Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Compare this growth with the picture on 26 Jan (5 days ago) look at the tomato plant growth!

And here is my maggot farm - full of maggots.

Bean growing at just about 1cm a day

so that's how ya do the maggot thing.

So your maggot substrate doesn't dry out?

Jamie, have you tested your nitrate levels. By the looks of your plants (magnificent) you have fully cycled, I would just be interested to see how quickly they have built up given your very large volume of water.

Johnny - Yes it does dry out - very hot around here at the moment - so I am watering it every night before dark.

Monya - last time I checked (last week) it was 30-40 (hard to tell).
I'll see if I can test tomorrow morning before work.

That's brilliant.

End of Week 4:

Fish now average 70mm - biggies around 90mm.
pH at 7.1
Nitrates back to < 5ppm!
I can't understand that unless my system is in perfect balance - plants taking up all nutes?
The veggies are growing vigorously so it must be that.

The fish all look very healthy when they come to feed, and I have taken to feeding them well. They are always hungry and nothing bad seems to be happening.
I have a target of 300gm weight in 4 months (3 months to go)

sounds about right.

i don't think there is anyting wrong with keeping the nitrates ar just measureable levels. see my lastest post in my thread

Well, decided my fish were big enough to try my home made food.
I mixed up stale bread, scrambled eggs and some lettuce and made this.
They went crazy over it. Mind you they go crazy over anything

I was hoping for a floating pellet but this stuff was moist from the lettuce and sank.

Next time I'll use drier bread and no lettuce - want it to float so I can check out the fish.

I always have heaps of eggs from my chooks and get the stale bread from grateful friends in exchange for eggs.

good to see another mincer in action!

Yeh - the mincer was a great idea
I think I'll be using home brewed feed for at least 50% of their diet from now on - My minced pellets, lettuce leaves, maggots etc.

Jaymie - your fish still like sharks? Is it possible to over-feed fish?
I understand that uneaten food is a problem but if they just eat and eat?
I wouldn't have thought that any species would eat itself to death - except maybe humans

Jamie,

That's great looking fish food.

What about sticking it in a warm oven.....just hot enough to dry the food but not so hot that it destroys the vitamins and minerals. By drying it, it might float better.

Gary

Yes - I think the issue is definitely the moisture level.
In fact I left some drying in the sun and it started to float better but the ants were all over it.
So the oven option sounds good