Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey heyyy, heres a bit of a video update for your viewing pleasures.

No deaths?
No drama?
Just a bit of drizzle, a loose leaf and funny coloured pipes?
Is that all you have?
That's not very exciting!



Things are really looking up there Abdul!
Keep it up.

The money plant looks really good and the other plants aren't doing badly.
What are you feeding the fish? The bubbles may just be from teeny food particles or like scum. It should clear quick.

As for the green tubes - that looks like algae. Not sure about the orange.

I hear the Monsoon rains are continuing in other parts of the country. So a bit of drizzle is probably the better option!

Paedur

Rules Number two: Its never boring.

Its usually at times like these when everything seems to be going according to plan when said rule proves itself, so I for one am on tenterhooks.

All fish fine still, plants still happy, though new ones a little droopy, think it may be because of the lack of sun in the past week or so, one strain of chili plants seem to have completely to pot.

I don't think its algae Paedur but its a plausible suggestion, will try emptying one GB to the bottom to see what I find.

Am salivating and dreaming of my next system, will put it in my balcony so I have easier access and can actually spend time with the fish.

DO you need pond liner when using a fiberglass tank by the way?

Pretty sure Fiberglass is good once it has set. think its one of the safest FT options also it will not break down under UV and can still be good to use after 10-15-20 years.

regards

Matt

Hi Abdul,

I have the same thing in the breather pipes on my bell siphons, it actually blocked on up the other month and had to blow it out. I think it's a kind of mould? Seems to come in all colours I have the orange/purple variety.

Nothing to worry about I think, just keep an eye out it dosen't block them up.

Looking great!

Hey matty, I found out from a fiberglass supplier that they coat it with a different thickness of something that makes it UV resistant, any idea how thick that needs to be for FT purposes?

Thanks for the heads up decal :], I think I'm going to blow them clean tommorrow just to be on the safe side, considering how often my GB's flood if the water stays up there too long the roots might rot, I may just being paranoid though.

Although, When I fed the fishies today I removed one of the strains of the new chili plants added, they had really lost all life, all leaves and were starting to go black and just look really poor all round. The other ones not looking exactly happy either but at least it still has leaves. The basil looks quite happy but hasn't gotten straight yet even though there was lots of sun yesterday and today. The mature chili plant in there looks quite well adjusted though, and the old one continues to grow larger everyday.

All the fish are still alive and still feeding!

Think I really need to get around to changing that wire mesh, will do it tommorrow afternoon hopefully.

Last fish was killed on August the 5th, today is the 12th, if I can make it through tomorrow without killing another, and being patient, I will get a dozen more goldies over the weekend, kick things up a notch and replant more stuff into it right after new fish.

Going to go to a nursery this time instead of raiding mum's plants, any opinions on what I should get and how densely I should plant my GB's?

*sigh*

(If the camera had not suddenly run out of battery you would have been able to hear all the anguish in that sigh)

So I jumped the gun with that last post, went up to have a pre crashing look at the system, and another one has gone to the great fish tank in the sky.

I am pleased to report that the SLO was denied its victim. This one was long dead when I found it, it was tangled up in the fish net I had hung on the end of the pump coming in from the ST. The fish looked healthy, from one side, on the other there was a little line running down it, I think it got stuck in the net and was pushed into it to death by the flow coming out of the pump.

Seven days without a fish death, just when I was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel another one bites the dust.

I feel numb and not as affected by this one, perhaps it was seeing the pieces of the last one floating around the FT.

At the moment I don't feel overly deterred, think I will go for the dozen more goldies in a day or so, think this one may have just been a freak one time isolated incident, though do HAVE to figure out some way to reduce the pressure of the flow coming in from the ST.

Water smelt a little fishy though, i.e. of fish, so am going to withhold feed tomorrow.

I hope dead goldies don't start haunting my dreams

p.s. so far I think I'm pretty much just learning about fish keeping rather than AP, I hope the balance switches sometime soon...

Spray bar, definitely time to hook up a spray bar to spread out the flow into the fish tank and if you also put a cap on the end, you then won't have the worry about a fish getting sucked back into it when the pump turns off. You can then also add the bypass back to the sump if you need.

I've found goldfish to be unusual, some are tough, others are incredibly weak... I've seen goldfish survive in tiny muddy puddles for months on end. But then I've also had goldfish that keep turning their toes up for no obvious reason, in large mature systems with pristine water.

Yeah, don't pine to hard for a goldfish.

yea a spray bar is what I been thinking about TCL, will build one today in just a little bit.

Went up and checked on them, the money plant cutting finally has like 3 tiny roots, yay, but the new chili plants don't seem to be happy yet, that disturbs me. The basil seems to be growing quite a few new leaves, at least I think they're new, but its not standing straight and tall yet so lets see what happens. Old money plant and chili plant doing fine.

Still at 7 fish, couldn't take their begging so fed them a teeny tiny bit, water smelled clean too so went for it.

Took two of the bells off and tried to clean out the mold/algae in them by blowing through them and squeezing the pipe.

God I had waiting for Godot :[

Recharged the camera and got the video with the latest dead goldie in it, even got the sigh of anguish.

You can check out the net in the previous videos.

Ah so!

Six fishies still in there

Ignored the system for a day, longest it hasn't been looked at for, went up today to find that the pipe had slipped off the pump in the ST and as the pump wound up standing straight all the water in there was drained, thank God pump wasn't damaged, plants look a little worse for wear though.

Effectively 50% of the water in the system was changed due to the failure, fed the fish a touch, its on the video, to boost the nutrients in the new water, all running nice and clear and bubble free now.

have set the pump on its side so hopefully even if it happens again won't empty the tank and possible ruin the pump. Going to tighten the clamp on it in the morning.

Hopefully get myself more fish and plants in a day or so.

p.s. am attempting to learn google sketchup, can anyone recommend a good place to downlpoad tutorials?

Ok heres another update, this one in much better lighting.

For some strange reason have sprung a leak on the bottom of one of the GB's, am told noone went up onto the roof but yet it was leaking, looked like the seal on it had shifted down so suspected that someone had touched it and pulled it down but as I mentioned, was told noone went near it.

Have wrapped it up in silicone tape, just waiting for it to dry and will then put more silicon on it to seal it up.

Plants looked a little iffy, checked out a chart and it seems to point to a potassium deficiency, the ends of the leaves are a little yello, some dead spots on the leaves. Have wrapped a couple of bananas in fish net a, stapled it together, and will chuck it into the ST, will add some egg shells for calcium in a day or so soon as I can gather and dry them so they don't introduce protien to the system. Am sure theres enough iron in it as there are plenty of rusting nails in it, and the banana baggie staples should help that out too.

Have wished a happy monthday to my system

There seemed to be more people watching when the fish kept dieing/being killed though