Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

bout half a cup of ridley 4mm pellets at night. I did have 50 crays, with 5 deaths within a week of putting them in. I suspect quite a few escaped but hopefully it was just that one that tried to escape and I still have 45. I'm starting to give them a whole cup of pellets every second night. they are big crays... I bought them at 10cm and I can't tell if they've grown or not, don't care really, they were big enough to eat when I got them. apart from that, I clean my filters once a month and top the tank up with about 30Lts of water per week. I do need to get a gravel vaccum so I can clean out some of the solids that are building up. I have snails, mussels and little worms trying their hardest but it's not quite enough. I have some weird looking algae in there, water isn't very clear or even green, more of a brown tint to it. I'm a little concerned about the state of the water but I've been too busy to go through the forum to look for answers. the plants are cranking, the crays are always sitting on top of their pipes waiting for food at night so I'm not overly worried about it. any suggestions?

I have brown algae - its green when it first grows, but the fish poo seems to stain it

Damn there's some growth there since I was over AZ - keep it going

I'm putting in my upsidedown tomato buckets in a week. going to germ seeds this week and hopefully the weather warm enough when they are ready to plant so they thrive. pics coming soon.

just found a link to a cheap and easy to build DIY level switch:
http://www.reefworkshop.com/DIY_floatswitch1.htm

have fun

frank

Had a look at that Frank, neat and functional

Hi A-z,
Those buckets you are using will fall apart very quickly when in the sun.
They are not UV stablised.
They will not last the life of the tomato's.
Suggest that you support them from the bottom as the spot where the handle attaches will be the first point to give way.
If you still want to use the buckets.
Buy a roll of gal strap from B's.
Place two straps each twice the length of the bucket height on the ground crossing in the middle.
Pop rivet them together in the middle.
Put the bucket onto the middle of the cross then bend all ends up along side the bucket.
Join all ends, ignore the handle and hang from the straps.
Good Luck
Alex

thanks... I know. I either have mutant veges or mutant crayfish, producing radioactive poo. look at these pics, compare them to the last pics I took one week ago on the last page.

I learnt the hard way that "dead fish float" is a common misconception. they so do not float. I managed to salvage 2 of my crayfish out of 50, one of them was a bit limp the other one is a fighter, I think I'll name him rambo. he can go into a glass tank now and retire to the good life. I think at least 2 had been dead for a few weeks and their rotting corpses contaminated the water to the point it was to toxic for the rest to survive. that is merely an assumption but there was no mechanical or electrical failures, my system cycles with absolute precision and my ammonia and nitrite levels haven't gone over 0.5ppm in a month. the sump, full of glass shrimp and pacific blue eye, no casulties and they seem really happy to be where they are.

I was putting in a second over flow pipe leading into the sump and I thought I'd drain the crayfish tank to give them a quick count to see how many escaped. I found a few dead guys and thought I'd drain the rest of the water so I could pull out a few of the pipes I put in for them to hide. nothing but corpses. I pulled the live ones out and put them in the sump, drained the sump half way and replaced the water. it was a sad sight. took me 2 hours to clean the black gunk out of the gravel, dry reaching the whole time, I swear I've never smelt anything so bad in my life. lit a fire, cremated the dead crays, memorial service is on saturday, all welcome. rambo will say a few kind words before the ashes are scattered in the garden.

Sad to hear of the losses AZ, your system was just starting to kick arse too by the growth rate of the vegies

Bummer Zombie.... black, evil smelling gunk... sounds like a definite anaerobic gunk...

Probably what killed off the rest... robbed the O2 from the water....

Sorry to hear about the crayfish. Can't see my yabbies in the pool. Hope there okay.

my system does not allow me to remove solid waste from the tank. this has ultimately caused the deaths of my fish stock, there is no other explanation. I have found a solution to this problem, it is a little work but the system doesn't require much maintanence as it sits besides this problem. I have to construct a solids filter that will circulate and clean the water without taking any nutrients from it. I'm going to remove the gravel and shell grit from the tank. put in more aeration and try to construct a vacuum to use as a maintanence tool. I'm guessing I can use the solids collected as a fertiliser for a dirt garden or even throw it in the worm farm and see if they like it.
I need some ideas as to the best filter I could use. not only for removal of solids from the water but to be able to collect them maybe once a week and use them for fertiliser.
also has anyone had/used one of those gravel vacuums for a fish tank, do they work well?

Here is a link for removing solids. My pool is going to have the same problem when I get the fish in there.

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