Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Bummer sorry about your fish.

yeah, wasn't planning on cleaning 30 fish yesterday. Good thing, is I've got plenty in the RAS to dump in there and I have lots of fish to eat now.

Hey man i hear you... apparently the GFI's get old after 10 years. about 3 weeks back I had a 15amp circuit carrying 5 amps and it popped my GFI when a shop light on a timer turned off.. I had no idea.. the fish went all night without power and i lost 100 HSB and ~100 x 1 year old bluegill.. probably about 400$ in fish.

I have since replaced the GFI and the breaker on that circuit.

I do have a backup gen but it's a cheapo harbor freight pull start... so if my power goes out it is a manual switchover. I have used it once for about 6 hours one Saturday last summer when the cable company took a backhoe through a power line feeding my residential area. I am going to have to devise some sort of monitoring with wireless cell so it can notify me when my power is out weather i am at home or not.

And today.. i saw an electrician on a pole on my street when i left my house and i wonder if i am gonna regret going to work today if they do something that requires the power to be out for a couple of hours (or more).



i guess i should have put this on my build thread but its not really just my ferro tank system anymore. I have done a big expansion and i guess need to start a new thread .



brian

Oh shoot, another heart-breaker for both of you. I also can attest to first hand that breakers and GFCI as well as surge protectors DO NOT LAST FOREVER! They all have sensitive electronics inside which degrade over time.

Cotton, that sucks. Were you able to clean them at least?

it was already stinky, i didnt feel comfoirtable.. The BG were still small but technically could be pan fried the HSD were all brand new fish and still fingerlings.

so no, all went on the compost pile, then threw on some more wood chips to cover the smell

Bugger

I caught mine early, no smell, eyes were still firm. Ate a few pounds last night and I'm still alive.lol Back to the drawing board.

Sometimes, between the worries, water tests, fish issues, mechanical malfunctions and watching pests and plant growth issues, I wonder if aquaponics needs a full time watch person, besides myself? Sometimes it is a wee bit stressful keeping or systems alive and well.

It sure was a surprise for me. Thought i had everything fail safe. A back up automatic generator, 2 different circuits with 2 different air pumps. I'm pretty sure we had some type of power surge that blew the GFI's. I had a 12V pump, but it didn't work. it was a small aquarium type unit that is supposed to go off when the 115V stops. It wasn't working when I came out.

Sorry about the fish kill. But knowing you. This will become an excuse to build it better. And possibly even add parts that you have been thinking about. No doubt he system will be better as an outcome of this. Praying for you.

Guys my condolences on your loses.

Sorry to hear about the fish kills guys.

Bluegill definitely grow faster down south than up here. Looks like a two year old would be about eating size (I might be able to do it in 2 but 3 or 4 seems more likely).

I'm restocking the system today. Taking out the old spa breeder, which I think lead to a grand total of maybe 50 tilapia being born. lol

Hmm.. That's right: you've got an old spa you are using for a breeder tank. I've been toying with the idea of building a tank/pond for our Koi... we have an old spa... I think I just came up with something Thanks Coach