Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Muzz, i have made the same observations as you regarding slvers versus jades.

It was a good little experiment for me as i now know that silvers are much more my cup of tea for victorian climates.

My next batch of fish wil definatly be silvers.

I have just put one 12cm jade and one 5cm silver in a 100lt aquarium adjacent to the computer. The water temp is about 16C the little silver has not stopped hunting for food in the ast week (i filled it with creek water with hundreds of little beasties in it) where as the jade stays motionless for the most part. I dropped some pellets right in front of his nose last night, and he took them, but apart from that, not much.

Hi Jamie, yes, a piece of the trusty old 90mm pvs pipe which they love.
Murray

Hi Murray, no jumpers yet but the goldies are being hassled, the SP have staked their area on the bottom of the tank (and all the hides/pipes) - the goldies have the top half and hide amongst the water plant branches, some got caught on top of the plant when the water level went down so raised the plant.

Update on the Coco Peat as a Grow Bed Medium.

I did a 50% water change out yesterday and it would appear that the water is not getting any more discolouration added to it by the coco peat.
The water is actually very clean and now looks like a weak to medium cup of tea in colour.

I have been talking with the people who import the coco peat and they have suggested that I add a carbon filter or charcoal filter between the return sump and the fish tank. They have suggested that this will clean up the discolouration. Also it will have an added benefit of completely removing any residual ammonia etc that may , I say again, may still be in the water on it's return to the fish tank.

I am going to give it a try just to see how it goes
I am having a bit of trouble finding a source of bulk (a couple of KG) charcoal filter material to make up a flower pot filter to hang over the top of my 2300 litre tank.
Anyone got any ideas where I might get such a substance ?

Muzza

Home brew shops normally stock charcoal/carbon for filtering, don't know about prices tho. Is there any reason that you can't use burnt bbq wood?

Thanks for that Axl, I did not think of Brew Shops, there is one about 10 k's from me , I will go there tomorrow and see what I can get.
Muzza

While you are there you can pick up a new hobby , if you have any spare time!hahahahahahahahahaha

The Brew shop I am thinking of is where I go to get the compliance plates for my boats engraved, the guy does engraving as an add-on to his brew shop, so that is a very handy tip thanks Axl.
Actually I am a non drinker, but every time I go the brew shop I am fascinated by the numerous gadgets and the equipment needed to brew up various potions.
There are so many different varieties of beer/wine one can make, looking at it all while I am waiting makes me wish I was a drinker, well, for a few seconds anyway.......
Muzza

many many many ways to get a hang over (note to self while having a brew )

Yeah lots of HB shops have to have add on products, there just doesn't seem to be quite enough business for just beer stuff. My local one sells water filters as well.
Cheers
Axl

Steve, Further to the comparison of jades to Silvers, I have had the Silvers for a week on Friday and I can say that they are always on the move in the tank, back and forth and up and down, the Jades just hang around the bottom of the tank. Yesterday when I did the 50% water change out, I pumped the remainder of the water down (into the Grow Beds) to about 150mm deep in the fish tank just to see if the Jades were still there doing their thing. I know that they are there because they take chunks out of the lettuce leaves, but with the water discolouration from the coco peat, I never see them.

on the carbon, try one of the online aquariums links.

Thre brew shop will be premium price as its ultra pure and has phoshaptes removed. Nothing wrong with a bit of phosphates for our strawberries

Hi Axl,
I *think* if you run water through burnt wood you get lye...

silly me that is how you make soap isn't it ,ashes and oil/fat?
Well you'd have clean fish.......

Also the activated carbon yu're looking for is activated by injecting it with high pressure steam to make it ultra porus. Increasing the surface area for it to trap contaminants