Joblow's System Update 11

joblow

Thanks Nhibbo, 12,500 litres, wow! that's some water change. It will hurt even more when the water bill comes. :support:

We've all done it, I've never done it a second time touch wood, once is enough. :think:

joblow

I lost one of the smallest Rainbow Trout overnight due to nitrite poisoning, so tomorrow I will harvest 10 of the largest fish to help take the load off the system.

boss

I didn't realize 15C can cause such havoc with the biofilter.
Makes me wonder if we can get a more cold hardy Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas?
You got my curiosity peaked http://www.bioconlabs.com/nitribactfacts.html
Okay never mind another stupid question by yours truly, you are correct again
"Temperature
The temperature for optimum growth of nitrifying bacteria is between 77-86° F (25-30° C).

Growth rate is decreased by 50% at 64° F (18° C).

Growth rate is decreased by 75% at 46-50° F.

No activity will occur at 39° F (4° C)

Nitrifying bacteria will die at 32° F (0° C).

Nitrifying bacteria will die at 120° F (49° C)

Nitrobacter is less tolerant of low temperatures than Nitrosomonas. In cold water systems, care must be taken to monitor the accumulation of nitrites."

I'll try to monitor my biofilter more closely this Winter and see what it is doing while the when the water temperature drops to 55F (12.8C)
Another quote from that link:
Biological Data
There are several species of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria and many strains among those species. Most of this information can be applied to species of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter in general, however, each strain may have specific tolerances to environmental factors and nutriment preferences not shared by other, very closely related, strains. The information presented here applies specifically to Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter strains.

I had to go reading to learn more about how trout farms deal with the cold water in which trout thrive:
This is pretty good reading: http://orbit.dtu.dk/files/6581106/219-10_Farming-of-freshwater-rainbow-trout-in-denmark-v2.pdf

Attachment:

Danish-trout-farm-document.jpg [ 242.64 KiB | Viewed 1551 times ]

Your plants are so much healthier than mine look. Aquaponics is such a grand balancing act between fish health and plant health, sometimes I feel like I'm in over my head.
Brian

joblow

Hi Boss,

When your fish are stocked on the liimit there's not a lot of room for error and when the overnight temps have been low for so long it's a battle to keep things right. The Zeolite does pull it back but it's only short term.

I'd be happy with 15C overnight temperatures, but they have been down around 4C & 5C for too many nights.

Thanks for that Denmark PDF, I've had a quick look at it but I'll read in full later, it looks informative.

Boss I've never had any problems with my plants for quite a few years now, once the system matured it's been plain sailing plant wise, I did have a few problems before the system matured.

At times we all feel like we are in over our heads, just when you start to feel confident and get cocky, aquaponics throws you a curved ball :upset:

boss

Oh I see yes 5C that's pretty chilly. I'm working on the Koi spa tank outside and one of the things I'm doing is protecting the biofilters from the freezing temperatures ahead. The koi slow down in cold temperatures so the fact that the biofiltration slows down too isn't an issue.
I hadn't got to that cocky stage with aquaponics yet, but I'm looking forward to it, hehe.
Brian

joblow

Yeah 5C overnight doesn't help anything at all, it won't be long and it will be 20C or higher overnight and I'll be out there hosing to cool things down.

One night of high temperature is not a problem, it's 3 or 4 in succession plus the 30C or hotter days that makes it very hard to keep the water temperature down.

Yesterday my son pulled 10 or 12 fish out of the tank and my wife gutted and put them in the freezer while I did a BIG water change and sweeped the bottom of the fish tank so that will make things a lot better for the remaining fish.

I haven't been down there yet today, after breakfast I'll check the water and hopefully the ammonia is back close to zero and I can feed the guys.

joblow

I finally got the ammonia back to zero for a few days now and I'm now starting to feed the fish again. :thumbright:

The weather is starting to warm up so things will improve.

Today I built a wicking barrel with a fair size water reservoir using a slightly over 1/2 a 220 litre Olive barrel and a cut down milk crate.

