Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

More than a week since my last post... Plants growing gang busters! Even my wife, who sees it every two days or so, is shocked at some new visible growth when she does pop in.

Last Sunday, I hosted a few 'researchers' from central NC who have been lurking on this site and wanted to see a system in operation. Had six families in here two nights ago for a covered dish co-op discussion on several sustainable ideas for our community. Most were very interested in the system and its capabilities. The marine biologist dropped in Friday to buy some eggs... but I think the real reason was to take another peek inside at the growth...

Other projects I've been focusing on include getting a grow-out pen set up for the 50 broilers in our 'make-shift' incubation pens, as well as getting ready for a small pond to grow out water hyacinth.

Ph has been pretty steady at 7.2-7.4 while temps fluctuate between a morning low of 72º and a late afternoon high of 75-76º.

Feed disappears from the surface fairly quickly, so today at one feeding I chose to stand real still and watch. Pretty soon the water started to flash with small tilapia coming to the surface... They are still a bit shy, but I could clearly see growth with the largest ones a surprising 3"+!! Many smaller at 2" or so, but apparently they have been eating well at the bottom of the tank.

STILL! waiting on the strawberry plants that are being shipped... Good thing they are everbearing, because the normal fruiting season is about upon us...

My brother, an electrician, came by this evening to get a look and start thinking about how to wire the GH for safety and battery back-up with an eye toward hopefully disconnecting it from the grid at some future point.

Most days right now I have a few minutes in the a.m. and a few in the p.m. turning on/off pumps to conserve heat at night. Other work is little more than piddly stuff like helping the cuke and climbing bean vines find the strings I've dangled from the cattle panels.

Sides are still on the GH, but as soon as they come off (for the second time...) I plan to increase the size of the drain pipe on one side from 2- 2" drains to a single 4" that reduces to 3" farther down the line... I need more water at the beds so I can better regulate water height in each bed at the highest fill point. (Classic mistake: My overflow plumbing is too small... Works right now, but is a delicate balance. Bigger is indeed better!)

Pics of plant growth in the near future...

Not much else to report at this point.

CB

Okay... Photo extravaganza/update...

Well... that about wraps up the current state of things...

Hope you enjoy. I know I am. Just can't wait for 3-5 months down the road with the GH packed!! Still stagger planting some stuff to keep from having everything mature at once...

CB

I'm so jealous

Very satisfying, eh? But watch who you invite over with "pot plants" around. *grin*

I'm glad to see you included the standard beer bottle so we can judge scale.

Awesome, looks like a lot of fun going on at your place!

There seems to be an evaporation problem with your beer bottle from one picture to the next.

Yeah... There seems to be a problem in the GH... I have to top up the sump tank from time to time, too!!

Just glad I put the pics in order or you would think I exceeded my limit of one... ( I have to maintain a balance between Psalm 104:15 and Ephesians 5:18.... )



CB

Had never heard of "cackle berries" - learned something new today!

oo yea the samadams was only for scale
looks over half done.lol.
i dont think mine last to be use as a scale

those beans are quick!!!

Had the first taste of our little AP system today...

Pulled the cukes (AP) out of the fridge as well as a store bought tomato and diced both. Went out and snipped some fresh dill (AP) which I minced, then mixed it all together with a little pepper, a dollop of mayonnaise and a dash of lemon juice. Excellent!

Very refreshing salad with a nice cool taste to it! (Tasted better because it was largely AP... )

Temps really warming up and the fish are feeding voraciously. (I learned a while back that fish can be trained... I knock on the side of the tank four times before throwing the feed in there and they are up and waiting as it hits the water!! Fun!)

CB

Well, 75 everbearing strawberry plants went in the NFT rack this evening. Hope the boys did a good job because we lost light for the last 20 or so, so I didn't get to inspect them as closely as the first 55. Varieties are Ft. Laramie, Quinault and Ozark Beauty.

