Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Tender,

Sounds like a lot of work for that 75 pounds of graded river rock. That kind of work will keep you fit. hehe

The fish has taken no interest in the lettuce. So I removed the lettuce.

I just set up a 5 gal aquarium on the shelf above the laundry sinks and put in two 1 ¼ inch minnows. Just two inches away is the 1 gal fish bowl with the Betta fish in it. The Betta fish saw the two little minnows and went crazy. He tried with all his might to get to them. He even considered jumping over the top. But since the cover was firmly in place, that was not possible.

Just bought two 2x10s 8 feet long with which I shall build the grow bed. I have the rest of the material on hand. The grow bed will have 18 square feet of surface, 12.75 cubic feet of media (river rocks from ½ inch to 15/16 inch) which will provide about 350 SSA (Specific Surface Area). For a 30 Gallon fish tank that should be adequate.

I am hoping to stock my fish tank with native fish. Therefore I am learning all I can about them. I have caught several and put the larger ones in a 9 gallon aquarium and the smaller ones in a 5 gallon aquarium. One thing I learned rather quickly is that even if there is a slight size difference, the larger ones will eat the smaller ones.

I have purchased a small minnow trap and a 3 ½ foot cast net. I have not yet successfully cast the net so it lands in the water properly. But I have watched 7 videos and am starting to get the hang of it. As for the minnow trap, nothing yet. Used dry dog food for two days – no luck. This afternoon I used a burger bun for bait. The fish I currently have were caught with a fine mesh dip net.

My plastic minnow trap is working better now that I am using canned cat food as bait.

News from the 5 gallon aquarium:
I caught 5 small fry about ¾ inch long with my dip net. I fed two of them to the 3 ½ inch fish in the 9 gallon aquarium. The other three I put in the 5 gallon aquarium with a 1 ½ inch fish. The larger fish quickly ate one of the small fry. I turned out all the lights and went to bed. When I got up at 2:30 in the morning and turned on the lights, the two remaining small fry were still alive. Now that the larger fish could see, he started after the small fry again. He chased them around the aquarium for about 10 minutes. Then I got an idea. I opened a new can of TetraFin Goldfish flakes and put three flakes in the water. This diverted the larger fish’s attention. And to my satisfaction, he ate all the goldfish flakes thus leaving the small fry to live another day.
News from the 9 gallon aquarium:
I found a black cricket on the floor of my office. I caught it and dropped it in the water above the 3 ½ inch fish. He immediately charged it, again and again, but the cricket was just too big. So the cricket is still swimming on the surface of the water.

Went to Lowe’s and took a good look at the rocks in half cubic foot sacks. No granite. But marble, and river rocks. $3.75 per bag, which makes it $7.50 per cubic foot. I need 12.75 cubic feet so that would cost me $95.63 plus tax to fill my grow bed. Another problem is that the rocks are larger than ideal. I just discovered a location in a dry creek where I might sort some rocks to the desired size. It had just rained. The humidity was 100%. I got my sifters and shovel and wheelbarrow and several 5-gal buckets and started in. I sweat profusely. But in an hour I had three 5-gal buckets of sorted rocks. I figure I will need 19 buckets, so my work is not over.

I now have 14 native fish over 3 inches in my 9 gal aquarium and 20 fish under 3 inches in my 5 gal aquarium. I change 85% of the water every day. Both aquariums have aerators, and the 9 gal aquarium now has a circulating bio-filter from Walmart.

My little fish have learned to eat TetraFin Goldfish flakes. When they see my hand approaching the tank with the food they rush towards me. And when the flakes are dropped into the water, the feeding frenzy begins. But it is quite a different story with the larger fish. I am having a hard time trying to get them to eat anything. I have tried bread, oatmeal, wheat germ, dried meal worms, pellets for pond fish, and goldfish flakes. They show no interest. The first 3 ½ inch fish that I caught is doing very well. At first I thought he might be a shiner. But now I think he is a bass. He loves minnows. And that is fine. I have plenty of them. When I drop a minnow in the tank, he has it swallowed in less than 2 seconds. But none of the other fish show any interest in minnows.

