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