Planning on building this:

Wildbillnye

I put a 50 watt equivalent led bulb above the wheat and it's growing rapidly.

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Wildbillnye

Deuem wrote:

I may be all wet on this (pun intended) but IMO the roots will drive down deeper if they have to search out the water. Most every test I did in a flood drowned them dead. All of my seed root drive down 2 inches then they sprout. Some how you managed to grow them right in a flood plain. Like rice plants do. Interesting to see what happens.

A UV light will kill all sorts of bacteria. I am not sure if it will kill the bacteria you need. Probably. But I had one on my FT in line with the filter for years now but it is not hooked to plants yet. Someone who has/had a working system and then added one would need to chime in to see if it helped or hurt the eco system. If you put it in on the water back to the tank it should wipe out the plants bacteria before entering the FT. I guess if it was after the Ft to the beds you would take out any beneficial Bacteria going out to the plant beds and possibly halt the nitrogen cycle. Again, you need a pro here for the correct advise. I have never had a UV light strong enough to kill all the bacteria on one pass. If the tank gets hit with say an algae bloom it will take days to recover with the light.

Normally the beans have a virtually 100 percent germination ratio, but the way I did it like that only half sprouted. I'll pre germinate from now on.
Waiting on water tests to arrive in the mail. No dead fish yet. Eggs or young will appearing soon I hope.

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Deuem

Are you breeding. If so what. I am interested in breeding if I can.

Wildbillnye

Deuem wrote:

Are you breeding. If so what. I am interested in breeding if I can.

Do I have a choice? 30-40 wild caught minnows (I think) in a predator free environment. I've already seen them do the dirty.

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Deuem

I need to get something just for my minnows also they will be more relaxed. Swimming monster gold fish ain't gonna make them happy enough to do it right. When I get at least 100+ more I will start looking. Since I have no idea on what I have, I have no idea on the reproduction cycle. Most important will I have to wait several years for them to mature.

Do you know if yours do eggs or live bear? Eggs are harder. Every other fish wants to eat them as fast as they come out. I had a guppy in the gold fish tank once and the Gold Fish was following it having snacks as fast as the babies came out. After that disaster I set up 2 small guppy isolation wards.

If you have a matting couple you might also want to rent them a room.

Wildbillnye

Deuem wrote:

I need to get something just for my minnows also they will be more relaxed. Swimming monster gold fish ain't gonna make them happy enough to do it right. When I get at least 100+ more I will start looking. Since I have no idea on what I have, I have no idea on the reproduction cycle. Most important will I have to wait several years for them to mature.

Do you know if yours do eggs or live bear? Eggs are harder. Every other fish wants to eat them as fast as they come out. I had a guppy in the gold fish tank once and the Gold Fish was following it having snacks as fast as the babies came out. After that disaster I set up 2 small guppy isolation wards.

If you have a matting couple you might also want to rent them a room.

Well, I now know I don't have Minnows, but rather some variety of gambusia.
They bear lots of live young, handle extreme high and low temperatures well. And still will make nice cat treats.

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Wildbillnye

I'm interested in freshwater minnows though. In a future larger design.

Once I have a new pump and proper lighting on this thing, I plan on selling it for 200 dollars (usd). That will get me enought to get a hole saw, and metal shelving on the next unit.

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Deuem

I bet I find out I don't have Minnows either. Just babies of some large Alien fish breading grounds. It the red dot over the eye that has us really confused. It is about the same size as their pupil so it has to be for decoration matting or defense of sorts.

Wildbillnye

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Wildbillnye

So even though the two grow beds are parallel, I'm turning the top one into biofilter

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Mel Redcap

Media grow beds will act as a biofilter whether you have anything growing in them or not, you don't have to choose between biofilter and plants. :flower:

It looks like you have a lot of empty space in there though, are you planning to fill them up with gravel the rest of the way? If you leave them like they are you'll get algae growing in the open water and also risk having the water flow the 'easy' way around the edge of your media instead of through it, which will cause dead spots. Plus that's space you could be growing yummy things in!

Wildbillnye

I took some gravel from the top growbed and filled in the rest of the bottom one. Planted more bush beans

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Deuem

For you to take 50% of the GBs off line you must have had or seen a problem? You could always fill and plant the top tank again and then place a drip thru filter over the FT for the return water. That is what I plan on doing in Test 4. I would grow both beds with a full load of gravel like mel mentioned. I would even add more gravel to make the beds much deeper to allow for more roots and an air space. The water level as is looks A-Ok to me. the roots will find it in a day or 2.

I would add gravel to about one inch from the top. Right now it looks like you are less then half full in 2 directions. If you can get the clay balls I would use them in your water level area. Your bottom 3 inches or so. I like them for the roots only. Some people use them 100% but I am finding that seedlings fall over very easy in them. I did finally do a separation test and the balls separate from gravel very easy.

Wildbillnye

Ya, more gravel is on the way. Nothing I can do about the water level, but in my next system I'll try to solve that.

I put more pinto bush beans in the extra gravel

These could be gambusia, or hopefully carp fry! Cause then I'll have an excuse to go big

And, with 8 of those left in the tote I tossed in a nice goldfish my neighbor gave me, presumably female, but I'm no expert. It's been 12 hours and it hasn't eaten any of the little ones, just the coy pellets.

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Wildbillnye

Bug trap started producing fruit flies, great nutrition for my fish.

More fish

The pinto bean I transplanted last week. It didn't hardly grow at all the first few days, but now I'm getting significant growth, even after the bean halves have fallen off, that's where the stem bends.

Broke the screen

Temporary biofilter

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Backyard Aquaponics A place to discuss aquaponics

Planning on building this:

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics