Hi All JPCW system

[jpcw]

Hi everyone. Just came across this site after a search to see if I could hook my indoor fish tank to an aquarium. Unfortunately now I think I'm hooked and going to have to set up a full system.

Any comments on the best fish to use in Perth (out Midland way) and where to get them?

Prefer some that could bread on their own but not essential.

I'll probably start with a 1000L tank with 1 or 2 grow beads. Also thinking about getting a yabby tank.

Are fresh water mussels worth the effort? are they any good to eat?

Guess I've got a lot of reading through the forum to do yet. Will probably also have a lot of questions for you guy's as well.

Still, all looks fairly straight forward so far.

John

[jpcw]

Actually one quick question. What would you expect it to cost for a basic starter setup like the above? Backyard Aquaponics have a basic kit with 1 grow bead, 1000l tank and all the major components for $999. Does that sound reasonably or would I be better off building something up from scratch (I am DIY inclined although I tend not to finish quite a few projects ;) )

John

[jpcw]

Well I picked up my “Fish Tank” yesterday. 1000L round pond for $369. Also got given a free 8000l/ph pump.

Quick question, what size pump should I have for a 1000L system? Is 8000l/ph going to suck my fish through the pump?

All I have to do now is find something for grow beds.

[Murray]

The grow beds that Backyard Aquaponics have are good value, as is the basic starter kit you talked about in your post last week.

[jpcw]

I now have fish :)

20 trout and about 5 very nervous guppies.

Also the first sprout from seeds

[jpcw]

Bugger. 3 hours and 15 dead fish :(

Done a major watter change and added some watter treatment but don't hold much hope for the rest. The guppies are happy though

Must have a really major watter quality problem. Tomorrow if the rest of the fish have died I'm going to do a 100% watter change and start again.

[Dufflight]

Can't see any air stones running. Trout love the o2 and head south quickly without enough of it. How are your readings.
And sea salt if you are not already adding some. 2ppt(2kg per 1000ltrs)

[jpcw]

Don't think it is a DO problem. I've had an almost continuous flow of watter running in to the tank for two weeks and the fish were only in for 3 hours. Before that it had 5 guppies. I suspect that it may have something to do with the fact that I didn't wash any of the material from the GB's, a lot of muck went in the watter but I thought that it would settle down and filter itself out. Alternatively I may have put too much seasol in when trying to cycle the system to get it ready for the fish. I really should have tested the watter first but my wifes been unwell and I got behind and wasn't quite ready when the fish arrived. I didn't expect the fish to drop off so quickly even with problems in the system

EDIT, oh and the rest are dead now as well so I think a restart is in order tomorrow. This time I'm going to get everything sorted and tested before ordering the fish

[aussieap]

Sorry for your losses. Make sure you have a test kit and don't add fish til your ammo and nitrite drop to zero. Did you acclimatise the trout, how did they travel, etc?

[jpcw]

Unfortunately I wasn't home when they got delivered so don't know how well they were acclimatised or traveled. Gavin delivered them and put them in the tank. He told my wife that there seemed to be plenty of aeration going on and gave her some instructions but by the time I got home they had already started dieing. I'm guessing that it was a fairly drastic problem for ALL the fish to die so quickly.

Thinking back on things I may have done a couple of things wrong. From a couple of forum posts I was putting in powerfeed in to the tank each day and stopped about a week before the fish arrived, I may have put too much or stopped too late. I didn't put much salt (only about a handful) in to the tank. I ½ filled the tank with boar watter (ours is very clean but maybe not clean enough). I didn't test the watter.

I was planning on getting a test kit and checking everything before they got here but the wife has been ill and I just ran out of time before the fish arrived. Next time I won't make that mistake and will delay the order if I have to.

I've now dumped and cleaned out the tank, filled it with around 200L from our indoor fish tank to give the GB's something to work with and then toped up the rest with tap water. Think I will get 6 or so goldfish in to the tank and let it settle a bit before rushing things again. Plus test the watter properly. The local pet shop should take the goldfish back when I'm ready for the trout again.

I'll look at an aeration stone as well although according to Gavin it was looking fairly good with 4 x siphons going in to the talk with high flow and approx 7 minute cycle each giving an almost continuous flow with lots of bubbles

[fishfood]

Bummer have read the story [whats power feed ]

[GaryD]

PowerFeed is a high nitrogen Seasol product.

[jpcw]

Ok try 2.

Complete water change. Done several tests and the water looks good, ammonia near 0, nitrates going up but I think manageable with a few initial water changes. 5 Goldfish plus 3 guppies lived for 1 week.

