Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

It is the tank that Les is waiting for AM.

oohh... so where is the tank being sourced from again?

Nice forest! I figure you must be completly cycled by now, what level of nitrates are you running at?

AM, fish tank coming from Foley's tanks, Woombye....same place, same size as forests. I have 4 GBs to plumb in but need the GH extension finished 1st

aahhh.. I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW
still, you are a lot more patient than I am

Hi Forest

Make sure the water you are replacing it with is of the same temperature as the water you are removing. Rapid water temp. changes are the fastest way too stress a recently moved fish.

I did my tests yesterday and we've cycled! I noticed a spurt of growth on the kale so I knew something had happened. Sure enough the tests revealed: ph 6.7 ish (it was halfway between 6.5 and 7), nitrites - 0, ammonia - 0.1 and nitrates - 5.

We've been feeding the fish morning and night with a light bread snack during the day.

The vegetables are going well, both seedlings and the seeds that have germinated. I'm adding some water cress today. I haven't noticed any bees near the tomatoes so I'm going to hand pollinate them today. Overall, we're very happy. Thanks for the inspiration, Joel. It's wonderful knowing we have totally organic vegetables produced in this great system. With the aquaponics garden and the soil garden, we have enough vegetables for us and our family, and all without using any artificial fertilisers or pesticides.

Yahoo!

btw, tomatoes do pretty well pollinating themselves, but an assist can't hurt.

well done Rhonda! and H! You'll be eating them all in no time

Forest I found my first batch didn't pollenate too well, but the second lot of flowers was much more successful and I am in a greenhouse with no bees to speak of and minimal if any hand pollenation

thanks everyone. I feel like a grown up now.

monya, we have frequent visits from honey and native bees in the soil garden but I've never seen any near the aquaponics. It might take a while for them to notice there are a small amount of flowers there. Until then, I'll do the paint brush dabbing.

The system is working very well. The fish seem happy, the vegetables are growing. Here is the plant growth almost 6 weeks after we planted. We started the system on March 22.

I am staking the tomatoes away from the grow bed. I'm doing this to help the other plants get enough sunlight. This won't be a problem in summer, but coming into winter, our tomatoes will provide too much shade for the plants behind them.

these silverbeet seeds were planted about 2 weeks ago.

Looking great, congrats!