Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Are you oxygenating the water Mike?

No I am not. I wanted to purchase an active aqua commercial air pump with 6 outlets and run a diffuser to each container but I figured I'd experiment and see if the waterfall running 24/7 was enough for aeration.

Looking at the roots, I'd be getting that air pump online...

Hi rupert,

Can you elaborate on why you think I should get an air pump online? Is it the algae on the roots? I recently placed the filter back on the pump that led to the AP due to solids accumulating on the roots... The plants seem to be doing fine although I think I might have an iron deficiency but I'm not sure. One of my plants is growing but the leaves seem abnormally light although all the other plants in the AP seem fine except for that specific one... I threw a few rusty screws in various place in the AP hoping this will make some more iron available.

I'll put up some pics showing the plant that I think has a deficiency compared to ones that seem fine and dandy. Right now though I am in the process of making some spawning mops using some spare yarn that I have.

spawning mop:

step 1: wrap the yarn around a board of some sort



step 2: thread a string through and make a loop



step 3: cut it



step 4: tie up



step 5: put it in the pond and watch the goldfish (or spawning fish that use aquatic plants to lay eggs in for coverage)

The pics I took of the eggs on the mop are all out of focus. The rain started coming down after

Here are the plants that I think might have a deficiency:



The leaves look very light compared to the pak choi next to it on the right side:



The white bitter gourd leaves are looking a bit light too:



Lettuce seems to be doing fine:



strawberry from seed. I have a few growing in soil so this is just a throwaway kind of experiment to see how it fairs:



I'll upload a video of the fish spawning into the mop that I made as soon as it finishes uploading to youtube and is processed.

Here is the video of the goldfish spawning into the mops:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Sj1yamuEc

Freshwater roe?

to eat?! haha I actually just raise them for fun and to replenish the supply every now and then when one dies from jumping out of the pond =/

Watched it but had the sound down. Did you use an appropriate wacka-wacka electric guitar soundtrack?

I wasn't serious about the roe question either. Hey, it's Friday down here.

But seriously, I love how you dollied the camera down so we could get the window view. I could watch a lot more of that.

Rick

I took a nice 9 min video of the fish chasing each other (window view and all) but the audio has the neighbors yelling at the dog and me sneezing a couple of times! I should dub over an older recording of the water trickling into the system from when I was much closer.

btw

UPDATE TIME yay! click on the pic for a much bigger picture if you want!

Here is the video of the window that you requested =P

Youtubedoubler is not working with my video so I can't play the porno music along with it! haha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHYOk0YCfic

Four Thumbs Up!
The Must-See Feel-Good Event of the Summer!

Rick,

go here

http://www.youtubedoubler.com/?video1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Df46w2vP-HM4&start1=&video2=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DkHYOk0YCfic&start2=&authorName=AP+porn

Just mute the trickling water!

So it's been a while since I've visited this forum and updated the status of my AP... (I changed some browser settings and was too lazy to activate a new password since I only logged in once by typing in my password manually).

I decided to take some PH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate readings, today, for the first time ever!



I believe the PH is around 7.4
Ammonia looks to be around 0 ppm
Nitrites looks to be between 0ppm and .25ppm ...
Nitrates looks to be between 0ppm and 5.0ppm ...

update:

I added inexpensive Ghost Shrimp and feeder guppies to the buckets. Hopefully the ghost shrimp eat the algae/unfiltered fish waste that accumulates in the buckets while the guppies eat the mosquito larvae. I tried to add either a pair to each bucket hoping they reproduce or atleast 1 ghost shrimp with a clutch of developing eggs! I think it would be great if some wound up migrating/growing in the bottom of the fish pond where they can clean up after any undigested/uneaten fish poop/food. I read the ghost shrimp are hardy to above freezing temperatures so hopefully they survive the winter with the goldfish.