Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi AmandaC, nice work!

But what's a "fruit salad tree (citrus x 5)"?

Thanks Bullwinkle

It comes from
http://www.fruitsaladtrees.com/

It's where you can have up to 8 grafts on the one tree, so eg. I have 5 x different citrus on one tree...

I have a citrus (x 5)
an apple ( x 4)
and a stone fruit ( x 4 I think, have to check that one)

As we rent I wanted fruit trees I could take with us anywhere, in pots etc, never mind the pond

They graft to either Northern or Southern root stocks so they survive, mine are so far, thank goodness, and I can expect fruit in 18 months.
When I want more though I'm going to give grafting a go. I bought my Mum a couple for her birthday and she accidentally knocked one of the grafts off, (a rake handle fell over)she nearly died, it was funny!
I went to the hardware and got growth powder and grafting tape and she stuck it back on (after cleaning the wound of the rough stuff) so far it's still kicking.

that company incidentally exports too, depends on the country and their rules of plants/bugs etc. but they can post them, it's pretty cool.

I like it.

We used to have a lemon/lime, but 8!

Hi guys update so far...and maybe you can help...
red claw arrived, (and like a sheila had to wear gardening gloves to sort them, males and females separated) I've lost about 11 so far out of the 50 (40:10) completely my fault.
I should have waited another week after fixing the blowout I had in my blue barrel grow beds.
I also then added two of the IBC lids as grow beds. and a sump (my system is still back the front I think) Pics to come soon.
The Red Claw are amazingly social creatures, funny little guys. Because I have glass fish tanks seeing them is not a problem. I have had a build up of the green on the glass but I use a blade and the fish eat it like mad, so I do a little every couple of days, plenty of oxygen bubbles clinging to it too.
The Red Claw are incredibly active during the night time (and would crawl out if they could reach),Initially they even tried to make a bridge out of their bodies (like ants) to try and escape!
They will bundle into a pvc pipe together too, up to 5 I've witnessed, and snuggle in together.
Of a day, they have a rest on their sides, sometimes even rolling to their backs, I have had to give 'em a nudge every now and then, just to check their still kicking. It's weird! They truly seem to snooze though.
They have red eyes like a crocodile (freshy) when you hit them with torch light, it's very cool.

I have placed rolled up hay in the bottoms of the tanks, and I feed them a combination of a floating pellet (some of which I squeeze out the air and sink)and fish food flakes, a day time feed get's them moving too, I also every couple of days add some vegies weighted down, which invariably need to be skimmed off, when it floats back to the top.

Two things to note...

I have a white mould on some of the rocks in the bottom of the tanks, is this too much left over food?

My pump filter (black sponge) gets a snot like thread out of it too, blocks it up. What is this? Is it harmful or a just bi product of the Red Claw?
I'd appreciate any help there. I'm not overly concerned but am thinking of adding a couple of initial buckets to filter this before it hits the grow beds.
I don't test the water other than to see how clear it is, and the fact that no Red Claw deaths have occurred for the last 6 days or so, not once has it been milky or green tinged even though sunlight hits the tanks at various times of the day.
i would even go so far as to say the water is cleaner than the chlorine filled shower I had yesterday, and there's no way you'll get me to drink what comes out of our taps here either!
The Rozy Barbs are thriving and fat bellied, the little ones have more than doubled in size and none have died, that I've seen.
My seedlings suffered initially with the muck around but seem also to have settled into a 'I'm not dying yet' routine.
So that's it for now, I'll post pics either this arvy or tonight.