Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Here is what happens at 5 degrees in the Hoop house. I hate winter

I'm sorry to see that Don, I'm not a big fan of winter either how do your fish go at that temperature?

They are all still swimming and still eating a small bit of food each day. Probably 10% or less of summer time feed rate.

At least your water is still in liquid form.

Looks like it is time to investigate heaters. Sorry to see that.

Or transition to growing cold weather crops for the cold season.

I put in a lot of seeds about a month ago to get cold weather stuff growing again but they are not up very far yet. I just hope the cold will keep the fish from doing too much ammonia till the plants get going better. Also have stopped feeding till I get more plants in.

AHHHH Glad to see you on here SVKATIELEE. Welcome to the madness of AP. I am thinking about putting in a wood heater that I took out of the house to use to keep the temps up a bit in the cold days. Been thinking about the boat life lots more when the temps get so cold here. Do you have access to a giger counter to test the waters over there where you are? I see the water is San Fransisco is up from background of 30 to over 150 now so it is clear across the pond. Appearently the Northwest is having bird problems as well.

It is the bacteria and the bio-filtration (bacteria) that covert the ammonia and nitrite into less harmful nitrate. The plants are really mostly just there to use up the Nitrates and other nutrients.

If you are worried that you don't have enough filtration to keep the ammonia levels down, waiting for the plants to grow doesn't really take care of that much.

I hope it is cold enough to slow down the production. I will be getting more plants in the next day or so.

luckily ammonia is less toxic as the temperatures and pH go lower however the bacteria to convert it are also slowed down by lower temperatures and pH to catch 22.

However, more plants does not equal more filtration. So simply putting more plants in a system won't provide you what you need to convert ammonia quicker. You need more bio-filter surface area (grow beds) to provide more filtration to keep up with elevated ammonia production.

The only kinds of plants that use significant amounts of ammonia without needing it converted to nitrate first are aquatic plants (pond plants) like Algae, duckweed, and the many types of different pond plants people might use in ornamental ponds. Beware though, if you get a massive bloom of algae or duckweed and it gets too thick it can actually use up all the dissolved oxygen in the water and then die off which could crash a system since the decomposing dead plants continue using up all the oxygen but as they decompose they will actually give off ammonia and it can be such an anaerobic environment that some people have lost whole lots of fish due to the crash. so while duckweed and algae can use up huge amounts of ammonia, you have to keep them under control and be ready with ample extra aeration to make sure the fish don't suffocate overnight or if there is a major die off. Green water culture (or using algae) can also have a daily impact on system pH and therefore is rarely used in Aquaponics because a stable pH and nutrients for the veggies is desirable.

I think I am finally recovering for a bad bout with Bronchitis and have done nothing to my system for a month. I did however clean up all the dead plants just before I got sick. so it does not look to bad at the moment. I have just begun to venture outside when the weather gets up to 50 or so like today. It seems only the cabbage is coming up now and are about 8 to 12 inches high so something is growing. My pineapple is still growing but my orchid is dead. Have not fed the fish in a month and they are still swimming. I hope the harsh part of winter is gone now. I am tired of cold. My daughter is starting tomatoes and broccoli and cucumbers for me so should have some of that soon.

Good to see you are still going Don. Mustn't be easy with hard freezes like that. We are having the opposite in temps like 40C plus and the same result, dead plants. Got shadecloth everywhere

Take care of yourself Don. No good being sick for sure.
We've just received 5 inches of snow. NOT HAPPY with that. Most of my plants were killed with the very low temps, now they are covered up in snow.
We will be looking into making another greenhouse, so I'll be trolling some old threads on here to see what works and what doesn't.
Hot tea, Lemon Juice, Honey, and Tobasco sauce works great.
Quart of white lightning, some hard peppermint candy, a whole lemon cut up, and a whole cup of honey works even better! Leave it set for a week, give it a shake once a day to help dissolve everything. Don't drink it all at once!!!

Hang in there guys, This is one heck of a hard winter for much of the Eastern Half of the Country.

I can't complain down here as I don't even think my farm has experienced a real hard freeze yet (Even though I'm North of Ryan, I know he has seen some actual hard freeze temperatures.) I got lucky in my little nook just South of a fair size lake here.

Don, the fish are better off just hibernating this time of year, let the water temp get up over 55 F before you try feeding them if they are warm water species and then don't feed them too much too fast. Take it easy and let yourself recover before worrying too much about getting out in the cold. the garden can survive a bit without you, especially if your Daughter can take care of planting out the cold hardy stuff for now. The Broccoli (once big enough can handle the cold. Keep the toms and cucs inside till spring actually comes.)

Thanks guys....

The stuff got planted in the small starter pots and is already on the heat tray in the greenhouse. Toms and cucs included. I have several Christmas light strings under two old shelves for a heat plate. I think she planted about 75 plants. I will have to keep them watered till they are ready to plant. Some will get to be in the outside dirt garden.

I think I will have to put in a heater, I have an old wood stove but I really did not want to put it in cause I am lazy and it is heavy. And then I will have to feed it too. Just like the dog cats and chickens and guineas.