Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I saw that the Barrelponics site showed some Papaya trees. I have rounded up some seeds to try those at a later date. Would be nice to eat your own papaya for breakfast.

4 days no dead fish! did one final water change today..... Crisis officially over. (knock wood)

I went shopping for fiberglass grow beds. I found a guy who will custom make tanks for US $12.80 per square meter of fiberglass. Can anyone tell me if this is a reasonable price? He will make it any size, shape, and color with any holes and fittings I want for this price. For example a 650 liter (173 US gallons) tank will cost $128.00 US. I think that is similar to Janet's Rubbermaid stock tanks, I think.

That is a good price.

Yes, price is in line with the Rubbermaids. Sounds good.

I am so glad the fish crisis is over. (knocking wood, too!)

I am thinking "fast bricks" - "Speed bricks" .. Bricks that are made with residue from oil refinery ingredients etc. etc.

Build a pond and line with balck polythene.

These bricks are light and cheap ... often used to make quick internal walls .. in Homes in UK and Australia.

Line a fastbrick pond with poly and .. you got cheap ponds!

DT- Glad the crisis is officially over! Now may be the time for your post mortem thread. Possibly a formal thread for anyone who has had crises to post "lessons learned" and "don't do this" and "to avert total disaster and annihilation..."

Good Idea...

I started what Janet calls a "love shack" today. I just set a 40 gallon tub on one of my Grow Beds and put in a stand pipe to maintain the level of water about two inches from the top of the tub. the overflow then goes out to the grow bed and then back to the main fish tank.

I was only able to catch two fish today and they happened to be male and female. I hope to add 3 more females in the days to come. The two fish I took out weigh right at 200 grams so I am happy wtih the way things are going with the fish. The veggies on the other hand......

I just am not seeing the performance I would like to see from my growbeds. I am not sure if the seeds I am planting are bad or what but even som transplants are not doing anything spectacular. Nitrates are between 80-100 so something should be growing!

DT,
Give things a little time. Transplant involves some shock, and I think in my case at least, short winter days slow things down a little.

Glad to hear that the Love Shack is in progress. I'm working on mine, too!

That crazy "P" word again. It keeps popping up!

A couple of weeks ago I threw in some regular red beans from the pantry into the growbed. Three days later they were up and growing like crazy. Before that I threw in some cilantro seed and some basil. Both did nothing. They germinated and then died. I planted more beans and they are doing great.
Tomatoes have been a total disaster. I am planting roma tomatoes. They get about 4 cm high and then break at the point where they leave the media. I think they are too small to tie up but I am not sure what I am doing wrong.

I just received some new seeds from my father-in-law. I know they are good so I have planted green beans to see if they do as well as the local red beans. I also planted okra, and will try some bush beans as well. He sent me some cherry toms and big boy toms. I don't want to try them until I am sure I am not wasting seed.

I will post pics in a couple of days. Hopefully there will be progress.

Ah Getting seeds while in a third world country. I know that pain. Lucky you have such a great mail system. THye keep opening my mail and keeping all the seeds.

I am having some successes and some not so successful experiences. I have gotten a lot of seeds to sprout, even got beans to 20 cm high and then the leaves started to wilt. Pulled one out and the roots had a white fuzz like mold on it. Has spread to the rest so the beans are not going to make it.

I planted snow peas because the beds get plenty of light but full sun for only 2 hours a day. Snow peas are doing Great! they have now fallen over so I will add some supports in the next day or so.

All my tommies sprouted but then "damped" off so I have no tommies. I did have the sense to transplant a couple before they died into dirt and they are really taking off.

Basil sprouted, and staid gravel height. Been two months and there are rocks that are taller than the plants.

Okra is doing fairly well. Philodendrons are doing great.

On the up side, the fish are doing fantastic. I have about 12 now in the 500 gram range so I could eat them any time but I won't for a while.

I have one 750 gram red tilapia with pop-eye in a separate tank with salt. The cloudiness on the eye seems to be dissipating but the swelling is not going down much. She can see now enough to feed from pellets floating close by so that is encouraging. A couple more weeks in isolation and I may throw her back in with the rest after I wean her off of salt.