I have developed quite a fascination with the creek in my front yard. I had no idea it contained such a variety of beautiful and charming fish. Last night I wanted to see how well the fish would react to my bright red LED light. To my surprise they seemed not to notice my presence or movements. The clear water was about 14 to 18 inches deep. The fish were lying still on the bottom. They would not move until I nudged them with the net. I tried three times to catch a 10 inch fish, but was unsuccessful.

I am the property manager for a 300 acre estate with 9 dwellings and half a dozen other buildings. So I have access to a variety of inventory. Yesterday I went into the honey house where beekeeping supplies are stored. And there was a white plastic double laundry sink not being used. In perfect shape. Each side will hold 21 gallons of water. I brought it home and took off the legs so I can fit it under my grow bed. I think it might make a satisfactory fish tank. I can keep the smaller fish in one side and the larger fish in the other side.

I am still trying to find something the big fish (over 3 inches) will eat. The 4 inch bass will eat a small minnow every other day. Some will eat a little gold fish flakes. I investigated my daughter’s water garden in our back yard. Here grows lots of duck weed. So I have been giving a little to the big fish every other day. They do not go wild over it, but the duck weed disappears after a couple days and the fish are still alive, so, I guess it is satisfactory.

I had two big fish die of ick this week. I was surprised how quickly they succumbed. I added a little Jungle Ick Guard from Walmart and one ounce of powdered rock salt to my 9 gallon aquarium and have had no further incidents.

Two weeks ago I bought a heavy duty Gaymar air pump. It worked great to start with, but gradually the volume of air diminished to the point where I had to do something. So I got brave and took off the cover. And there inside was a bypass adjustment. I gave it a quarter turn and put I back together. Tada. It works great now.

I am in the process of gathering river rocks for my grow bed. Upon traveling up and down in the dry bed of the creek in front of my house I discovered a generous deposit of gravel about the size I need. So I got together my equipment and started in. Three hours later I had sifted out three five-gallon buckets of river rocks. That’s right. It took an hour per bucket. What I collected was everything that would fall through a 15/16th inch screen but not through a ½ inch screen. I now have 7 buckets. I still need 15 more. I figure the rocks in my grow bed will weigh 1500 pounds. Another 200 pounds of water will bring the weight up to 1700 pounds. Each bucked of dry rocks weighs 68 pounds.

Swiss chard in my outdoor grow bed is 8 inches tall. I shall transplant it into my indoors aquaponics grow bed when the grow bed is ready.

I don't envy all the rock hauling you're doing. I guess it's sort of a right of passage though, when you want to build an AP system. Keep up the good work

What fun. I feel like a kid again. Many a kid would have been well entertained early this morning. With flashlight and net in hand I ventured out into the creek to see what I could find. The pool is steadily shrinking. Now only about 12 feet wide and 34 feet long and about 12 inches deep. The fish do not seem to mind whether the light is red or white. I soon had dipped up 12 fingerlings, two 5 inch blue gills, an 8 inch sucker and the 10 inch sucker I have tried to catch on previous expeditions. I am taking advantage of the low water level. When the creek flows again it will not be so easy to catch anything. The great blue heron is also taking advantage of the low water. He, too, has been helping himself to the aquatic bounties. So, what I do not rescue will surely become bird food.

I figure the four largest fish would overwhelm my 9 gallon aquarium, so I submerged a large cage in the water under the bridge at our front entrance. Therman Creek never runs dry. So now they are safe from the great blue heron.

It has been a day of Shoveling, Shaking, Sifting and Sweating. After five strenuous hours in the dry creek bed, I came home with eight 5 gallon buckets of properly graded river rocks. It went a little faster today due to the fact that both the temperature and the humidity were a little lower. I also used a 3/8 inch screen instead of the ½ inch screen which provided me with perhaps 5% more rocks. I need 7 more buckets of rocks to equal the 22 buckets needed for my proposed grow bed. First I will give my abdominal muscles a rest. But I must not delay too long. When the rain comes and the creek rises, I will not have access to that fine deposit of gravel.

Drove to Chattanooga today (33 miles) and visited Atlantis Hydroponics. Very educational. I bought two 50 liter bags of Viagrow™ ViaStone Expanded Clay Grow Rocks for $29.99 each.

I also stopped by Walmart and bought two darling little goldfish to brighten up my aquarium.