Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey, wait a few more days and you'll have a field in that tub. Looks like we're in for some warm weather!

Wind blown or a bird with good aim???????????

Don't care - it's a veggie point on my diet.

cool

Good to see the seeds starting to grow Mick...I have found that most germinated in about 3 days..its still amazes me to see them pop up all over the place thru the gravel

HA! weeds! I'll tell ya a funny story....................

I was showing a friend around my system, he was marveling at the bok choi and the strawberries......... when he starts picking out my mixed salad plants that were a little bigger than yours..............damned weeds he muttered..........actually, you just pulled out some arugula and baby spinach, i said

I think he felt really bad. LOL

Update --- my tomato plant has doubled it's size, I think I can actually see it growing today - 40 deg C here and windy, lotsa evaporation, had to top up with 50 litres in my 200 litre pond (desktop system,says MF) OK, maybe it is, but I'm learning how not to kill fish, among other things.

Really I had no need to submit this post, it's just a blatant attempt to become a "Valued Contributor" instead of a rotten little "Newbie"!

Mick, its the contributions that count (the contributor helps) good to see the improvement in you (u got slightly less hair than me tho)

Ell

BM, Your reason for the post is valiud
But I do like reading how everybody's systems are developing, so keep posting

Keep feeding those goldies Mick, they poo, your plants grow, how could it be anymore simple

Update ---Hey, this is really working !! 22 goldies are supporting 2 tomato plants, 1 sad looking capsicum and a bunch of rocket - pizza marinara coming up !
My test readings are not looking too flash, Amm 0.25, Nitrate and Nitrite both 0, pH around 7.8. Maybe I am actually producing nutrients and they are being completely extracted by the plants ? I was kicking it along with some Seasol, but I haven't seen the need to use any for a fortnight now.
The water was real cold for a while, 2 C up to maybe 15 C so there was not too much action, but now there is a bit of warmth the water is up around 18 C to 24 C and things are happening. The fish are much more active, hungry and growing.
Evaporation is increasing, it's so damn dry here - our October rainfall was 1 mm for the month and there is no humidity, so I have to keep water ready to go all the time. I lose around 50 litres in 4 days, 25% water change. I bubble the spare water for a day or so before topping up to get rid of whatever SAWater puts in it, and while it doesn't kill any fish it keeps the pH up a bit. If it gets any higher I'll try a bit of lemon juice to get it down - they're plentiful and cheap (free) at the moment.
The local bird life thinks my pond is the place to be, only water for miles around now that we're on water restrictions.

Big Mick,
I`d like to know what the temps are where you are at the moment and If your tank is insulated.Mine isn`t and when I got home this afternoon the temp was 28.2 deg,the goldies dont seem to mind though!

goldies should survive to a max of about 32C...............from memory

Gnash - Our Nov temps here on the Adelaide Plains average 9 - 25 C, right now, mid-afternoon it's a nice 22.5 C and my pond water is 16 C. My pond is a pressed steel enamel bath-tub, so has no insulating qualities whatever, and the temps fluctuate with the air temp. Those goldies have been down to 2 C and up to at least 24 C.
I can easily insulate the sides and bottom of the tub, straw bales would do a good job of that, but I'll have to experiment a bit for surface insulation. Bubble wrap or floating slabs of styrene would probably keep the temp. up during cool weather, and I'm thinking about a reflective shield of Sisalkraft, Enviroseal or similar positioned, say, 600mm above pond surface plus a shadecloth wall around the pond for excessively hot weather.
My next pond will probably be an IBC and I'll be incorporating insulation and reflective structures as I go, and possibly plumbing a re-worked hot-water tank into the system. Got to keep it cost-effective, if I'm going to double my electriity bill for the sake of 20 kilos of fish I might as well just go to the market and BUY fish.

mine is the same(bathtub) Todays temp 35deg,tank 28.5deg.
good thinking with the strawbales!