Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yea, it didn't occur to me just how studly that was until today. The net was pretty small too. I needed it to be easy to get there. The Salton Sea I guess is one of the most productive fisheries in the US. Seeing as how I caught over 100 in one scoop, I think that is true. I ordered some feed for them last night. In the meantime, there are some dried grape leaves and chopped up spinach floating in the fish tank for them to graze on. No floating fish this morning so there is a good sign.

Awesome stuff Ron. Now let the good time roll!

Today's water test
Ph 8.2
Ammo 1.0
Nitrite 1.0
Nitrate >5.0 <10
Again, this is cycling much faster than anticipated. Have other people experienced cycling this fast, or is there something that is causing my system to appear like it has both types of bacteria started already?

Nitrite comes on reasonably quickly but its good to see some nitrates there

Today's water test
Ph:8.2
Ammo:1.0
Nitrite:2.0? Or 5.0
Nitrate 20

Ph 8.2
Ammo 1.0
Nitrite 5.0
Nitrate 10

Tilapia love flashlights. When you shine the light on them, they come up to the surface. It is fun to shine the light through them too. It was well past midnight when I stopped playing with them last night.

Ph 8.0
Ammo 1.0
Nitrite 5.0
Nitrate 0
I think the plants are using the nitrate. I was expecting a spike in ammonia after feeding a bit of food to the tilapia.
It looks like some of the fry got sucked into the SLO only to end up in a grow bed. I lost about 6.

I feel so bad. My wife noticed some fry in the grow bed again, so I decided to clean out the gb inlet pipes. They were full of both live and dead fry. Luckely, I got he live fry back into the fish tank. Then I cut the netting off of my little net and zip tied it onto the bottom of the SLO. Hopefully, there aren't a bunch still in the piping...
My numbers today
Ph8.2
Ammo 2.0
Nitrite 5.0+
Nitrate 10.0
I held off of feeding today to get tha ammonia down. I did not feed much yesterday, I think the dead fry made it go up.

They have a tendency to do that. I had guppy fry (eyes with tails) maneuver through a SLO, 2 growbeds and live in the sump of my micro LEGO system until they were big enough to go back to the FT.

Very amazing thread! Truly an inspiration

Its a shame to hear about your fish :/ I'm sure that the strong will survive

Thank you for the compliment. Usually it is me leaving that on other members systems threads!

Ammo 1.0
Nitrite 5.0+
Nitrate 10

Ammo 1.0
Nitrite 5.0+
Nitrate 40
Quite the nitrate kick up from yesterday! I'm still holding off of feed till ammo zeros out. (but it is so fun to watch them eat)

I added more plants today.
Cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, and chocolate bell peppers.

Swiss chard in front of the grapes

I finally found a lemon tree that was NOT a Meyer Lemon.