Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

thought of that when I first saw the design but imagined you had put a wall across to stop it happening

...have 2 outlets, one for each ramp and shove in a divider to stop the idiots from going on a "Sunday stroll"

Well.. Its been quite a day. I added some sea weed extract to the sump several days ago and I had not looked at the system since then. This morning I went to top off the water in the sump and was shocked to discover huge squash plants, lettuce, two bug eaten ripe tomatoes, four bananna peppers, a hand full of cyan peppers and tall green onions! Where the heck did all that come from What amazing growth! Well In all the excitement I was late for work so I fed the fish and left, but I left the water hose running all day So I guess I have had a 100% water change by now
To make things worse wild birds had eaten my half gallon of fresh worms from the BSF bin, clearly a sealed can with a hose is a must! On the positive side of things I had my first mostly ap dinner tonight. I added beef an onion, salt and pepper. To mad I did not have any fish to go in the mix!

Oh, and the lettuce was really strong tasting as was the cyan pepper, infact my throat is still burning... The best and most expensive dinner I have ever had, Is it common for AP veggies to have such better and stronger flavors?

Neat, good job DDM!

I weighed a fish. It was about 43 grams. So that is something like 5375 grams. So I am adjusting feeding to 161 grams per day. Seems like growth is less than great using commercial 20% protein catfish feed. I may have to find a better feed. I am starting to feed worms so I will hold off buying more feed for a month.

AP food always tastes better. Something to do with the fact that chillie probably cost $500 to produce

I just never tire of feeding time! It just so much fun to watch them eat.

That is one inspiring thread Dan, you should be very pleased with the results, well done. I am impressed.
Faye

Thanks Faye! That means a lot coming from a master gardener.

I had my first jumper today A nice fat black fish. Much larger than I knew I had in the tank. That's the problem with a black tank and black fish, I can't see them, and most of the fish in the tank are black so as in the video above you only see a few of the 130+ fish in that tank. I should have put a top on it much sooner. I am going to see what I can "rig up" to keep them in.

Neat! Some of them look almost red?

They came from hybrids and best as I can tell they mix has come apart and broken back down into red/orange mossomba, hornorum, and black nile and various mixes. Interesting this is each bread seems to favor their original ancestry. I will be mixing these fish back with fresh genetics from my hornorum. I really like how much faster the hornorum grow. The black fish are also fast growers to and have a taller more rounded looking body (better fillet!)

Better fillet,,,well that depends,,some tilapia have larger gut cavities and less flesh than you would expect.The"Reds" also have a much higher salt tolerance , in case you ever wondered(not).
In fact I believe there is some research being done inThailand forthe prawn(shrimp)farms to pump the waste back into ponds where the reds can clean it up( seawater)
,,,about time they realised the detruction these prawn farms are causing.

I made a make shift net for the top of my tank to keep the fish in using materials I had laying around; rebar and bird netting. Also, I just found a cucumber hiding in the growth! I did not even know I planted a cuc! There are lots of flowers but only one cucumber. How do you hand pollinate? Pick the male flower without any fruit behind it and touch or run to flowers with miniature fruit?

My nitrates are back up to 10 and I think I need to plant more plants because everything is blooming a bit excessively. I harvested 3 more cucumbers and there are plenty on the way. I did a soil type test to see how much phosphorus and potassium are in the system just a reference to what conditions produce cucumbers, tomatoes, squash ect...

ph 6, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10, potassium "medium high", phosphorus is "high".

The cucumbers are incredibly sweet and tasty. The best I have ever had. In the past I have had trouble growing cucumbers, but in the AP they are doing great. I did notice that during the evening all the leaves are wilted and the cucs that have the most shade during the day are twice the size of the cucs that get a lot of sun. The zucchini squash are growing good now that nitrates are coming back up, but they have not started to flower and fruit.

Dan can you explain how you did the soil test? Also where did you get the test kit? And your ph was 6.0? Are your fish ok with that?

My plants are really not doing very well and I've been thinking about my ph of 7.6 as the problem(nitrates are 40+).