Aquaponics

[RichnSteph]

Try feeding your fish floating food only. They will learn to go to the surface or face lean times. I only feed floating food and they all hit the surface to get at it and make the water boil.

Thanks Sill!

 

[politicalcenter]

Try feeding your fish floating food only. They will learn to go to the surface or face lean times. I only feed floating food and they all hit the surface to get at it and make the water boil.

I agree as long as the weather is warm. It is also easy to see how much to feed.

When the weather gets cool (water temp. below 50) I will quit feeding and just add some minnows to the pond.

 

[RichnSteph]

I adjusted our feeding schedule to one light feeding in the morning of flake food (minnows) and pellets (bass and perch) and another much lighter feeding of flakes and BSF larvae in the evening. So far they are eating almost everything I toss in the tank. The little bit remaining ends up on the bottom and the crawfish are eating it.

Had some more rain these past few days which meant that the Texas Toads were out and breeding and have once again laid lord knows how many eggs in my system. Not too worried since the larger fish ate all the tadpoles we had in there before and I can use a few thousand extra mouths eating algae anyway.

Tomato plants are still going nuts and I've yet to find a good way to support them. Yesterday I cut a huge branch off of one that was just out of control and promptly stuck it back in the grow media. This morning it was perked up and doing fine..... so now I have another tomato plant to fight with.

Cucumbers are still dying on the vine. I tried hand pollinating a few of them but must confess to not being able to tell the difference between the male and female flowers. I looked for the small immature fruit that the female is supposed to have on the stem beneath it but by the time I can recognize the fruit it's already too late and the flower has closed up.

One of the zucchini just wasn't going to make it so it was pulled and has been replaced with strawberries.

Our acorn squash is doing well although with the rain a couple of the fruits rotted where they were in contact with the ground (traditional garden bed).

The melon patch is a little forest and the okra/beans are growing like weeds. At some point we're going to start actually harvesting something, right now it's just enjoyable to go outside and look through all the greenery.


RichnSteph

 

[3goodeggs]

About the cucumbers. It is always feast of famine with me for those things. One year I will have enough to eat, juice, pickle, and give away, other years- like this one, absolutely nothing.
Maybe we got too hot too quick? I planted early but it was hot in April here. I even started raising bees in hopes that it would help pollination, nope. The yellow squash and zucchini did not do well this year either. I don't the secret.
My kale is still going strong as is my cauliflower... and I have not been able to grow a head of cauliflower in years.

It is way too hot for them now.

I wish I knew a head of time what not to bother with.

 

[1crazychick]

Hello All! Just found this thread! Super stoked! I need to read all the way thru the posts! But ,here was my starter system w/55 gallon tank. Had bluegill and catfish!

 

[RichnSteph]

I wish I knew a head of time what not to bother with.

You and me both........

About the cucumbers. It is always feast of famine with me for those things. One year I will have enough to eat, juice, pickle, and give away, other years- like this one, absolutely nothing.
Maybe we got too hot too quick? I planted early but it was hot in April here. I even started raising bees in hopes that it would help pollination, nope. The yellow squash and zucchini did not do well this year either. I don't the secret.
My kale is still going strong as is my cauliflower... and I have not been able to grow a head of cauliflower in years.

It is way too hot for them now.

I wish I knew a head of time what not to bother with.

I wish I knew as well.

So even with the bees you're not getting any better pollination? Well now that's going to make me rethink getting a hive out here. I know we want the honey but the big kicker for me was the added pollination for my garden.

 

[RichnSteph]

Hello All! Just found this thread! Super stoked! I need to read all the way thru the posts! But ,here was my starter system w/55 gallon tank. Had bluegill and catfish!

I love that! I'd really like to do something like that for herbs in our house. Not sure how the loving wife would feel about me turning her 75 gallon tank into a garden though.

 

[1crazychick]

I love that! I'd really like to do something like that for herbs in our house. Not sure how the loving wife would feel about me turning her 75
gallon tank into a garden though.

That's what I thought to but I figured I may as well get something out of it! This was a small tester to see if I could actually run the thing! It worked. I did everything right, but the system went down when I asked a friend to care for it over vacation! Was bummed! But it was an awesome little set up. We live in the Midwest where winters are very cold, so I am waiting to start a new one until I get my greenhouse in! I can't wait!!

 

[RichnSteph]

Lost a pump over the weekend. It seems to have ingested a small amount of the lava rock in the fish pond. I got the spare put on before any damage to the plants was done and am now trying to figure out a good filter system that will keep the pump clean and am also looking to buy another pump to have on hand as a spare.

 

[lazy gardener]

Quite the learning curve w/AP. Huh?? Sounds like a fun project.