Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Styrofoam sandwich.

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7224&start=660

Gotta go. Got kids cricket.

Thanks Doc. I knew you would have it.

Enjoy the cricket.

Thanks Dr Bee - an interesting idea which I shall put to trial over next week. Will cut long rectangulat strips and tie together.
Trout are very active at present and they are being well fed in readiness for the - dare i say - chop. Got 20 silver perch fingerlings off Gavin and no losses so far. Have saturation planted my grow bed and no more room so will replace dead lettice in my floating rafts with something which is more tolerabe for fully permnently wetted grow media - any suggestions?
Also, seems bulb type veges dont do so well in my grow bed eg onion, garlic and radish. Anyone else have simmilar issues? Some plants may just not be suitable for this method of vege growth...
Long stringy algae now beginning to make a presence in silver perch tank grrrr.

Marticulus

The cool nights must be helping keep your trout alive. Won't be long until it heats up though.

Haven't tried onion, but beetroot went okay until the tomatoes took all the sun.

Evaporation/transpiration has been huge the last few weeks. I've probably lost 1/3 of my water. Topping up with stored rain water via siphon. Opps should have stopped it before I came to work. Hmm, will I go home or will I spend the whole day worrying. It won't overflow, but will the dog knock the hose out? Fat chance of that, the lazy cow lies on her bed all day. It should be okay.

I have some of that stringy algae as well. Water is clear. The silvers should eat it.

Yea Dr Bee I noticed the lowerring of waterlevels as well but put it downto the flush drain timed system I use. I will raise waterlevels now that I think more on it....
What temp do you pull out your trout for the table?
Marticulus

I have never run trout. I am still running my original two year old Silvers. Hoping to get some more from Gav in the next couple of weeks, if I pull my finger out.

Was scared of overloading my system, and having the trout eat my investment in SP's.

Whats the word that sounds like a crows call?? Starts with F.

It turns out I should have gone home and checked out what was going on. No the dog didn't knock the hose out and drain all the water out of the tank, nope, I must have disturbed the discharge from the pump and it was pumping water out of the GB.

Got home last night, took the dog to the vet, did home work with the kids, didn't check on my system.

Went out to walk the dog this morning and feed the fish on my way out. Lots of splashing, not much water coming back from bed, tank about 100mm of water. Thankfully, I have my pump 100mm off the floor of the tank. Couldn't see any water on the ground. Pump still works.

So all my rain water emptied into the tank and then gone??? The pipe outlet was around the back and hidden from view. It was actually running sown the side of the rainwater tank, so no noise, and slow enough out on to sand so it soaked in.

No deaths, yet. Immediatly put in tap water, no other choice, about half full. Will top up after a few days.

Hope you dodged a bullet there Doc.

Are there any threads for the most common mistakes in AP? I think we should start a Darwin Award for AP thread. You can be the first nominee Doc! Don't you feel honoured?

Bit harsh there MC. I'd done so well for two years, then this.

Funny how the first thought is often the right one. Would I have noticed that the pump was discharging to ground? Don't know. Maybe if I noticed the water level had gone down not up. Luckily it wasn't hot yesterday, and there was still a trickle of water circulating, else I would have had boiled fish in the tank. I got to see all my fish. I hope none are belly up when I get home. Got cricket so won't see them until late. Fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed from this side too Doc. Was just fooling around but it is true how often we suppress our instincts when we should be listening to them.

There's a book I want to read soon called The Gift of Fear and it is about how to trust your instincts when you sense danger instead of ignoring it. The book is more about self defense but I'm sure the same logic would apply throughout our lives.

Regards, Martin.

Cheers MC,

I have been soooo conservative for the whole operation, and then this.

Aghhhh.

Don't be too hard on yourself Doc. I don't know of a single person in AP that hasn't made some mistake. You might get away with this one too so let's see what happens.

Bugger thats a bit of bad luck Dr Bee. You were lucky though sorting the problem out before it became fatal for your silvers!

Huge sigh of relief, 24 hours later, they all seem happy in their home with fresh water

That's great Doc.