Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good to hear! Glad you could partake!

Don't have much to report except that I've been off this board for too long.

Baby tilapia, unbeknownst to me, made it from the main CHIFT tank down into the big yellow tank I still plan to use as an oversized grow bed once I get enough lava rock into it, and since they had plenty of room to swim around and grow, that's exactly what they did.

I didn't even know they were there until one day the tank went from being completely covered in duck weed to having almost none.

My kids & I were able to fish out about 25 of them, and they're now large enough to survive in the main tank.

Wow, I managed ONE post in the last full year. Sorry for being so delinquent!

Here's that FREE SHADE CLOTH post you've been waiting for!

I'm on today to bring you all GREAT NEWS, especially and specifically if you live in the DFW / North Texas area. Since the Byron Nelson golf tournament just ended, just like last year they’ve got lots of various types of leftover material they need to get rid of. Here’s what’s available FOR FREE:

Shade cloth (same green material as last year, plus some new white printed-banner breathable material) – they have a great deal of it, FAR MORE than is shown in the picture
Astroturf – it’s something new I didn’t see last year
Carpet (indoor/outdoor) two kinds – one is “general purpose” and the other a bit deeper and was used for the more luxurious boxes
Laminate Wood Flooring - I don't know how much, but apparently at least a large pallet-full.
White Cloth – High quality heavy white cotton or linen (not sure which) used as curtains and drapes for the boxes
Misc. Wood – 1-bys and 2-bys
Fencing – From the picture I'm guessing maybe 3 or 4 feet tall. They've got (if I remember correctly) about 300 yards to give away, and I'm planning on grabbing probably 100 feet. It won't be available until sometime tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 5/27/2017)
Cable - I believe this is 1/8" galvanized, and at a very rough guess they may have a thousand feet or more left - I really don't know but there's a lot of it.

All of this is located in a large temporary building off MacArthur Blvd in Irving, just north of the Four Seasons hotel:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/32%C2%B052'00.1%22N+96%C2%B057'28.0%22W/@32.866707,-96.9590668,457m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d32.866707!4d-96.957771

Feel free to contact Manny Amador at 714-589-5526.

IMPORTANT NOTE/FAVOR TO ASK OF YOU: If you beat me there tomorrow, Saturday 5/27/2017, PLEASE leave me one (1) massive sheet of the green shade cloth - that's all I ask! There's tons there now, and I'd hate for it all to be gone before I could grab that one big sheet. Thanks!

-Shelgeyr

incredible. almost makes me wish we lived in the city

I sure wish my wife was as understanding as yours must be!!! I could never get away with a tenth of what you do!! LOL Maybe I'll just go buy some chickens and rabbits and once they are back there, she can't do anything about it. LOL

Shelgeyr, you sir are an embarrasement, how dare you post pics like those up and we in Aus dont have a chance to get them.
Go for it but now that you have posted these pics we demand to see the end results of your labour....sorry America labor

Haha poor poor Australians

I told Manny today that there were people in Australia who were envious of what he's giving us. He seemed a bit stunned!

Welcome to the digital age!

Perhaps in Australia, you can check with the facilities personnel when a major golf tournament comes through?

Disaster struck last night, and I lost all my fish. The oldest were somewhere between 5 and 6 years old, I think (not sure). I've accidentally slayed my adults before (yet babies lived), but this time there were no survivors.

SO... I'm out of aquaponics for now. Whether this is short-term or long-term remains to be seen. I've still got "the bug" (which if you don't understand American English slang means I'm still interested in doing this), but losing years' worth of effort has taken the wind out of my sails.

I didn't count the bodies, but there were over 150 the last time I moved tanks a good while back. The old ones were huge.

No promises, but I'll likely be offline for awhile. We're driving to Nashville to see the eclipse, and the kids' school starts the day after we get back, so I don't see myself doing much AP restoration work for some time, if at all.

-Shelgeyr

sorry to hear this. I know how you feel, i have been there too....

Sorry to hear this but hope you are back at it soon.

saw a funny comment about your ecilpse.... some women (who Iam sure is 90c in the dollar.

" But school will have started cant the hold off this thing until the weekend

I was wrong about my recent fish kill death toll being 100%!

Apparently as my tote was rapidly getting toxic, and fish were jumping out, one medium-sized specimen and seemingly 4 or 5 fingerlings made the leap into my currently mostly-submerged growbed, so I actually have 5 or 6 survivors!

That's not much, I realize, but it's not zero either!

Here are some other recent changes:
1) I got rid of the 737 galley. Yes, I loved it and thought it was cool, but only 1 chicken would reliably use it and it quickly became a rat-fortress.
2) I lowered the height of the greenhouse (put it back the way it was a couple of years ago), which will make it easier to use it's outer wall as part of the chicken run I'm building.
3) If I can gin up the energy, I'm going to remove the IBC tote I currently have buried. I'm not looking forward to that effort. Its sides have collapsed and it spends most of its time as a water-aging tank, and a trip hazard.

I'm sorry for your losses. It's also difficult to fathom a life after whatever Trump manages to provoke from North Korea. I hope you don't give up.