Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Sounding good there Himzol.....

Thanks Rupe,

Forgot to mention that the new grow beds have thier own pump.

H.

We need pics! I just can't visualise. Sounds great if what I picture is right.

Bit dark out at the moment (and the Munich Dunkel is starting to take effect), will post pics tomorrow.

H

It's only 9:40, don't you have daylight saving in Adelaide Waiting eagerly for those pics

Ok took some photos showing the two sets of grow beds, the small raft of lettuce seedlings and the big green buckets which will eventually be the fish tanks.

Very nice indeed.
Tell me, how badly is the closest tank in the first photo bowing? Do you perhaps need some steel strapping? I'd hate for it to burst on you.
If you've got a welder, a simple bit of steel bar will support it, if not you should be able to work out a way to bolt up a support, or make it out of timber...

I tink dats a kidney-shaped pond. That is if 'first photo' is #006

It does look worse than it really, there really isnt much pressure on the sides, it's just that the plastic isn't very rigid. Some time down the track I will be putting some timber around them... just for looks more than anything.



Yep, holds roughly 750Litre though theres only about 500 or so Litres in there at the moment.

I was worried that the water level may drop a great deal whith the flood and drain but it only falls about an inch or so. At this stage the fish are happy and things are cycling nicely. Need to get the plants to mature a bit before I add anymore fish.

Nah first as in top one #008, Himzol knew what I meant. Unless reading Chinese I start at the top and go left to right. However the Chinese are making it easier for us, and commonly do the same, unless it's important or artistic.

I had an interesting problem today,

One of the autosyphons wasn't ! water was just running, checked level and it was full to the brim, just wasn't breaking into syphon mode.

It turned out that the flow from the pump was being retarded just enough to slow it down by a small gum leaf. If I hadn't been home I'm sure I wouldn't have even noticed the problem as by the time I found the culprit the pump had worn it down.

I'm going to have to get some duck weed, as the Silvers don't seem to eat the feed that I baught. I have watched from a distance and have noticed that the little floating raft of lettuce seems to move around when the water isn't. I'm guessing that the silvers are having a peck at the lettuce roots. I also noticed a water beatle of some sort in the pond, how do you suppose he/she manages to avoid the silver, and how did it get there??

I've also decided to get a couple of Tan Tans for my sump, Having kept catfish in the past ( Hoplos) I know that they are a great vaccum cleaner for food other fish don't eat (just have to find some cheap).

H

Tandanus are great vacuum cleaners. I've kept them in the past as aquarium fish. They'll eat anything that will almost fit in their mouths.

I used to feed them guppies on occasion from my other tank. Sometimes I put one in that was too big, it didn't stop them and they used to take the fish, not be able to swallow it, and the tail would remain sticking out of his mouth - Kicking too. Very funnty to watch as the fish's head bobbed up and down erratically

Just a bit of an update.

It's been roughly a month since I put in the little silvers and started cycling.
So far fish seem healthy (when I get a glimpse of them), Majority of plants seem to be going well.. Cucumbers seem to be suffering a bit, though one has flowered (I will post a pic tomorrow) possibly a touch of root rot (not sure).

The other plants in the system are :
Pumpkins (butter nut)
sweet basil
lettuce (various)
Chillies
Capsicums
Celery

I did a water test tonight, though I will be adding what will esentually be the fish tank (big green bucket) full of water tomorrow so these figures may get diluted. KE has ordered some Callop (golden perch) on my behalf so I need to prepare their new home.

Test results: Ph=7.6 Ammonia =0 No2 = 0 No3 = 10 ish

An update,

I lost one of my silvers today , poor thing got wedged under one of the pumps... Probably my fault as I was finally getting around to organising the "big green bucket" for a fish tank.

I also got rid of the raft with the lettuce, there was nothing happening, I suspect that root rot had set in. Replaced the cucumber seedlings in one of the grow beds and added some zuchine (sp).

The original cucumbers just seemed to stall for no apparent reason and started to dry up, I thought that maybe something wrong with the system except that the ones I had in the earth garden were doing exacly the same thing, they were from the same batch of seed. I've put them into soil in another part of the yard to see what happens, the rootball was unusually small to what I was expecting.

I also added some duckweed to the pond so that the fish get some greens in their diet.

The big green bucket will be attached to the system in a day or so as I had to use some silicone as gasket goo, so I will wait for this to de-gas before I add it to the system.

I will have another one to do later, need to get some more tube though.

H.

My cucumbers have stalled and are starting to dry from the bottom up... It's very disappointing