Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My kind of guy!

Stu - great work over there. You said I would laugh when I saw your system, hardly so. You are all over it. That is one serious commitment you got going on. Much respect from the other side of the planet!

In for a penny, in for a pound!

What I meant was, if I took a photo of the shed you would laugh at all the mess. I'm constantly stepping over stuff. It is a pig sty!

haha...me too. My greenshop isn't so clean anymore. In fact it's a little flooded right now. Seems when I tore of the roof the sun hit the plastic drain and warped it slightly. I'm glad to hear someone out there might be ADD too?

If you mean am I nuts, yep!!

that's the technical term, yes!

LOL...........
MF strong sun.
Got to be a bit ADD as not to get bored.
Mon why do you think I have been selective with the photos.
I used to think the FI had lots of 'gear' I reckon I'd beat him hands down after being at the same place for 17 years.
Crew laugh when they come over here, they come over to ask for a part of something .... and end up finding exactly what they need and a good laugh.

Quick question....

If I put fish in my tank, and cycled the water through my big grow bed, and the fihies had ich or fungus, would the diseasemake its way into the grow bed too? Is that the way things work and diseases transfer?

Fungus probably would, as would ICH, as one of its life cycle stages is free floating, but they would die within a day or two with no fish host.

Stu, this is probably only a concern if your BED is going to service another isolated tank. ICH is of no consequence to humans, and the fish fungus is probably fish specific.

But if you're asking if you use the bed for one tank, and then connect it to another tank then YES, they will transfer.

Steve

Thanks, reinforces my idea of having a seperate bed for starting with/medicatio0n of quarantined fish.

im hoping i never have to worry about fish getting sick. i am planning to give them home made pellets once a fortnight or something, with garlic, spirulina, and any other healthy things i can think of

what's spirulina?

I'm not so worried about them getting sick at my place, I will have lots of water, and low stocking densities, only concerned that they will be healthy when they arrive

You got the right idea Stu. Hospital tank using biofilter or seperate grow-bed. Fish will only need to be in there for 2 weeks and you will not feed them heavilly in that time.

Thaks for that VB, I was kinda stealing your ideas from previous posts to use. I think a 2 week preventative hospitalisation is a good idea.

Another question,

If the fish had ich or fungus, and they got better, would that tank then be alright to open the flow to the other tank? Or is the "bug" still in the water, hence requiring it to be changed?

Sorry about all these questions, this is all new to me, trying to prepare and not kill my first batch

ah, quarantine before the fish go into your main system. Some fish will live their whole life in the same water as a disease but won't get it. However if these fish become stressed they become suceptable to the disease, and hence may get it. Dont get me wrong quarantine is a great idea though.

Spirulina is an algae, you can find it in a fair few pet stores in the form of flakes, tablets, etc. I got my spirulina from a health food store (rediculously cheaper and pure so you can eat it too)

Below is some more specific info (http://www.tigerbaybev.co.uk/herbal_spiulina.htm)

Spirulina is a microscopic aquatic plant named after its shape, which is a spiral coil. It is often referred to as 'Nature's Superfood', as it contains the most powerful combination of nutrients known in any food, and has been hailed as the only complete food source known to man. Apparently this was demonstrated by one dedicated Japanese fan, who proved it to the world by surviving for 2 years by eating nothing but spirulina and water! Now, we wouldn't want to go that far but hey, it's a story worth telling.Scientifically researched for over 30 years now, much is known about Spirulina's properties - it is rich n iron, magnesium, all amino acids, B complex vitamins, GLA (gamma-linolenic acid), and beta-carotene (Vitamin A). Beta carotene is an important anti-oxidant which helps to fight free radicals and GLA is thought to promote hormone balance and cell growth. Furthermore, spirulina contains no saturated fats, and is low in calories and cholesterol - so have as much as you like!