Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

mmmmmmmmmmmm......crabby patties

I thought of doing that, but to be honest, it seems like it will be too much work for me. I have MS and so I tire very easily. My pond sits at the base of a tall bluff, and so has lots of snags and tangles, which of course it where the fish are, so I think a casting net would just get tangled. I thought hard about both before I went with the trap.

fair enough

Well, I have finished dressing up the tank so that it looks more like a pond, and less like a science project. The weather got bad on me, so I had to put off finalizing the plumbing and electrical. I am trying to make it look like a pond up against a bluff, although better looking than the original (our pond). The little tree on the left will be trimmed bonzai style once he is out of shock. He is set up AP, with the feed going into the back, and the return flowing over the big flat rock and into the pond. The other plants are plastic, but look pretty real. All of the rocks came from the farm, or a creek near by. If you look very closely at the rocks that end each side, they have very interesting patterns of erosion in them. These came from a creek near by.

OKAY.....I probably should have thought of this before, but the fish are still adapting to the size of the tank. When I walk up to the tank, they bolt away from me, sometimes ramming the wall. Note: Need to leave them be as much as possible until they get used to the size of the tank. Especially the bigger oneslike the Bass.

Here are the readings for today. I have added squeezings from my indoor aquarium, as well as several gallons of nitrate rich water from the tank. I also took the organic matter from the filter and put it in the GB. That is when the Nitrate climbed. I am not sure why the water hardness reading changed. It doubled over the course of two days. Anyone have any thoughts?

Nitrate 20
Nitrite 0
Water Hardness 150 (hard)
Alkalinity 85-90 (moderate)
PH 7.2 (ideal)
Water Temp 67F

Well, Saturday should be a real good test of the heating part of the system. Suppost to have a high of 26F and a low of 19F with snow flurries. I sure hope it's ready.

Ack!

Do you think the pipes will freeze up? Maybe some insulation or heat tape on them?

The water is constantly running at this point. I am heating it, and it is heating the mini-greenhouses one the lettucs. I already withstood 14F temperature a week or so ago, before the heaters and plants. I will be hooking up the timer in a week or so, after the really cold weather, then I will only need to bypass the timer when it is really cold.

Anyone care to predict the future of three or four dozen butter lettuce seedlings. LOL, woke up to this today, and it isn't though yet. Under the snow, the water is still circulating. The temperature today is supposed to be 29F, and tonight it will get down to 19F.

...and me in shorts and bare feet ...you certainly do have different challenges to face

monitor your ammonia and nitrite in that weather.

I have been monitoring as we go. Nitrites still 0. It is 13F right now, and as I look at the seedlings through the plastic, they are still green (although they might be frozen that way) and aren't drooping or anything. We are spuuposed to have a week of mild weather next week, with the temp even getting into the 60's, so I guess we shall se. CookieCows has a lot more seedlings, that are bigger than those that we planted, so if need be, we can replace them. Will keep everyone posted.

Got a great deal today on a larger fishtank. It is a stainless steel milk storage tank, used on dairies. It is 300 gallons, has a hinged lid, and a chiller to keep the water a constant temperature. Even if I do not use the chiller, it is a double walled tank, which is designed to maintain temperatures. It already has the plumbing that I would need. I may have got it just in time. Came home from fishing down at the pond, to find my dog with his paw on one of my 14" bass. The only thing I can think of, is it jumped out of the tank and flip-flopped off the deck and into the yard. Dog must have though he died and went to heaven. Fish went into the chum bucket. I can see that I will need to have lids/covers on the tanks if I am going to use wild fish. I am now down to two bass in the sump tank, and six mixed size bluegills in the main tank. I am still adding nitrate rich water from my aquarium, as the AP system water doesn't seem to be changing all that much. Hmmmmm!

Good score! Monya (now Steem's system) had a tank like that.