Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Nice trout.

Yes due to the lack of heat this summer I had 12 month grow out. These lovely fish went in on Mothers day 2010. I don't expect to be able to achieve this again this year, we will wait and see what the weather has in store for us.

Ripper! Great stuff!

Thanks for the comments
I am hoping to get some work done on expansion plans over coming weeks so I can get some more planting in and increase the fish numbers by bringing another FT on line.

Harvested all my Tomatoes today, hope they will green up in the window. Had one for lunch, I love this AP thing

You could make some green tomato pickles, lovely stuff
Those trout look great, well done.

+1 for the pickled green tomatoes halved or quartered especially with some hot peppers thrown in.

Today I was greeted by a couple of unexplained deaths
I went on got the test kit, as I have been pretty lazy latly with this and all readings were OK except I suppose the Nitrate which was a little high. There are a couple more trout (fingerlings) hanging around the surface but majority seem OK. All last seasons, which are in same system also OK. Hoping it is just a isolated incident as I hate it when I lose fish

Well it has been an upsetting period in my AP adventures with the unexplained deaths of my 60 fingerlings & a couple of larger fish over a few days. As a result (possible panic) I quickly harvested the remaining trout from last season (some upto 1.6kg) and have placed them in the frezzer for dinner in weeks to come. I am still unable to expalin the deaths but I have a theory

I have tested the water over and over and even took it to get tested and their results matched mine. The latest results were as follows;
PH - 7
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 0
GH - 13
KH - 2
I have done some researd and thnk that the GH is high due to the shell grit placed in the system. With the possible shock caused by a couple of recent changes (pulling out tomatoes & minor plumbing changes) this was the factor that killed the fish.

I am going to use this as an opportunity to do a couple of modifications, including overflows on FT's and a proper main FT cover, before putting some new fish in hopefully middle of next week. The works will also mean that I will complete about a 1/2 water change so fingers crossed the next lot do OK.

Thats a bummer

What is it with the unexplained trout/silver deaths lately. I suspected lack of DO with mine but had more air going into the fish tank than most, and 5 Gb's emptying into it.
My tests were all good as well.

I did read on one of the threads where some one had lost fish after disturbing the media while removing plants

Maybe in a established system with sediment and maybe a few dead spots with some stagnate gunk when pulling up plants it gets into the water, making the fish sick by sucking up the DO but not showing up in the water tests?

Just a thought?

Here's to hopping the worst is behind you!!

yep tony from tas lost 60-odd atlantic salmon. his theory is that when he pulled plants out his DO plummeted, and no matter what he did (pump shitloads of air etc) he couldnt get it back up quick enough. i think his rites also raised a little but he did harvest a whole bed.

sorry to hear about you fish dude, that sucks

I'm new to this stuff, but would there be a benefit in cutting off the stems of large plants rather than uprooting them - obviously not for root vegetables. Will the worms break down the roots?

yep you dont disturb the media, and worms will sonn eat them. i dont always pull out large plants (i.e.cuces, tommies) if i have planted over the top of the root system

I have just caught up with your thread..

Your kH and gH should be higher, at least for the sake of your fish and the bacteria in your GB's..

Test the tap water to see what you have in regard to kH gH..

juergen..

Says who... and based on what....???

Neither would be any significant cause of mortalities...