The company I purchased the strawberries from also sent some thorn-less blackberries I had planned on putting in the ground, but the roots are so small and pitiful I just may stick them in the AP for a year and plant next Spring. That should give them a real boost...

This week I did have one semi-exciting episode... Some of you old hands may be able to give me a clue.

Around Tuesday I noticed an odor that didn't seem right in the GH... Nothing strong, but an occasional whiff of decaying matter. I tried but could not nail down a source.

Wednesday the fish did not eat as rabidly as in recent days... The weather was nice, so I did not attribute it to a front change.

Thursday I fed and they ignored the feed completely... I had the day off and checked in a couple times before getting a little panicked... "No fish! Can't see the bottom. Bad smell... Uh-oh..."

So, I pulled the vinyl wrap off the tank to let more light in, but still could not see the bottom. Next I disconnected my air line and pulled up my makeshift diffuser and smelled it... not bad, but a little grungy. So, I pulled up one of the two drain suction pipes and found it a bit grungy as well with a few clogged holes, but again, no major odor.

I then reassembled the drain and put it back in the tank. With the air still turned off, I decided to take water quality tests... (Been testing ph and nitrAtes near daily, both of which dropped a bit in recent days). Amm looked to be about .5, nitrite was 0, ph 6.0, nitrate, 10-15ppm.... Hmmm. Interesting to see a spike in ammonia, and drop in nitrates from the mid to high 20s while nitrites remain 0.

About this time some movement at the top of the tank caught my eye... 50-60 tilapia were on the surface gulping air and very skittish. Still, seeing them I breathed a sigh of relief.

I put the air line back in and turned it WAY up. Almost immediately the tank was a boiling cauldron and a ton of partly eaten food particles were blown up from the bottom... Hmmm!!! A clue!

I manually ran the pump in several cycles while keeping the air up in order to try to wash a bunch of the junk into the GBs.

Around this time I was walking through the GH again trying to find the source of the mystery odor when I started smelling drain spots into the GBs... A couple were a little funky, and possibly the source. Still I was not SURE.

So, I surmised that I had been overfeeding AND the waste was collecting in the GBs at the drains.

My answer was to cut off feed to the fish, continue to run the air a little high and to break up the detritus matter in the GBs at the drains so it would be further absorbed into the depth of the beds.

This afternoon I did not notice the smell and fed the fish a little bit of food that they greedily consumed... The air has been turned back down to the normal range to saturate the O2 and things seem back to normal.

I am assuming at this point that I got the problem fixed, but will continue vigilance for a few days.

If some of you more experienced cowboys see something I missed or have other thoughts/guidance, I am all ears...

Pics of the strawberries tomorrow to have a baseline/date.

CB

Sounds like you already took most of the right steps.

Definitely keep a close eye on the water tests and feed rates. If you notice something slightly off, trust your instincts. Of course it is often hard to put your finger on the exact source of the issue.
Check pumps and drain screens. Clogging or slowing of the pump can be enough of a change to cause spikes.

And carefully checking the grow beds for excess build up of solids or stagnant areas. The pond bottom stinking smells (mud flat smell) from rotting matter in annoxic (low oxygen) conditions gives you that nasty smell which is a sign of hydrogen sulfide I think which is very bad for fish. Luckily, it is a strong smell and tilapia are tough.

I would try and give the grow beds where you detected the smell, some extra flushing and more complete draining if you can. I don't remember, how are you flooding and draining? If by siphon, can you pull the stand pipe out or lay the loop down to let the beds drain more completely a few times and see if that helps the smell go away?

Also, have a look around to see if there is any rotting fish food collected anywhere (might not even be in the system) but fish food when wet goes nasty fast. I had a glob once form on the top edge of the tilapia cage and it was nasty!!!!

good Luck

Sounds like you've got it sussed CB.... might need to bring your pH back a little... or at least keep an eye on it... especially if the tank looks "milky"...