Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I thought as much, cheers

Hi Guys, got stage 2 planted out and cycling, Stage 1 is healthy as, no ammonia or nitrites and a hint of nitrates, ph is being stubborn at 7.6, trid to bring it down a couple times but just went straight back up so thinking will just leave it.
As it is coping so well just going to leave the fish where they are for now.
I pumped a 2 hundred litres of water stage 1 to stage 2 hoping for some bacteria to go over.
We had some nice weather here past week, checked the water temp and both tanks at 20 degrees, thats a big lift in a few days, bit worried what it will do in summer??
Fish fed well this arvo, not as shy and quite hungry, guess the water temp has helped there.

I'm at a quarter cup of 2mm for 80 jades at 3 inches long, how does that sound??

Was there any left floating, if not give them a bit more. My tank was up to 18/19 c today and my lot had about two thirds a cup of 6 mm and 4 mm.

Quarter seems to pull them up with just a few left floating on top.
Are you still running with 75?? and what size are they now?
Have they grown unevenly or have you added some more causing the need t=for 2 size feeds.

What temp did your get to last summer?? i havn't insulated the tank like you, might have to think about that.

Did not add fish until January this year, max temperature was 31 c in the ft.

Started with 50 Jade but lost about 25 up the SLO, end of February added another 50 Jades and in March 25 Silver Perch and 1 Ell Tail Catfish about 75 mm long. Original Jades look to be about 150 mm and the others down to about 75 mm. Having a green tank and the depth of water it is a bit hard to get a good look , tonight was the best sighting of them for months. Use the 6 mm as they are a combined floating and sinking pellet and the 4 mm are just floating.

The main fish tank only has black plastic wrapped around to try and draw in some heat during the day. Hoping by next winter to have most of the fish area covered in the clear plastic which should help. Cheers

Hi guys, i got home after dark today and so got me thinking, do i feed the fish anyway or leave it till morning or just skip the feed altogether and feed normal time tomorrow??

Build is moving slowly now, just doing a few little things such as backfilled the plumbing stage 2, couple more growing racks and got sick of scratching my arms on the cut cages so fitted polly pipe to the top edges. Will post some pics up this week. I have a couple days off this week so hoping to at least get the ends meshed on the green house. I also have to do the chicken coop build, sheet the stables and roof over the shipping containers so bit to do.

Give them a bit and check after 5 minutes if gone give more. Does not matter if you miss as tank is most likely still a bit cold. Mine was back down to 16 c yesterday morning.

Thanks ccBear.

Skipping a feed is usually not going to harm the fish.

Thanks TVLynx, wast too sure how set on routine these fish were, havnt lost one yet and dont want to start lol.

Not sure if SP's work the same, but I have gone the last few months only feeding maybe once or twice per week, if weather/time permits. Fish still swimming happily. Sometimes they clean up some of the algea off the walls for me. Also eat what ever bugs fall in.

Found a snail in bottom of tank yesterday. Fallen in, somehow?

Yea, SP are the same. I havnt fed mine much this winter.

Ok cool, so no need to stress if i miss a feed here and there, is this the same in summer??
My tanks now have polly carb roofs on them so no bugs will be getting in there.

Their appetites are much greater in the warmer water but it wont kill them to go without food for a week or so. Fish actually dont require much food to survive.

By not feeding as much in summer, they will be a lot leaner. Some posts show fatty deposits in their gut when they feed hard. I(almost) never have pellets left over from a feed, except when they have been spooked or conditions changed too quickly for their liking.

I enjoyed listening to them slurp away on the weekend whlst I was doing the weeding. What an unrewrding job that is. Been too wet for roundup to work, and not wanting to risk overspray .