Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

It has been very warm and the Monsoon has jet to arrive.
I have finished the deck around the trough, it just needs some trim.
The fish are doing really good and I am very pleased how the peppers have developed. Watching the pond system was interesting., first I had string algae developing, than it vanished, the better the system worked.
Than an other algae developed and it starts to vanish, too.
The little pond system had become a attraction for birds. I have at least 40 birds and 10 different species that come to it for water.

Basically have finished the snake proof fish tank, including its little waterfall.
Plants and fish are doing very well. Will start harvesting the first peppers this week.
This little set up has become a animal paradise, birds, chipmunks, squirrels and so on.
The animals are not afraid of me or my dogs.
Naturally the squirrels and chipmunks were not good for the strawberries and cantaloupe. But than it is up to me to find away, to grow what I like and keep them out.
Next year. I can not believe it is already end of August.
2 more month and winter will arrive.
What a ugly thought.
But anyhow this has been a rather good year for this system, compared to last year.

We are getting ever closer to winter and as usual our weather in the 4 corners goes wild.

Sunday we had 19 C and than in the late afternoon the cold front came in.
Strong cold northern winds, barometer and temps dropped like a rock. We made over 30 C difference in 3 hours.
That's shock freezing, from 19 C to -12 C in 3 hours.
Today we made a balmy 0C. It will get even colder and around Wednesday we will get below -20C. Than a heat wave will come with wooping 10C during the day.
So it was time to winterize the outside fish tanks. shut of the pump, drain the pipes, suck them dry with a vacuum and get the stocktank heaters going.

That's shock freezing, from 19 C to -12 C in 3 hours.

"Holy crap Batman", I thought we had wild weather, but that is extreme.

Yes, that was extrem. But the winds are supposed to turn today, from North to West, which means it will warm up some.
By Friday we should get day time temps around 10-12 degree, with mild night frost around -4.
Low winds, which is rather welcome. 40kmh winds at -20, in the morning, makes it rather unpleasant.

It was a good test for my new jacket. It is heated, power source is a 12V rechargeable battery.
Put that one on, than slip into the insulated coverall and than it is nice and warm, cover nose and ears and ready to go to feed the live stock.

In between the extreme cold spells I turned the pump for the system on again. It can handle -10.
The stock tank heaters keep the water warm enough to prevent any freezing.
Some cool down pics for our Australians.

So the tomatoes have slowed down a bit I'm guessing?

In the temp the fish waste is refered to in ap as rock solids.

Thanks for the update.

I grow snowmatos now.
I will shut the pump of again today. Suck all the water with a shop vac out of the pipes.
It will get really cold now and one snow storm after a nother.
We will be lucky if it warms up to -2C during the day.
Yesterday was a brilliant sunny day 2C hot and I spent 4 hours on the tractor plowing the white stuff. Got the small snowblower out and brought it to the house. Serviced it and made sure it would start. Same with the generator, just in case.
I always dread January and February, bitter cold and mostly with a lot of snow. 6 or 8 weeks which really suck and the younger I get the more they suck.
Good thing, the days are getting longer now

This is a great looking system! I shall now go back and look through all of prior pages to see if there is anything I can learn. lol

I am doing something very similar to you... but out in the garage... and on wheels since I move so much. I am using a 150gal Rubbermaid stock tank for the fish with two 50gal RM stock tanks as the grow beds. All wrapped in wood to look nice too like yours. Only difference is that mine is all on a pallet with some HD wheels under it. It turns into a large box on wheels when it is time to move.

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Great, I have been following your system. I like it very much, its very neat.
Yesterday was rather rough. I have 400 meters of road to plow and than live stock to take care, horses and cows.
It was -15 and the wind at 30 kmh. I had everything on included heated Hoody, 5 hour job. First had to heat up the tractor hydraulics with a turbine heater underneath it so the sucker would move and the auxiliary pump would not break its drive shaft. Give the battery some help with a starter and well Johnny came to live.
By than I was already rock solid frozen. Back into the house, strip every thing and get a new warm set on. I had to do that every hour.
When I was done, I was genially exhausted. Done in.
I made some hot food. But never could get warm again. The house has 25 C.
At 8 I was in bed and soundly sleped for 12 hours.
Must be youth I guess.
This morning I found out that the tank heater in the fish tank had failed.
It took a sled hammer to break the ice. 10 cm thick. Had a spare and put it in.
We made lovely -15 today, but without winds. Lots of sun some high clouds, but rather nice. The cold is not the problem its the wind, it just penetrates and sucks everything you have out of you.
It will be very cold for the next 2 weeks at the farm.
Maybe -6 as a high. At the altitude, 2500 meters, the nights with the clear sky will be far below -20, might even hit -30.

Thanks! I am glad you like my system!

Outch! My wife wants to move to Colorado too. I lived there for a few years back in the day when I was in the Army. Loved it! However, when I hear stories like yours I can't help but think... I was in shorts, T-shirt, and flip flops grilling outside two days ago. lol

When I lived up in Fairbanks, AK I hated that kind of weather. One year it didn't get above -65F for two weeks strait! When the weather got back up to around 0F a few weeks later everyone was outside acting like it was Summer (myself included). Felt like we were having a heat wave. Plus side about Fairbanks though is that there was No Wind. Which made it bearable.

Sounds like the area you live in is much colder than Colorado Springs (where I lived). If I were where you are I would have a MASSIVE greenhouse that is heated and well insulated on the North wall (and North roof slope during the Winter). Using a heat source that adds carbon to the atmosphere would be beneficial at altitude. Maybe a ventless fire place. Just would have to make sure it has an 02 sensor. A good sunroom with a fire would be a great place to thaw out.

Go back to the beginning and keep reading =)

Our weather is very different from C-Springs. I am at the West Slope, San Juans.
Around Christmas the wind direction changes. We get North wind and than we get the north Pacific flow.
It gets funneled by the Rocky and the Sierra and the Polar cold comes in. It mostly lasts till February. My altitude of 7500 feet does its own trick, to top it of.
We get rather rapid changes in air pressure. It can drop in hours from 1030 mb to 980 mb.
Once in a while a strong south Pacific system can push the northern back, like this weekend. Than temps can get into the 40F, during the day, but it only lasts for a few days. Good time to haul water.

I have a sun room/wintergarden and a green house.
Getting younger every day it becomes difficult to warm up again, after hours of -30 wind chill, even if the house is at 80F, inside.

I have clicked/read through several pages now. It looks like you have a beautiful place. Thank you for sharing!

I remember someone pointing out the San Juans when I was over in Moab, UT a long while back. It was over 100F where I was... and I could see snow still on the mountains out that way. It sure is a beautiful region.

I want to take the kids on a trip sometime within the next few years out that way. I want to swing through and do the Alpine Loop trail in Colorado... then the White Rim trail over in Utah... and finish off at the Titans/Yellowstone. Stopping by to see sand dunes national park and the mesa verde cliff dwellings too when in Colorado if able.

After a good snowy winter the San Juans can hold snow way into August. 100F and you look at snow
It is quiet a wild swing from Winter to Summer, 120 F. I don't think there is many places in the US that have it anually.
If you do your western trip, Valley of the Gods, the Goosnecks of the San Juan River are a must. Not many tourists go there, but it gives you a outstanding impression of the land, or South West. The lush green of the mountains and the harsh but colourful desert. I used to outfit in that area. The biggest surprise for my customers was 1 small Canyon in Valley of the Gods. Stone desert with those gigantic monuments, 120 F and than a spring fed cool pool with lots of wild life.
Kristal clear water.
Don't miss Archer close to Moab, crowded but worth the trip.
Mesa Verde is not to bad either, I am spoilt by the cities of Central and South America, of the same time period and being European and the stuff that was built there.
The Anasazi are a little bit a example for us in the West. They founded their big towns during a time of plenty of moisture, but than got hit by a 600 year drought, just when their culture started to peak, or amounted to something.
The South West got settled during a period of more than plenty of moisture, the Land were the Honey flows.
It seams to me, we see the same change as the Anasazi experienced, drought has become the new normal.