Removed 4 goldfish (think 1 was hiding under the pump) and 20 new trout were delivered today at 2:30. 6pm when I got home from work all were happily swimming round the tank. So far so good. Pics attached. Guppies have disappeared, probably supper.

[Outbackozzie]

See if you can organise the pipe work (elbows etc) to make the water in your tank spin. Once you start to ramp the feed up, it will need to spin to suck out all the cr@p. Trout poo is rather heavy, and takes a bit to get it out of the tank.

Trout love swimming in a current too.

[jpcw]

Ok should be able to do that, thanks for the tip. Also go an air pump and stone on order for good measure.

[aussieap]

Really hope that system is cycled.

[jpcw]

Really hope that system is cycled.

Been running for about 4 weeks now. one week with 5 goldfish before putting the troute in. Ammonia levels are still almost 0 with the trout being in for 24 hours.

[jpcw]

Just thought I'd post an update.

Systems been running with fish for over 2 weeks now. So far only 3 deaths due to jumpers plus one ½ eaten goldfish (poor thing had literally half its body missing but was still trying to swim around the tank). Quickly put mesh over the tank and no problems since.

I've moved a couple of mature plants from the garden and indoor hydroponic setup (1 mint, 1 parsley, 1 chilly and a small eggplant) plus a number of seeds that have now sprouted but are still rather small. Ammonia and Nitrate/Nitrite levels all reading 0 even after going to daily feeding so the tank appears to be cycled. In fact considering that there are not many mature or large plants I’m beginning to wonder if 17 fish is going to be enough to feed the plants.

Will post pictures when it’s a little less overcast.

[jpcw]

Ok it was fairly dark outside when I got home but the pictures are not too bad.

[DecanFrost]

Just quickly had a look at your write up and was wondering as im in Toodyay where did you get your trout from as im currently growing out 100 of them successfully with about the same yabbies(Purchased from Pemberton).
In regard to the deaths and starting out it is noted that cutting your teeth on this is not reccommended wwith trout as they are very sensitive to all sorts.I had issues with oxygen/algae growth(Oxygen Depletion) and found no air stone suitable to accomodate.Air for these fish needs to come from a much greater source like a Powerstream aerator or like the pumps they run in aqarium shops with sponge filters attached at the bottom sucking large amounts of air from a seperate line.The sponge filter is also not such a bad idea because trout need very clean water.But not at the expense of starving your grow beds.Sponge can maybe be removed and only fitted a day when water quality maybe is decresing ect.The idea with the freswater mussels are excellent as they are 24/7 water filters.If you know where to get them let me know i,ll take 30.Good luck.

[jpcw]

Sent you a PM with the details for the trout.

I think my problem with the first batch of fish was in trying to cycle the tank too quickly. I dosed it up on powerfeed and don't think it had cleared out enough before adding the fish. a water change and the next batch was fine. Just a case of being too impatient I think.

[Tsaphah]

Hi John,

How has your system been going, are your trout doing well?
Almost got my system going, getting gravel on Friday (hopefully), so can start cycling. Temperatures are already rising here! Water temp in tank has not gone below 14°C.

Andrew

[jpcw]

Actually it's all going really well. Added another 10 trout bringing it up to 27. Have harvested a few veggies and the fish are growing nicely.

I have now turned my attention to the pool, I put in 25 marron of which at least 8 have died so far with at least 2 still alive. Can't see the rest due to an algae bloom that has made everything rather murky.

I have also added 20 silvers to the pool, again can't see them but have not had any floaters.

I have just installed a UV steriliser to try and get the algae under control. I know everyone keeps saying that a balanced system doesn't need to worry about algae but at this stage I don't have enough fish or grow beads to balance things and I just want to get everything under control so that I can at least find out how many marron have actually survived.

[GaryD]

Hi John,

Keep an eye on the pH as you bring the algae bloom under control.

Since algae blooms are triggered by two things.....high nutrient levels and light......I'd cut back on the feed and do what you can to reduce the light levels to which your fish tank is subject. I wouldn't worry too much about the UV light......it will kill useful organisms just as readily as the less helpful ones and encouraging beneficial organisms is what recirculating aquaculture (and aquaponics) is all about.

Gary

[jpcw]

Very little feed going in to the pool. Considering it is 40,000L and only 20 fish and a few marron there shouldn't be too much nutrients. All the info on the UV lights specifically say that it does not do any major harm to the good bacteria which is supposedly concentrated in the filters and on rocks etc. Anyway it's installed now so I'm going to give it a run for 2 weeks to try and get things under control. Don't think sun is a real problem at the moment either:)