Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good one. nice treatment there.

All is well with the onset of warmer weather. The plant component of the system is florabunda extraordinnaire! Plantlife consisting of:

Cherry Toms
Grosse Lisse (??) Toms
Lebanese Cuces
Watermelons
Brocollini
Brocolli
Thai Basil
Spring Onions
Marigolds
Capsicum
Habeneros
Sweetcorn
Sweet and Sugarsnap Peas
Assorted Strawberries
A Passionfruit Vine
Oregano
etc etc etc.

Everything is exploding. Hit a roadhump with the leaves on the brocolli - was devoured by caterpillers and moths, but have since treated with dipel with significant success and the leaves have rebounded.

The tomatoes are out.of.control. I would hazard a guess that one cherry/grape tomato plant has upwards of 150 flowers on it, all of which appear to be fruiting. The other grosse lisse varietal is heavy with fruit as well. Sugar snaps are producing heaps of beans. AP system is definitely out producing the dirt garden - ie. tomatoes in dirt garden have @ 10 fruit, whereas the AP system is covered with trellises of toms!

The fish (15 trout, 10 SP) are coming along fine and ready for harvest within the week. I am away from the system for a couple of weeks, and hope to have the trout out n barra in by next Tuesday. Interim upkeep in my absence will be maintained by an avid gardener and an AP'ist wannabe who will briefed on the task at hand!

Loving it! AP or bust, baby!

...continued...

...continued...

...continued...

Very nice. Your growth looks great Bluthumb I noticed today that my trusses of tomatoes are going great guns but have to keep up with th Dipel cause there are lots of little caterpillars around.

very nice growth there bt

The only plant I find to be a challenge thus far are strawberries. My pH sits @ 6.0-6.4, so that shouldn't be too much of an issue, and I have ample trace elements in the system for them to flourish. Some of them are now slowly beginning to flower, so I will see how they go in the short term!

The bottom of my tank is spotlessly clean and water clarity is fantastic. I'm putting this down to: conservative feeding, high aeration, ample filtration and the GB returns circulating the tank water in a slow vortex, sucking everything into the centre of tank and thus up into the pump. On heeding ol' heads advice, I now refarin from sweeping the inside surfaces of the tank, and am developing a nice biofilm on the tank surfaces. Looks very healthy!

Have noticed some mozzies around the system of late, congregating around the standpipes. I did have some larvae in the FT the other day, but haven't noticed them since.

No sign of aphids since removing the bok choy.

System is very much maintenance-free now, other than daily feeding/s and trying to keep the tommies in check. Im just glad I planted them (along with cuces, peas and melons) on the edge of the GB so that they can drape off the side of the tank and not occupy the surface area of the GB's.

BTx

I've got a 2L pressure pack sprayer loaded with a dilute dipel mix, and just give the system a once-over every couple of days. No sign of caterpillars in 2 weeks, whereas moths seem to blow in to browse regularly. It's kinda fun blasting them mid-air with a stream of dipel, they soon get the message and retreat to a more peaceful place to expel their inards at the wrath of the Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria!!!


BTx

Love your thinkin' Blue Thumb

The Demonic Dalmation.

It appears he is a fisherdog.

Loves Trout. Whole. Raw.

Keeps the pup entertained for a couple of hours!

Great on all counts bluethumb, the vegie growth, the fishy and the dalmation

Nice system there BT - this is the first time I've gone through your thread - impressive.

With regard to your strawberries, have you salted your system at all ? They absolutely hate salt.

And yes, Go Dipel !! I'm a recent disciple as well.

Interesting anecdote I have observed from my siphons in the main system.

I have a considerable evaporation issue, which requires frequent top-ups. This is not an issue in itself, however, I notice that after I top-up my system FT to 100(ish)%, it throws my siphons out of wack - where they engage, but don't stop at the end of the flush. I removed the venturis and wastepipes from my GB drains, but they still continue to slow flush, siphon bell off for a few days 'til my water level drops through evaporation.

What seems to cause the problem is an increase in GB inlet flow, caused by the reduced pump head height by the water level from the top ups. Reduced head = increased flow = siphon filling quicker than it can drain = siphon stuck on cycle!

Anyone else experience this phenomena?


BTx

you poor siphoners . .
standpipe all the way