Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hi keith, did you find out anymore about what happened to your perch yet. later Big Al

Seconded, any info on those perch?

I went to get some aquamax at the purina outlet here. They wanted to sell me a 50lb bag (fairly cheep, <$40), but I was able to get a 3lb bag at Andersons. Andersons also has catfish food for $20/50lb bag, FYI. The aquamax has a high protein content (~40%), but the Andersons fish food is only 33% or so.

no info.. they're history..

i threw 8 gobie in just to keep some poop action going.. talked to a fish guy that's trying to find me 30 more..
it looks like i have about 15 fish left, but it's pretty hard to tell. after i cleaned out all the hides the water got pretty cloudy for a while and i think that killed the sucker fish..
not much to do but wait to see if i can get some more fish

since it's my last day of vacation, i thought i'd post a few pic's from today;

some more;

3 more;

I didn't start getting really good growth until i added perch..not sure what's gonna happen next, but this whole thing has been an adventure so far..

Barrelling right along!

Thx for reminding me. I have GOT to get some corn started. Have the seeds and the space, just keep forgetting while I'm home.
How deep did you start them in the Hydroton?

Rick

about an 1" to 1.5" ... i don't remember planting any in the one growbed, but one came up, so i transplanted a couple to be close, maybe 6 or 8" apart, but i think one is not going to make it there, and another one by the rest is probably going to die.. i used a red sweet corn, and it needs to be stabilized in hydroton, so i used a few bigger rocks around the base of a couple of stalks that were having some trouble. trying to hand fertilize, we'll see how that goes..
i'm impressed by the growth, especially since where the whole setup is doesn't get full sun, next year's will hopefully be bigger (go figure)
and still "planning" what i'm going to do over winter

Keith, anything new happening? About to get my first AP tomatoes. Unfortunately they are just the right size to fit into the little gremlins hands, so she's picked a few greenies already.

howdy Kris, not much to report.. i lowered my water level last weekend to see if i could figure out what i have in the tank.. i'd be suprised if there were more than 20 fish, so probably half of the fish i put in are gone.. i wouldn't be paranoid about having them stolen if the clips that hold the bird netting down were pretty much "in place" when i got home, but one clip was pinching one of the air lines, and 2 clips were on the ground..i know i didn't leave it like that..
we've had probably 4 cukes, but they seem to be dying back now, maybe from me salting the system?
and the beans (a garden green bean) were doing well for a bit, but started browning/dying back, now that the cukes are starting to look rough, the beans are doing better..
the Dwarf sunflowers are getting ready to open up, they're only maybe a little over a foot tall
i way over planted, there's a couple basil plants poking up by the brocholi, and a lone tomato in there too- the carrots i put in a few weeks ago are finally starting to sprout - this time i put them in a sheet of tissue instead of just kind of tossing seeds in..tried that with chives but that doesn't seem to have taken, so i through in a few pepper seeds to see if they'd grow (none of the other peppers i planted ever came up - a mixed color sweet variety, and a red chilli)
i do have my first brocholi head, about an 1" across in a week.. my tomatoes in the ap started flowering last weekend (roma's - i love a good home-made pasta sauce) my dirt tomoatoes are going gangbusters, lots of green fruit..i planted dirt brocholi but no heads yet
heading to detroit this weekend for work, was thinking about stopping and getting 10 "bigger" fish, but the wife may come up with me this time, so i won't extend the drive home by 2 hours.. i have to be up there again for a monday morning startup at the end of the month, so may get a few big guys then (from fin farm probably)
the guy i got my bluegill from was looking for some more perch for me, but he doesn't really work with such small quantities..
anyways,, it's keeping me occupied.. gotta start getting a little more serious about what i'm going to do over winter though..

gotta love those gremlins!

With the colder temperatures, have you figured out anything as far as wintering goes? We had some deer come by and eat our tomatoes right off the AP plant. Ah well, I was pretty upset about it at the time, but time does heal most wounds! It looks to get down into the 40s F (4 C) in the evening this week, but still in the 80s (26 C) during the day. The water definitely is cooling down!

How did your system go? Were you able to recover from the fish loss?

my youngest son dropped off 2 55 gallon fish tanks this past weekend, so i'm starting to plan the "basement build".. i've got a total of 3 55 gallon glass tanks, and i;m thinking 1 ft, 1 as a sump (maybe with the crayfish if there are many left) and 1 as a hospital type tank or something.. we'll see

my plants aren't doing to well, except for the brocholi ,brussel sprouts and basil - cinamon and sweet.. .. i'm pretty sure there isn't enough bioload to keep everything going, and i'm having some trouble with slow draining of the barrels causing some overflows...
i haven't picked any tomatoes from the growbeds, picked the last cuke this weekend, i might get a couple handfulls of tom's out before i start moving stuff to the basement. a friend that works at a hydro store is trying to sponsor some of my test.. we'll see

hope you and the family are doing well
k

hi keith, nice to see you have started planning your basement system it wont be long til you know what will be here. nope im not going to say it. we had a temp of 44 f this morning here pretty nippy. things are still going well here. hope all is well there. later Big Al