Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Broccoli, chinese cabbage (wong bok), lettuce, and a few small seedlings that I forgot what they were... will only find out when have grown a bit more...

Thanks... will look into that when I am ready to get those yabbies... anytime soon.. I hope...

Weighed a fish over the weekend. 120grams only. Don't think I will have much to eat this Christmas. Well hopefully will fare better next season.

By the way, in regards to my yabbie tank, it is currently quite greenish. Filled with algae. There are about 15-20 goldfishes and kois altogether in that tank at the moment. There is some duckweed as mentioned but they don't seem to be growing and "expanding" well. Is the algae water making it hard for the duckweed to grow?? In short, do I need to do water change or just leave it??

Should I also not feed the fishes so that they feed on the algae??

Could be that the algae is using up the ammonia faster than the duckweed can get it. I usually say shade the tank completely to get rid of algae but that will also get rid of the duckweed too.

Hmm.. tricky... I know that I do want to grow duckweed.

How about some pointers of how to successfully grow duckweed so that it does expand its coverage, so that the algae does not take over before the duckweed can grow?? I use fresh water to fill up the yabbie tank where the duckweed is located. Do I need cycled water?? Some advice would be great. Thanks.

Wont matter what water you use... unless, of course it's chloronated...

Duckweed grows on the ammonia produced by the yabbies/fish... so a top up, when required, from the fish tank might help...

I would say use system water that is cycled provided your system isn't having an algae problem.

Here is a thread and links that might explain some things about algae
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4060

Pretty good article... Well I think I will try using some cycled water. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of water to spare... so will have to do it slowly to fill up the yabbie tank with cycled water over a few days...

Well guys, I think my brocolli is ready for harvest or at least the missus is saying out it comes... Have not really grown brocolli before, so I have a question. Do I pull the whole plant out or just cut the flower part out and more will grow in its place?? Thanks.

You can cut what you require for the nights meal...
More will grow but it will bolt or run to seed next moon, so get into it ASAP...
You have 3 weeks

Have got a question....

I have put in some rockmelon, pumpkin and watermelon seeds into the growbed... Have not grown them before, so would the vines need to be trained to grow upwards or are they normally left to grow and run along horizontally as the fruit is quite heavy??

If you train them they will look like this

Sorry F&F, where is the growbed or growing media in relation to the melons??

Look at the left melon you will see the auto pots but you could grow them in a raised grow bed as well
If you havent looked at the Auto pot site [google]its worth a read

Thanks... I briefly came across autopots while searching for "growing fish and hydroponic plants". I will have a read of what they have to offer again... Thanks..