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One thing I love about this aquaponics game is that every little problem can suddenly balloon into an epic struggle for survival (I use the word 'love' loosely and/or sarcastically). Like last night. I come home from work to see several of my goldfish floating on the surface, dead. A couple more on the bottom, also indisposed. So I dispose of them; they may stink on the compost pile for a couple of days, but that's mostly my neighbor's problem. I am not in a good mood.
The problem seems to be that the pumps, 1 for the growbeds and 1 for the biofilter/waterfall, are both partially clogged, and running very slowly. It's a hot day - they all are, this time of year, when the temperature ranges from 80 to over 100 - and of course warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen. The goldies have been breeding like rats the last few years, and growing in the meantime, so apparently the stocking capacity has been reached. The rest of the fish are clustered around the waterfall - water trickle at this point - gasping for oxygen. Several more look like they're on the verge of giving up. The flow to the growbeds is fine for keeping the plants watered, but obviously not enough to aerate the pond sufficiently. It had rained the day before, and that always causes leaves and debris to wash into the pond, where they clog the pumps.
So I start to unclog the pumps, getting bitten by mosquitos, but that's normal; there's a lovely breeding area for them in the poorly-maintained landscaping of the condos nearby. Then I start getting bit by fire ants, which is much worse. They had built nests under the rocks around the perimeter of the pond, and my messing around with the pumps has disturbed them. Big nests. Lots of ants. Very painful stings. My mood goes from bad to worse. I boil a kettle full of water and pour it on what I think are the nests. Well, they are the nests, and it's very gratifying to watch the little bastards get boiled to death, but they are not ALL the nests; there are some more under the pond liner and adjacent rocks, that I hadn't seen, and when I go back to the pumps they counterattack. More excruciatingly painful bites. And all the while I've got the pumps turned off, so the oxygen levels in the pond are presumably decreasing even more. And did I mention that it's about 100 degrees, 90 percent humidity, and I'd just finished a long, aggravating day at work? And that I'm not in a good mood?
Boil another kettle of water, pour it on the next set of nests I see. This knocks them down enough for me to finish unclogging the pumps and get them going, so at least there's some aerated water flowing now. But I'm still getting bit, from the ants that had ranged away from the nests, so I'm still not happy. I turn over a few more rocks, and find more nests as well. Boil some more water, hum the Valkyrie theme as I enact my boiling-water version of Death From Above. Little bastards. As I lift up the pond liner to pour water on the nest underneath, the ones clinging to it get on my hands and arms and sting immediately; they're in battle mode. I think I get the better of them, but not without taking significant casualties.
This morning the fish are fine, swimming around normally instead of clustered around the waterfall, the arugula is sprouting in the beds, and, when I check under the rocks, there are mounds of dead ants, pushed out of the nests by the remaining living ones. Yes, they are still there, and yes, I get stung some more. I almost admire their tenacity as I boil up yet another kettle of water. ...
Yes, I love my aquaponic system. Expansion plans are in the works.
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Backyard Aquaponics
