Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Marticulus,

You should probably start your own thread rather than hijacking Dr Bee's but if your water had gone green you have too much sunlight getting to your water and possibly too much feed going in.

Stop feeding and cover your fish tank.

Well, I survived the trip away. Albury was nice and warm. Plenty of sun light and 24 degree days. After sitting in the car for two hours, an hour on the runway, and two flights taking almost 6 hours, it was time to strecth the legs. Went for a nice run from the centre of town down the river (no, that was up)m to the Vic border, and back up to the top of the lookout before back down to the hotel. Plenty of restaurants to choose from. First time I had stopped in Albury for anything longer than filling up with fuel on the drive between Sydney and Melbourne.

A few boozy nights with industry peoples after the conference during the day, so no sight seeing or fellow AP visits unfortunatly.

Good to get back to the family on Thursday night. A quick check of the AP, all fish healthy, a few tomatoes picked, and another 200 gm of snow peas/sugar snaps. The plants look really ratty down at the base of the stem, but heaps of beans/peas. Fish hammered their feed, so maybe the temps are heading north again? Don't know. Haven't got a thermometer. It's something I have no control over anyway, so whats it matter. Are the fish eating their tucker, yep, nothing to worry about. If not, not so much next time.

Enjoyed the trip down south. Too quick to have a really good break. Didn't get asked if they could play on their DS. Rode up to the jetty and back, 8 km each way. No complaints from the little guy.

Couple of hours of tennis each day. Ate Mexican - Nachos, burrito and ancheladas (spelling?). I went for medium heat, had a bit of a sweat up, almost burt the kids when they asked for a try. Classic one liner from one of the boys "I need dairy product!" He forgot about the heat when he had some icecream.

I never got to do any maintenance on my bed befre I went away, so it is still in a genral state of disarray. Will have to put in some shop bought seedlings now, as I haven't planted any seed myself, else it will be a lean summer. Will restrict how much I put in this time as I have tended to over plant with the intention of thinning out as they grow, but I never do. Planning to simplify a bit. Will pull out the beans/peas over hanging the front and thin out the tomatoes to make room for a couple of basils, a row of lettuce, and a row of chinese veggies. Should be able to do that after work now the days are getting longer.

Great trip Doc. Glad the system didn't miss you too much.

Thanks MC.

It was great to see the Murray River flowing, and the surrounds green. Last time I went there the river was low, the lake behind the weir looked pretty empty, and the place was brown. For those that don't know Australia, the murray river flows through the heart of Australia. It is Australias largest river system. It is fed from rivers up in Queensland and flow through NSW, VIC and South Australia. A few years ago it was very sick with much of the river saline, and very low quality. It feeds alot of irrigation on its journey to the ocean. The flows got so bad, it didn't break its banks at the mouth of the river in the Koorongs (spelling?) (check out the Movie "Storm Boy") and they were talking of dredging the mouth to flush the estuary. Fortunatly (except for the people who drowned or lost their families, businesses...) QLD had record floods, which flowed down the river and helped flush the system.

How many footy ovals do they have. I think I passed 3 on my run. Lots of people out enjoying the warm evenings.

Didn't see much snow on the snowies. Must have melted already. I want to go skiing!! Maybe the US/Canada early next year?

You guys gave us a lesson on Saturday Night. What a disapointing second half. Maybe a win against the Puma's this weekend? Please.

Hi Doc, I saw the floods a few years ago but didn't realise they did so much to revitalise the Murray River. I thought it was called the Murray-Darling River system or something like that?

Yeah I was very chuffed about the rugby. You guys have had a mental hold over us for years now when we go to Aus, as a South African it was nice to see the Boks play to their full potential. Feeling cautiously optimistic about this weekend, although whenever I feel that way the AB's give us a lesson in humility.

I think Aus rugby is in a bit of trouble, very little depth and the players seem to be unable to face their reality. It is pretty cyclical so I'm sure you guys are going to be back but a loss this weekend could mean a 0 from 6 in the Rugby Championships - with away games to the Boks and Pumas those will be tough if you lose this weekend.

I think the Wallabies will find their mojo but it is a matter of when.

Regards, Martin.

I think you could say the same thing about Australian cricket...

Shame the Murray is over run by carp.

Glad you enjoyed your trip, bee. Sounds good and I enjoyed your post.

@Rupe, I agree with you there. Having taken horrid beatings from the Aussies many many times over the last decade or two (who's counting?) I can't say I didn't enjoy the Ashes immensely this year!

I think getting rid of Mickey Arthur was the right thing to do, especially now that he doesn't know how to close his mouth, but there is still a long rebuilding phase to come. I think you have a captaincy issue, in many ways Australia is similar to South Africa in that they both thrive under strong leaders. Michael Clarke just doesn't have the gravitas in my opinion. You must know how scary your players think you are if they call you "Pup". I reckon if the players tried to call Kepler Wessels or Steve Waugh "Pup" they would have woken up from a coma a few weeks later.

He's is an incredibly gifted player and batsmen but I think the captaincy should be handed to someone else.

@Charlie, why don't they harvest the carp for AP feed?

Not a silly idea, Martin. Maybe the gain isnt feasible compared to cost to catch.

Fair enough Charlie. Just horrible to see these systems over run by alien species. Would be great if there was a real effort to restore them to their original state but that will probably be regarded as impractical.

They do Martin... in fact it's called... Charlie Carp......


True story... http://www.charliecarp.com/technical.htm

Rupe, that's brilliant.

I probably should have known that lol

So thats where charlie carp comes from. Good one.

Don't want to talk about cricket, rugby...watched the replay of the America's cup last night though. Bloody hell they is fast. Don't think there is any coverage free to air, Fox 2 Next races Wednesday morning 6am eastern time. Most crews made up of Aussies and Kiwis. I think the US boat has two american's on board. I used to do about 30 knots in a howling gale on my windsurfer. These boats are doing that up wind in about 20 knots. Heaps of people have knocked the concept, saying its boring racing, but when there is only 5 seconds between the boats, it only takes one small mistake to lose the lead. Love it, but got to think what a waste of money. $100-150 million per boat, thats the bit I hate. What a waste. Could feed quite a few poor, or do some good with that. It would work out to be close to half a billion dollars to fund the four teams that competed.