Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Considering the stress your fish have been under... possible damage to their slime coats if they were "flipping" around... and the nitrite level.....

I'd be tempted to salt them.... (one)to mitigate the nitrite level and (two) to prevent any secondary fungal/bacterial infections.

What do others think?

Edited :

Oh and a belt with some additional aeration wouldn't go astray either....how's your water temp?

If you can keep your temp up a bit, aerate like mad and salt.... then the fish will metabolise and de-tox quicker..... could be one reason your nitrites are up

well we thought it was time for a little update.

It does appear that the maidenwell prefers a ph in the low 6's. So to counteract this we make sure we have plenty of shell grit in the sump at all times. Even go out once in a while and give it a stir up.

Have attached a photo of the baby carrots, the maidenwell appears to be a little difficult for the carrot root to move apart, but we recon the carrots taste better for all the extra personality they have.

Fish are doing well, havent taken a photo of them as it is a little difficult chasing them around the tank with the top on. Been thinking of using the fishing rod.

some more photos, when i work out what i am doing........

Everything certainly looks healthy enough .... wonder if a different/smaller grade of the maidenwell media would give better results with the carrots??

Do they have different grading available?

What pH have you managed to get to with the shell-grit?

How do you take a photo with a fishing rod?

Wouldn't it be easier with a camera?

Your vegies are looking awesome Hopefuls.

....'bout time we had another Adelaide BYAP get together methinks.
We all have so much more experience to share now.

Looking great.
Must get me some of them beans!

I too, would be keen for an Adelaide get together.

Rup, the PH sits between 6.8 & 7, where as the maidenwell likes to bring it back to around 5.7.

Peterall & Scottt, yes the get together is in the thinking stage. Still trying to convince the better half that we dont necessarily have to have lawn to have a good get together. Must admit does have a point when it comes to the sloshy mud.

nice growth!

Yes, nice growth there HF
....envious of your carrots
...can match your beans tho

That's a pretty good range I reckon.... exceptable even for hydro.... and good for trace element uptake...

Took a double take when I first found out the Maidenwell would push to pH 5.7..... thought it might prove too much to buffer back considering the AP system tending acidic as well....

Think I'll be taking another look at the Maidenwell.... think I'd go a smaller grade though based on your results so far...

Hi All, it is great to see so many new systems happening.

Just a quick up date,
have removed all the babe carrots - consider these to be a great success,
the yellow beans are on the outer - got enough to tide us over for at least 6 months (have them in the freezer). Yellow cherry tomatoes are coming along nicely, we go out each evening and do the pollinating thing so we now have forming tomatoes.
Pak choi is heading for flower - never grown it before, experiement
Lettuce - well there is just multitudes of that, daily picking
Beetroot - now this is the one we need to discuss with everyone else. We know that beetroot tends to be a slow grower, however......we have grown this lot from seed, planted half in the dirt garden and half in the growbeds. The garden beetroot is close to harvesting. The beetroot in the growbeds as you will see from the photos looks great from the top, however the bulbs/root do not seem to be forming out. Anyone else have trouble with theirs?

Pretty common with the root vegetables in AP Hopeful, I have tried onions and beetroot also with beautiful tops but no substance/size to the bulb/tuber...think some have tried using a sand mix and only wetting once a day or so

I have the same to report. Growing my beetroot from seed as well, the leaf growth is terrific but disappointing root growth. I grow mine in scoria. Results may be different in other grow media, I don't know.

I noticed that the bulb tended to grow above the flood water level mark, something to try maybe to have the water level lowered to a GB (say 75-100mm) so that the root part can swell under cover...just a theory and not tested by me as yet

I have just planted a vemiculite bed with onions [bed 4 in deep water just 1 in on bottum every hr]