Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Wow, I haven't been on much lately, you've made some great progress Smin - looks great !

Thanks CDude!
I've not posted, had my head down sifting shale and plumbing drains.

I have an appointment on the 19th.
Gonna pick up 24 Fiddlers! They'll be my first batch of channel cats, we'll stagger putting in a couple dozen at intervals.
I have time to sift the next 300 Gallons of media for the #2 growbed, which will allow me to scrape the pond bottom a little more aggressively.

Full Disclosure: I had a HSM the other day - I was muck wading, lifting out a lot of Fish Poo Pavement and brown clouds were billowing. So much got pumped into GB#1 that it threatened to clog. Water started to actually run over the edge!
I throttled down the water going to the GB, which of course diverts it down to the pond, which stirred up the bottom even more. It was the second time I've seen the goldfish gasping - all of them.
OK, it wasn't a full-blown High School Musical, but for a while there was drama. I was dancing back and forth, scooping rotten debris off the surface, going to the GB and poking with a rebar to rechannel the water, lifting up the in-pond return to splash aerate. The fish returned to a more comfy subsurface mode.
Within the hour they were doing Gill Sprints in the current and had their appetite back.

I need to see bottom thru clear water before the Fiddlers come home! Need to hook up the sequencing valve and get GB#2 on line. And sift lots of shale...

looking good Rick!

wow, keep up the good work.

Perhaps a sock on the feed to the grow bed next time you go mucking.

The birth of a new bumper sticker: "My Other Sock Is On The Feed To My Aquaponic Grow Bed"

Riiiiight don't think it'll be as successful as "Shit Happens", somehow

That's so concise CD. Be a good one for a fish tank. Can I use that?

The growbed could get one that says "O2 Occurs"

...and one for the worms, "Don't like my wriggling? Call 1-800-EAT-CASTings"

Ya know, JT could make the stickers for ya.

Hate to think what a water test would have shown if you stirred up that much muck.

My nose told me a tale of hydrogen and sulfur...

True! In fact, we are brainstorming some concepts for decorative wrappers for the stock tanks.

Oh, and I checked - filling the 300 Gallon RMST, plus running water thru the drainline, drops the pond only about 6 to 8 cm. So I can work toward filling the second 300 whether or not the Spider is implemented. Even if I split the flow and just fill two together, it won't scare the fishes too much!

Six days later. 16 days after initial planting. Except the Basil, that was seeded after a week.
Still need to get gravel sifted and into the second Growbed! Come on, Rick!

what kind of grapes did you put in?

That's one of two Mortensen Hardy I got from Wabash before they ran out this year. The other one was going in the ground but I think I'll put it right in the second growbed.


And I might set up the second bed as autosiphon instead of holey standpipe, and compare. I still end up with water surfacing by the end of the 15-minute pump time, on the first.

A large "sock" on the main outlet, made open-faced by draping poly batting over a short soda crate, is catching a good amount of fish poo so it doesn't become pavement. The clearer stream is ably sweeping the previous deposits down into the worm zone.

I have become nervous about a 300-gallon infusion of tap water, 48 hours ago. It was placed in the second GB to air, but I underestimated a 1/2 inch haemo tube's effectiveness as a siphon.

Catfish countdown 2 days, 19 hours.