Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The second growbed is filled with gravel , not water OBO , hehehe

Ive been topping up my system with Bore water ( and Ive tested it - no ammonia in it , Ph is neutral & its cooold water from 17 metres down )

Added about 400L of BOre water today , but then once the pump kicks in & the cycle starts , the sump overflows , so I think Ive only effectively "changed" 200 Litres , maybe a little more .

Im going to make a habit of having the sump empty every time I water the lawn with the bore hose & just fill the sump

Ammonia and Nitrite are down a little today , I starved the fish then threw a tiny bit of food in and they went berserk , made it easy to catch them and see how theyre doing

The "Mystery Veggie / Herb" plant turns out to probably be .....

Sunflower.

damn . oh well , I guess I can use the seeds for cooking ( if the birds dont get em all ) and atleast theyre shallow rooted and suck up a LOT of nitrates

HSM today !

the power just went out - from just before 3 in the afternoon , came back on 2 hours later

I was bucketing water out of the tank and then pouring it in from a good height , but it got boring pretty quick ...

on joels expert advice - tap water is ok to top your tank up with , so thats what i did . Scrounged around for a hose connector so the garden hose would reach and then pointed it down with a spray attachement to add lots of fine bubbles

I also bucketed out 100L ( heheh , 6.66% water change ) and let the hose top it up . pwer stayed off for long enough to fill the 2ndGB and overflow the sump , so I reckon I ended up with a 10% tap-water water change .

Added some water ager into the tank to be sure ( it gets rid of heavy metals though , i wonder what that does to my chelated iron dose ) , but I suppose now that that was a mistake and water ager isnt too good for eating

oh well , no fish died , and theyre REALLY eating today for some reason - 17 trout , 5 BIG handfulls of food , i think they know they havent got many meals left in their lies so theyre eating up and enjoying it now ....

If they're big enough to eat.... they're big enough to photograph Boris....

they're camera shy , I tells ya !

so ... someone who knows plants ..

Is it possible this mystery plant thats taking over my GB is Winter Cress ? Also known as yellow rocket ( because of the flowers , which in this case ARE yellow )

it sure doesnt taste like rocket , or cress , it tastes like bland celery but MAYBE thats caused by the excessive and speedy growth ?
Im thinking maybe too much nitrates causing the plant to grow quick also causes a weakening of flavour , or it could be cause its flowering that its pretty flavourless ( though thats the opposite of my normal Rocket plants - they taste stronger when they flower .. )

Anyway , Im leaving it all in there till the tomatoes and other stuff take off so they keep sucking up the nutrients from my 17 fat little trout

Looks like a weed to me

Outside kitchen finished ...

got a sink , BBQ , lights , power , beer fridge , all finished in marble tiling ....

LET THE TROUT SLAYING COMMENCE !!

gonna eat a few of my remaining 17 trout today - the lucky ones that survived my cruel living conditions are gonna finally have the pleasure of being eaten by me

best way to fillet & cook a trout ?

Fillet them first.... then cook them....

Trout have lots of small bones Boris.... I'd probably just gut & gill them...

Stuff the gut cavity with whatever you like...throw them in a pan with butter,or wrap them in foil and throw them on the BBQ

I'll bring beer !!! when??

boris, be a bit careful with sampling unknown plants There are many common "weeds" that will send you to the emergency dept. (who will finish you off though mis-diagnosis)

That plant looks a lot like radish as well

nah, different to mine

Watercress?

nah I give up.

My advice is to scale and gut them. From my experience;- though the bones are small they stay with the backbone and the flesh peels away very easily leaving behind the bones intact. they do not take long to cook and are delightful panfried with butter, garlic and parsley. MM yum. Don't forget to weigh and photograph them Boris!
Happy dining.