Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

How deep is the bed Imy?

Umm... I think 38cm? Sheesh, I only just measured it. How can I not remember? I'll do it again later.

I think we lost one more yabby. I pulled it out, thinking it was dead yesterday and it wiggled a bit so I put it back in... but its looking very sluggish. Just a little sucker too. If these guys die, I'm totally going the goldies!

And seasol

LOL

Looking at the picture of your growbed again, I reckon the tomato plants will be fine as they are, especially with the 38cm of media, just keep them under control.

Lost another 2 yabbies this morning... the water is starting to smell funky and we're out of rainwater for water changes... what now???

Yabbies are tough Imy...... I'd try a 20% water change, even tap water... see if you can get an airstone in the tank....

And STOP feeding.... yabbies don't need to be feed every day...

Fess up... what have you been feeding them, how much, how often... and how many yabbies have you got???

Well, we have about 30 now (I think ) in 800L. I fed them on the first day with 1/2 a cup of peas and corn (wednesday) then fed them again on Saturday with another 1/4 a cup because the food was all gone and I didn't give them as much because everyone saoid not to. I just fed them a 1/2 cup yesterday in the evening. They are getting frozen chopped veg.

That's not too bad Imy.... I'd probably go about 1/2 cup every three days....

What's your water temp??.... I'd say you haven't cycled your bio-filter as yet...

If the water's really "manky"... replace about 20%... and don't feed until Fri/Sat... they'll be fine....

Once the bio-filtration kicks in the water should pick up pretty quick...

Found my yabbies seemed to pump out the poo and ammonia pretty quick when I first got them... probably stress related...

I had about 15 in a 200ltr tub... and was doing 20% water changes about every three days until the filtration got going....

Doesn't take much filtration for yabbies really... but I was laying right off the feed... and had an air pump going 24/7...

I'll do a water change. Not sure on the temp, the tank is buried so not too much of a huge fluctuation, its also under shade cloth.

Interested in the temperature from a DO and ammonia perspective Imy... and more particularly, it's influence on cycling time....

I'll be sure to check. We've had some hotter days so its probably bounced around a bit lately... its bloody cold now!

Here are some things I've noticed tonight. The water doesn't smell icky anymore. I wonder if switching off the pump at 10pm until 6am is having something to do with it?

The yabbies we found dead this morning were two smaller males with missing legs... I don't know if that was done in transit but is it possible that the males are fighting due to warmer water temps making them spring-frisky?

The inlets to the beds were clogged AGAIN tonight. Its the plastic bending back and blocking the holes in the poly.

The yabbies in the tank tonight were not sluggish at all, zipping backwards when they see shadows or the luttuce yachts floating by. We added more tubes so now there are WAY more than they could possibly want.

The food is almost all gone already

The water around the bottom of the tank has a fair bit of sediment (poo, I know it is because I WIPED out the tank before adding water), as do the bottoms of the pipes which the yabbies are in.

Imy, you really need to pump the water continuously while you are cycling -- it helps to clear the water a lot better, and removes the smell. Probably does not actually help with the ammonia or nitrite, but will aerate better, and hopefully help to keep the yabbies alive.

Kept the pump on last night poor neighbours

Is it that loud?