Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

alll righty then....


now for the last few weeks i have pouring hcl and (mostly) vinegar into the system. about 1/2 cup of vinegar a day which keeps the ph to 7.8...but if i miss 1 day the ph is 8 again..

now i have just finished a group of night shifts...and it is too hot to sleep ..so mental thought processes are not normal.... but i have been pondering...

i guess number 1 is to replace the gavel in the beds.. not my number 1 choice but.... i guess 1 bed at a time will save having to cycle the system again...

but before that..

would adding salt to the sysytem be of any use??

or would increasing the number of fish in the system increase the acididty...doing what fish do.????? currently there is about 15 silvers in the 1000lts ibc(killed a couple lately!!)...

advice greatly appreciated!!

wow... i am growing tomatoes.... yeah so? say the crowd.... but i have never grown decent ones before.. just tiny cherry ones..which still got eaten by a member of the forested community...

so the new trellis is working out well... only grumble has been the ants, which seem to asttack the moisture at the junction of stem and fruit..which makes the rock mellons and cucumbers fall off..

i have been eating salad from the beds every day at work and so the leafy stuff has been thinned.. but there is mucho planting of seeds to take the place of them..

congradulations on your tomatoes, it is a great feeling isnt it.

in the bottom depths of my fish tank..... a piece of pipe had become lodged in the outlet of the tank... this didnt appear to be a big issue but i thought it best to remove it..

of course... one thing there is heaps of here is kids....

what handy little creatures they can be.....

'tis....

A bit of competition for Scuba Steve!


A willing one as well, or was the smile just for the camera

i told him yesterday he was going to go into the tank... he was up at 0530 quietly waiting with the googles in place,.....

"willing" would be a gross understatement....

Wait untill its the 5th time cleaning the tank.

Were the fish still in it?

I hop you washed him first kids can cause water contamination problems

Dear Lost Hippy,

I send you much love, respect and affection. Hope your tomatoes are working out. And worry not, they got the guns but we got the numbers [;

Another lost, or perhaps late, hippy,
Abdul Aleem

thanks abdul!!!

peace, love and mungbeans to you as well....

wow... its been ages since i have even looked at my thread... so much time but things still going the same..

we had soooooo much rain here... it rained from late january til april... i lost just about everything in the grow beds.. where ever two plant leaves were touching... they would rot... so there was very little left..

but slowly it has been getting better.. i have been throwing seeds in according to my moon chart.. and it is making a difference!! previously i was throwing seeds into the gravel and nothing would happen... now there is seeds poking up all over the beds..

we have had many probs with caterpillars but dipel is doing its job..

still have depressed fish swimming up the pipes...and getting stuck.... have 11 silvers left... and 3 reddies.. the water temp has got down to 11..but mostly sits at 15-16c.... hope to get some jades when it warms up a bit...

at the mo i am working 12hr days... so havnt had a chance to take some photos... but will soon..

Good to hear from you Losthippy... any chance you can cover the growbeds to keep some of the rain off....

Or was it more just a matter of so much rain that things didn't have a chance to dry out??

And yeah... I always direct sow my seeds... according to the moon... difference is amazing IMO... and I'm sure C1 will agree...

what do you mean, according to the moon?