Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Had to clean the netting tank today...joy, joy.

I have had enough of mine,as Swed says there are a right PITA,so iam swapping over to up flow filters,one has been changed over,still collecting enough tops for the other.

that looks like a nice idea for a filter. how often does it need cleaning?

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I sincerely hope so Swede. My experience would dictate other wise, but I think mine was a bit extreme.

It hasnt been running for long so i am not sure,time will tell.

Thanks Chris.. Only time will tell.. This is My first RAS so I can't rely on any growbeds to handle any additionally needed nitrification.
Fingers crossed.

Will be interesting Mathias - My nitrites never get to zero* either. Alkalinity certainly helps, though it does appear to be a common issue with the home based RAS systems.



* Zero as in zero detectable on API test kit. My conventional media bed AP system always read zero, even at very low alkalinity, though they have a massive bio filtration area comparatively speaking.

Remembering about the alkalinity (aka carbonate hardness) is a must for RAS as well. I'd actually be more concerned about this than the nitrites since you can salt for those. It will be interesting to see how you do and if you have similar issues to Chris.

Cheers

Lots of fishing during the week off. 23rd we went out of Ruskin and nailed the snook, reds, & trout. i think we totaled at least 100 fish for the trip. It was 85F. The 27th, we went on an offshore headboat. Grouper & snapper are both out of season, so it was grunt and sea bass only. Caught at least 300 fish, kept about 40 lbs of the largest. I have a pic of the offshore stringer somewhere. Here's one of the larger snook with my niece, Jillian. She had a great time. She caught an inshore slam. Snook, redfish, and seatrout.

These are the 3 berkshire pigs. 1 boar- aapx 500lb, 1 gilt- appx 150, 1 sow-aapx 225.00. I'm going to be planting crops and pasturing them on the property. They are considered the "Kobi" beef of the pork world. Red, well marbled meat. Highly sought after, and expensive. They are a Heritage breed.

Almost lost the boar on the trip home. he got heat stressed and I had to hose him down and give him water to get him revived. Scary when your breeder boar that you just bought looks like its going to be pork chops instead of siring a herd.

sow is 225 lbs, not $225.00. I wish.

Been busy on the home front the last few weeks. We have cleared, fenced and seeded appx 1 acre for the new pastured pigs operation. We installed the multi fuel heater in the FH, and have also added appx 275 feet of 4' chain link fence to finish off the entire property. All that's left is to finish adding the electric wire to the new fence, build the pen and water nipples and wait for the rye seed to grow in.

AP is growing well, and RAS system is stable and doing good. Temp is down in the 60's after days of cooler weather. The new heater hopefully will get the water temps back in the 70's. I can't test it out until the mud around the firewall area dries or I risk having it crack. It says it will heat a 1200 sq ft building, and my FH is only 800 sq ft, so it should keep it nice and toasty. Using diesel right now. It's down to $2.00 a gallon, so is cheap enough I have now idea how long the tank will last. It holds about 2.5 gallons from the looks of it. I put a gallon in to test.

good job, nice heater, I'm on the mend, I'll box up the centrifuge tomorrow

Thanks Boss. Glad to hear you're feeling better. Can't keep a good man down.lol

nope, our AP is running smoothly too. We both get such a kick out of our fish and having a greenhouse attached to our home.

I thought I was going to have to work on the heater. I had it plugged into an extension cord which is on the overhead light circuit (switched). I lit it this AM before going to work, checked the chimney and shut door, turning lights off as well. It was out when I returned a few hours later. Lit again, went in for lunch. came back 30 minutes later, it was out again. Finally figured out the issue. It heats the FH to a toasty 90F in about 50 minutes. It was already around 70, so appx 20 degrees in under an hour. That's pretty impressive. I have it running now, and will see the fuel consumption. It looks to be a gallon or less a night. That's fine, I only need to run it for maybe 2 weeks per year. The water is already up a few degrees over the last several hours. I don't need it at 85F, but want to keep it closer to 80, as below 75, the fish really slow in their eating.