Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

got shots but Im too "full" to post them right now .

I reckon that plant is a winter cress / yellow rocket . its not ( short term ) poisonous , I tried a bit 4 weeks ago now and Im still kicking , feeding one whole plant to the rabbots each day now to try and cut them down a bit ( the plants , not the rabbits )

It turned out that i didnt need a recipe or filletting instructions - I just caught them and cut their heads off , then passed them to a mate who ran a top class fish & chip shop for 14 years , one of the best around , and they tasted GOOOOD

a bit of rosemary , thyme and lemon , in olive oil , marinate a bit then onto tinfoil on the bbq

lucky I just got a camping smoker , the other trout that didnt get killed were looking at me with big pleading puppy-dog eyes begging to be next ...

Hope you raised a glass or two in honour of your first harvest Boris...

Look forward to the pics...

Many fish left B?

Not anymore OBO

ALL 12 of my big fat trout died last night ( possibly out of sympathy for Duckponds ones dying from being man-handled into shock .. )

Checked both systems at 12 , aeration pump in this system was doing fine , trout were swimming happily . water temp at lunchtime yesterdayt was 17 degrees .
12 trout , at about 400 gram each , in 1000L of water with a 1400LPH pump aerating through a venturi ...

I guess the pump got clogged or something and they suffocated , but then it came back on cause when I checked it thismorning it was still pumping out bubbles like normal

the dead trout had a slightly white slime over their heads / fins , maybe thats just from being dead for a few hours .
Im gonna stir the water up before each pump cycle for a couple days , rip out the mystery plants that have taken over , then dump 50 Silver Perch in this tank ( Nitrites in the other system are still at 1 , so I guess its safer putting them in the "Death tank" anyway )

Eventually ( Once Italk Duckpond into doing it for me .. ) Im digging out the dirt garden & moving it out the front into a flash new limestone garden bed ( thats yet to be built duckpond ) , then sinking in the 4 half ( well , 3 are 750L ) IBCs leftover from making the new system .
Once thats done I'll get 3 of Joels sexy growbeds and triple the size of this system , using the buried IBC halves ( 500L , 750L , 750L , 750L ) as main tanks / sump and pump both up to the new growbeds AND the top growbed of this system .

I think I'll end up using this system as a fingerling tank as Im not confident having big fish in there anymore . Once they grow bigger I can transfer em to the new buried tanks , which given the 3 GBs on top and bigger surface area , should have alot more aeration

eithewr that or I invest in a massive airstone bubbler thing like that which Troutman used to deliver the trout with

So here's a lesson Im starting to learn about AP :
ALL youre fish died ?
System obviously not big enough - triple the size of it and add more pumps silly !

too late to give up on this whole thing now - what would I do with all these buckets and pumps ( and most of my spare time ..)

That's a real bugger Boris....

Out of curiousity... can yo measure your water parameteres... pH, ammonia, nitrites....

And the "mystery plants that have taken over" .... are they in the tank???

Water tests from the "Tank of Doom" from yesterday ( this is after I got the 12 dead fish out and stirred the water up a bit ) :

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0 - 0.50 ...
pH 7.4
temp 15 degrees ...

I convinced that the pump with the venturi got clogged with something or shut of overnight after 12 when I checked it , and turned on early , before I checked it again at 8 , thus - no aeration for 6 hours or more

mystery plant is in the 2nd growbed . Im pretty sure its Yellow Rocket / Wintercress now . Not that it matters as Im gonna rip it out to make sure all the seedlings and existing plants in there get enough of the remaining nutrients

Water in this system is fine , but a little murky . Smelt bad yesterday but I stirred it up just now and it smells fine . Tomorrow I'll move 50 Silvers into this system just to tempt fate

dead trout just made room for Barramundi wooohoooo . Got to triple the size of the system before they arrive

Yeah, your water test seem pretty alright.... note you said the water "smelt"....

Think you're right... pumps been blocked for a while... probably from the algae (smell) .... hence not enough oxygenation..... plus the algae would consume oxygen overnight...

Jaymie had a big fish kill after she stirred up the water in her tank. Maybe the muck just chokes them?

Im convinced the trout died from lack of oxygen now .
Ive messed around with the venturi fom the pump and got it pushing even more oxygen , put 10 of the siler perch in the tank & they seem happy . Havent seen them eat yet even though the remaining 90 in the big tank are eating when they cant see me watching

Tomato plant is going great & flowering , turnips and beetroot are coming along well plus alot of seeds sprouting .
Onions are looking awesome compared to the ones in the dirt garden , but garlic not doing anywhere near as good .
Broad beans are stunted and curled but look edible - the plants themselves are greener than the ones in the dirt garden ( more water .. ) but the beans on the ones in the dirt are going MUCH better , had 5 meals out of them already and barely made a dent

Now that Ive ripped out most of the mystery plant , the celery is starting to take off

Added a few grams of Thrive to this system to keep the bacteria alive while the silvers arent eating

theyre swimming around happier than usual and starting to take little nibbles of the food I put in , not long now

despite the lack of nutrients because of the silvers not eating , the plants are doing ok cause Ive been adding a little Thrive every week

ripped out the mystery plant to make sure the others get the most of the available nutrients

Mate it is not wise to put thrive into the system. I'd cease doing this and count my lucky fortune that it has not killed all the fish. Have a look at the ingredients .

gee , Im such a moron , I hadnt thought to look at the ingredients before dumping a massive 3 grams of it in my system every second week

Mate - take the piss all you want. Was just trying to help - a member here did the same thing and killed every one of their fairly advanced jade perch. I turned up at their place as the fish were dying and being pulled out of the system. I looked at the ingredients and wasn't suprised at what I was seeing.

and BTW - I wouldn't think that thrive would help to 'keep the bacteria alive', not unless it is high in ammonia (I can't remember the ingredients - was a couple of years back that the fish kill occured).

"Have a look at the ingredients "
"I can't remember the ingredients"

here you go

Nitrogen as Nitrate 8.8%
Nitrogen as Ammonia 3.6%
Nitrogen as Urea 2.6%
water soluble phosphorous 4%
potassium 26%
Mg ( sulphate )0.5%
Fe 0.18%
Mn ( sulphate )0.045
Zn ( sulphate )0.02%
Boron (sodium borate) 0.005%
Cu ( sulphate )0.005%
Mo (sodium molybdate)0.002%

less that 1ppm lead
less than 0.5ppm Cad
less than 0.2ppm mercury

I can read , and do tend to before I put things into my food chain

and I'll take the piss all I want thanks , Its my patriotic duty