Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I had to give mine to mate. It was just too big and would eat any thing it could fit in its mouth. So just be careful what fish you have when it gets bigger...
Aewesome fish to watch hunting for food. My other favourite would be a elephant nose.

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Since I have put the duck weed on the top he has been a lot less shy. Swims all over the tank now. Such an awesome fish though. Everyone loves seeing it when they look at the tank.

That's the problem with pet shops, thy don't tell you how big a fish will get if you ask if it would be suitable. I asked about the silver shark and they said yes it would be fine. But they get way too big for my tank.

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A quick update.

Did a water test the other day after i got back from exmouth.

Ph: 6.4
Amm: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 40ish

This photo shows around a weeks worth of growth from the bunnings punnet size. The tomato and the lettuce plants are the new ones. The tomato seems to be doing the job. I dont know why the lettuce is going like that. maybe not enough light.








*resized pic - charlie*

Is that duckweed coming through? Watch out for that, it can get a bit annoying in the pump/pipe/growbed...

fantastic growth mate

Yeah it is duckweed. Actually it's your duckweed EB The only reason it is coming out in the .GB is because while I was away they were massively over fed and I am stirring the water up to the max. The duckweed loves the aquarium though

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Time for a quick update.

Readings:

Ph: 7.8
Amm: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 40

Growth of the tomato has been excellent. Also the Aloe is cranking along. The lettuce never formed a head, the leaves just grew. I think not enough light is the culprit here.



You can actually see the tomato has pushed the lettuce over and has pushed up against the lights. I am not going to raise the lights any higher, so the tomato will either have to grow sideways or do what ever. The main point for it is to remove nitrates. I am more concerned about the tiny chilli plant you can see just in front of the tomato in the picture below.



The photo below is fairly washed out, but you can see the growth from the Aloe. I am fairly surprised it is going so well with wet feet.



I have also got some new fish! I will get some photos tonight when the light is better if i remember

Ryan the rule for low levels of light is to grow wide leafy plants. The ornamental ones that spring to mind are philodendron, aspidistra and peace lily (spathiphyllum).
For veges try silverbeet, but I think you may really need to adjust the lighting for good results.

Thanks for the info faye. I actually have some silverbeet in there. It is only really sitting stagnant though. All of the plants that you mentioned are actually ones i have looked at at the nursery although they all grow to big for how it is set up at the moment. I have actually been thinking about making a cabinet and bringing the grow bed down a lot so that i can have bigger plants.

I got some photos of my fish too. New and old. Not great ones, but some. Fish photos are really hard!

Here is my bristlenose. You can see the bristles starting to grow. He/she is getting to a decent size now. Easily 4 x larger than when i got it.



Another terrible shot, but i got a few more of these guys too so that they have enough to school.



I also got 3 clown loaches. These guys are awesome fish and they do wonders at keeping the snails at bay. I have hardly seen a snail since they went in.



Below isnt my image, but it is a better shot of what they look like.



Here is my pleco hiding with the loaches. They are all camera shy

Nice, love the fish & nice work with the setup .

I like your tank

I think he might be a "he". As far as I know it is just the male that get the "bristles". They get pretty long after a while. I had one that was about 5yrs old or so, but he got sick and died Must have been old age, nothing changed, just suddenly started gulping air a lot and releasing it, turned yellowish and that was it.

The clowns grow pretty big don't they?
I have a couple of pakistani loaches, they are really "in your face" fish and annoy all the others.. I also have a couple of sidthumunki loaches, they are smaller and very active.
Infact both pairs are very active, keeps the tank interesting.
I have 3 kuhli? loaches as well, I only see them when cleaning and when I havent fed them for a few days
And thats all I have to say about loaches..

Thanks SuperVeg

It is a shame about your bristlenose Especially after 5 years! They are a cool fish to have. Very shy though, i only really seem to catch glimpses of him. Unless he is chilling on the glass that is.

Yeah the clowns are going to get huge They really were the last straw when it comes to listening to the aquarium shop. From what i have read they will grow fairly quickly to about 5 inches and then they slow the growth down a bit. But they will still get to about 8 - 12 inches. Hopefully i will own my own house before i have to upgrade the tank. Really dont want to have to move a 6 foot tank!

The clowns are pretty cool. They seem to mimic the fish around them. Lately they have been copy the pleco and hiding heaps. Especially since i have remove the duckweed. I have been looking for a floating plant for a while now to provide them a bit of a sense of protection.

Feel free to chuck some photos of your setup in here SV

Gave them both a real good clean today. Looks so good at the moment with no algae on the glass!

To my surprise and delight i saw a couple of tiny shrimp. Maybe 5-7mm long. So that means i have at least 1 breeding pair in there

I also found the start of Ich on a few of my fish. First fish related disease So i have started ramping up the salt level. Will take it up to about 5ppt and monitor over then next day or so. If that hasnt helped i will shock dose to about 7-10ppt for an hour or so.

Will do
Although I'm not as proud of my tank as I used to be. My time and effort seems to get spent on another larger fish tank with silver perch in it

My bloody pump just crapped out. 6 months old...

I have contacted the seller to suss out warranty etc so i will see what they say.

On another note i have been trying to work out how i can manage 2 6 foot tanks that recently went on sale here... It is a case of i really want them but i know they will cause me a headache until i own a house. Ahh the dilemmas...