I cut 6 x squares out of the bottom of the milk crate for Hessian/Burlap wicks to sit deep down into the water reservoir so the capillary action will still be happening even when the water level is very low.

With a soil mix of potting mix, cow manure, sand and zeolite all on top of the shade cloth it should all work very well

joblow

The black ribbed tubing plays no other part than filling in the gap between the milk crate and the barrel, and I happened to have 1/2 a roll sitting around.

boss

Super sciency and professional looking wicking bed JoeBlow. Thanks for sharing.
We got our first snow today, yikes!
Brian

Liney

I like what your doing- Ive been researching the same stuff all day today along with smokers which I'd like to ask how your one is doing? Is it efficient for trout as that will be my main use(fish) more than lumps of beef etc. As my trout will be due to harvest shortly it will be a massive learning how to fillet & smoke etc.

joblow

boss wrote:

Super sciency and professional looking wicking bed JoeBlow. Thanks for sharing.
We got our first snow today, yikes!
Brian

Thanks Brian.

I saw the pictures of your snow fall, if that's the first day, it will only get colder. I hate snow with a passion, I worked in it for a couple of weeks once, never again. :upset:

It looks so bloody cold, I have enough trouble here keeping warm in winter without snow.

I had a list of places where I wouldn't work and snow was top of the list, followed by water and then islands. Over the years they all caught me out. Working overseas the companies always wanted to put your passport in their safe, I never fell for that one. It was bad enough being in snow or on an island you couldn't get off, and if they had your passport you had no hope.

joblow

Liney wrote:

I like what your doing- Ive been researching the same stuff all day today along with smokers which I'd like to ask how your one is doing? Is it efficient for trout as that will be my main use(fish) more than lumps of beef etc. As my trout will be due to harvest shortly it will be a massive learning how to fillet & smoke etc.

Hi Liney,

My smoker is fine, Liney it does an absolute top job, I was using it for cooking the meat and veggies every Sunday but my wife has now banned me from the Sunday ritual. The meat takes a few hours to cook and my wife deemed my alcohol consumption while cooking to be way too high on such a regular basis.

I had a few mates over a couple of times and that didn't help the smoking any, and possibly brought on the ban.

It is perfect for smoking Trout and that was the reason it was purchased, both my wife and myself thought the Rainbow Trout were very bland and tried the smoker to see what difference it would make.

Once we tried the smoked Trout we were hooked, it's the only way to cook Trout.

There's no need to fillet Trout when it's smoked the flesh just parts from the bone so easily after it's cooked. :thumbright:

Liney our smoker came from ALDI, and was quite cheap, I've seen the same smoker re-branded for nearly twice the price, so shop around and good luck with your smoking.

Nhibbo

Hi Liney,

I use my weber kettle. I mostly smoke Australian Salmon (Kahawai) which come out absolutely delicious (inedible any other way unless fresh, as within a couple of hours after death and must be bled immediately they are caught).
I leave scales on the fillets and rub salt and brown sugar into the flesh side. Exactly 12 heat beads on one side of the kettle and a couple of sticks of maple or cherry, then I put the fillets on the opposite side to the beads and almost close the top vent. 20 minutes later and they're done. Delicious.
(My Kettle is kept outside and is now 35 yrs old and still going strong).

joblow

I've filled it up with the soil mix and thrown a bit of Blood & Bone on top, it's only sitting on a 4 x wheel dolly until I add the overflow spout, then work where to put it and what to grow in it.

Once I find a spot it will come off the dolly.

skeggley

Hey Joblow, I've done similar with bb's halved, milk crate n all. I used sand as a wicking medium which went over the shade cloth and down the sides where you have the pipe. I used uniseals at the lower penetration which the pipe turns in to set the water level. Not sure the wicking really worked great with the sand but I still had to hand water often in summer. After a couple of years of use it seems to be just worm castings in it now and the plant growth has only ever been ok. Perhaps I was expecting too much.
I've left hessian bags on the ground before and they havnt lasted a year before being consumed back to nature and if this happens with your design what will wick then?

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics