Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I just accidently copiled enough free parts for a second system. I got a wheelie bin tonight!, well... acctually a big truck pulled up in front of my house and delivered a new one. A new company is taking over the trash service and requires us to use the new bin which means the old one is mine to do with as I please I will hide it behind my garage for future use(with the rest of the stuff) where Chris can't find it, she already thinks I'm a pack rat.

We had some salad tonight with lettuce,spinach and broccoli all from the system

-Stevo

The big payoff! Congradulations!

It's been a learning experience. between high GH temps, salt, and low nutrients, things had stalled a bit.

I've lost my beans,cukes, and peas. I got some 55% shade cloth which has helped alot with the temps but I think I still need a larger fan, the highest temp has been 100deg (previously highest was 111). The high temps has caused premature flowering and fruiting, (eg. my peppers are only 12" tall and are forming peppers)

2 weeks after my last water change my nitrates were almost down to 0, and because some plants were still funky from the salt I did another water change(65%) to further reduce the salt levels. I also decided to add more fish (6) 8-10" koi, within 4 days my nitrates rose to 10ppm , yesterday they were 15ppm (ammo, nitrites 0).
I tore out the half dead plants and re planted with a bunch of cukes that Chris scored from the garden center for FREE I'll see how these grow.

The broc and cauli have been going very well (they were planted May 1st), we had eaten all the spinach and have been picking broc and cauli as it's ready (tastes great) I also have started some more seeds.

I think things are back on track now

-Stevo

Looks great. My brocolli is huge and will not form heads. My tomatoe plants are up to the ceiling and has not fruits. My phosphates are probably too low.

I've heard that too many nitrates will cause lack of flowering with high leaf growth.

-Stevo

Artistic, those collies look great!

one of the large koi commited suicide, I found it on the floor of the GH this morning.

-Stevo

Was there a Note?
Love what you have done. My cuc's and toms have gone nuts they are taking over the place.
The Tom's have fruit seems they may all be cherry toms. Flowers all over but they have yet to ripen. The cuc's are vining and flowering all over. many one inch cuc's come up but then die off. I finally have a few that seem to have gotten past that stage and are about three inches? Time will tell. My Nitrates are around 20 so I believe I am over planted for my current fish load.

You have great plant growth looking sweet.
In my dirt garden tom comparison Toms struggleing in dirt about 2 feet tall but fruiting. AP Toms have to be over 6 feet if stretched out. This stuff is amazing!
Did you plant everything from seed or?

I planted seedlings I got from my local nursery, I tried growing from seed but things didn't go too well.

-Stevo

stevo
when i started i mixed up all my seeds i had left over and just chucked them in. i reckon some germinated 6 months later....

Hey if EVERYBODY is getting a new bin you should check out the rubbish tip. I reckon a few people will just chuck the old one. You could pick up quite a few!

I finished backfilling around the greenhouse and put in a small 125gal pond that I will salt and use for quarantine. We got a second small batch of koi from the local animal shelter, the first batch didn't last a week, fish problem
hopefully these will do better.
My nitrates are up to 30 now and I'm seeing more noticeable growth the past couple days.

-Stevo

looks great, especially the quarantine pond, and the frog..

Hi artistic, love the salt pond. Did you buy a pond or dig it out and line it?
I am unsure of the placement and size of my fishtank in my next system. (My GH is 7.1mts by 4.8mts and i will be using steel barrels as my GBs, cheap, long lasting once painted with fish safe magic paint and readily available.)
I am toying with the idea of submerging my tank at the back of the GH like you. Have u had any issues or problems with it, in terms of access to fish and ur GBs above the tank? I really would like to keep my fishtank in the GH to reduce the cost of heating. Burying it will not harm my available GB space so i would appreciate ur thoughts.

Love the landscaping and the pond as well.
Concerning some comments on fruiting and Nitrates. I'm seeing very few fruit on my toms yet the plants are flowering and growing like mad, with nitrates at 20.
I have another tom started in ap but now in dirt in the GH, it has no fruit either, its gets watered from the fish tank.
I have shade cloth blocking much of the full sun and wonder if that is a factor.
Toms that were moved from ap to the dirt garden and getting only ocassional waterings from rain are fruiting like normal.
Again you do great work. Thats about how I would like my landscaping to look.