Ammonia: holding between 0.15-0.25
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: haven't bothered testing yet since it's a new system

I've also added 3 tablespoons of Maxicrop which has added a little brown tint to the water.

Now for the good stuff (pictures lol):

_________________
LowCarbTNPer's Systems: [v3] [v2] [v1]

Arduino UNO Data Sender / Logger

More pics:

_________________
LowCarbTNPer's Systems: [v3] [v2] [v1]

Arduino UNO Data Sender / Logger

Nice! Are your grow beds cement mixing trays?

Yep, they certainly are. I was trying to go on the cheap and I found them at Lowe's for $14/each. Also got the FT/storage tote there for $25, it's much sturdier than other tote's I've tried and doesn't bulge from the water at all (unlike the sump tank you see underneath the table lol).

Just in case anyone else is interested in the future the Lowe's part # for the grow beds is 19252 and the FT is 337471.

_________________
LowCarbTNPer's Systems: [v3] [v2] [v1]

Arduino UNO Data Sender / Logger

Nice strudy tote indeed. I have a rubbermaid tote that I have some tilapia fingerlings in and does it ever bow out on the sides. Didn't do that until a few days after filling it up. Have you planted anything yet?

A little bit, mainly lettuce and transplanted in some carrots that were overwintering in pots.

_________________
LowCarbTNPer's Systems: [v3] [v2] [v1]

Arduino UNO Data Sender / Logger

Nice, keep us updated.

The lettuce has been coming up a lot, but other than that no changes really.

pH still staying in the 7.8-8.0 range, the system has been kept topped up by the rain so I haven't added any more well water or anything.
Ammonia: still holding between 0.15-0.25
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

_________________
LowCarbTNPer's Systems: [v3] [v2] [v1]

Arduino UNO Data Sender / Logger

We've moved to phase 2 of cycling, finally getting nitrite and nitrate readings.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 5+ (liquid was bright purple in API test kit)
Nitrate: between 0 and 5ppm, ~2.5?

After I saw how high the nitrite was I did a 25% water change to try to bring that down, don't want the fish dying.

_________________
LowCarbTNPer's Systems: [v3] [v2] [v1]

Arduino UNO Data Sender / Logger

Wow, can't beleive it's been a month since my last update.
A few days after my last post my system was fully cycled, I get 0 amm/nitrite and usually 0 or very low nitrate. I added more goldfish bringing my total up to 9; and since my nitrate is nearly always zero I've started feeding them 2x a day in hopes of bring that up a bit (more fertilizer for the plants lol).

Anyway, on to the pics:

_________________
LowCarbTNPer's Systems: [v3] [v2] [v1]

Arduino UNO Data Sender / Logger

Quick update...

Amm/Nitrite/Nitrate: 0 (make me want to add more fish, Nitrate is never more than 0)
pH: 7.3/7.4

Plants are doing good, got the first flowers blooming on my tomatoes and yellow squash. Little baby beans on my bush beans.

_________________
LowCarbTNPer's Systems: [v3] [v2] [v1]

Arduino UNO Data Sender / Logger

Before adding more fish to a system which already "doing good", try using a higher protein feed and see if the better quality feed has an impact of your levels.


Scott

_________________
2008-2009: Experimental, NFT
2010-2012: IBC system(s)
2012-Now : 1000L FT, 500L GB, CF, no additional filters

SkyPE: wabbit.com.au

Ok, I'll try that first.

_________________
LowCarbTNPer's Systems: [v3] [v2] [v1]

Arduino UNO Data Sender / Logger