Aquaponics

[politicalcenter]

Thanks for the advice politicalcenter! We've got a couple of bubblers going there and I've found a pond full of duckweed near work that I'm going to go collect some out of. I'll keep any wood/metal out of the system as well. So far we haven't lost any more fish, to be honest I think there are only 3 or 4 left in there. I tossed in 70 small feeder fish there a while back to give the bass something to chase and between it and the large perch every last minnow has been eaten. I tossed in 25 more yesterday.

The newest thing with our AP system is me learning to hand pollinate our vining plants. We don't have any honey bees out where we live (that will change once our beehive has been purchased and occupied) so nothing is getting pollinated.


I'll keep you all informed on how it's going.

Richnsteph

Where we live they sell what is called tuffy minnows. I think they are what the pond stockers call fathead minnows. When I buy minnows for fishing I usually bring whatever is left over and dump them in my plant pond where hopefully they will breed.

I may have said this before but come winter they will be the only food my ponds will get...except my little worm farm.

Went fishing last night and caught some catfish...channel and blues...gonna eat the big ones and the little ones are in the pond... lost four out of about thirty so far.

 

[knjinnm]

I think feeder gold fish would most likely carry parasites you do not want in your system, no need to quarantine them for two weeks four days of ich meds or a salt should do the trick. As for snails the last thing I want are pond snails which multiply exponentially.
JAC

 

[RichnSteph]

I like snails as long as they don't get out of hand and if you can get a few shell crackers in your pond (red ear sunfish) the snails will serve as free food for the sunfish. I do have a separate pond for plants because I am thinking about selling aquatic plants next year. As for fish diseases you can probably use a quick salt dip if you wish... but I figure you don't quarantine people for two weeks before they get on an airplane so I don't worry too much about wild caught fish.

I have found that adding chemicals to my system or fishy environment causes more harm than good.

When the weather gets hot like here in Alabama the more water you have for your fish the better. Of course that also goes for fish anywhere under all conditions.

Snails! Yeah I had a few hundred in there until I dropped our first set of fish (to include 3 red-ears) and the snails just vanished. Kind of sad since they were doing a good job of algae control. Then it was the thousand tadpoles that arrived and began eating the algae, they have now all been eaten. I don't add anything to my pond other than a Epsom salt and the chelated iron mixture I got from Amazon. I do spray the leaves, and only the leaves, of the plants a couple times a month with a diluted solution of Miracle Grow.

Either this fall late or early winter I'm planning on pulling this pond out and digging a 12x16 hole for our new pond that will be 3-8 feet deep from one end to the other. That'll greatly increase our water needs but will be better for the fish in the long run.

 

[politicalcenter]

Snails! Yeah I had a few hundred in there until I dropped our first set of fish (to include 3 red-ears) and the snails just vanished. Kind of sad since they were doing a good job of algae control. Then it was the thousand tadpoles that arrived and began eating the algae, they have now all been eaten. I don't add anything to my pond other than a Epsom salt and the chelated iron mixture I got from Amazon. I do spray the leaves, and only the leaves, of the plants a couple times a month with a diluted solution of Miracle Grow.

Either this fall late or early winter I'm planning on pulling this pond out and digging a 12x16 hole for our new pond that will be 3-8 feet deep from one end to the other. That'll greatly increase our water needs but will be better for the fish in the long run.

I know that it isn't the best looking thing but Wal Mart should have pools on clearance about now. I don't much care for the mushroom type but the ones you put together ain't too bad. I have two of those and they carry a lot of water. But I just raise the fish and water plants....my veggies are in the dirt.

 

[3goodeggs]

Neighbors were throwing out an above ground pool so we snagged it for fish, and I was thinking I could rig up some rain gutters for the strawberries and then recycle the water back into the pool without any soil. My husband wants a settling tank then pump the water back into the pool. I was thinking-And I am not the fish person so it might not be feasible, but if we pumped the water from the settling tank into the gutters and then allow it to drain back into the pool, would that be okay for the fish? It wouldn't be a pump and drain system but a continuous flow.

I was going to cut Styrofoam to float the strawberries in the gutters. Is there any toxicity from that?
I do not mind experimenting with plants, but once I have an animal involved I don't want to make avoidable mistakes.

 

[RichnSteph]

Neighbors were throwing out an above ground pool so we snagged it for fish, and I was thinking I could rig up some rain gutters for the strawberries and then recycle the water back into the pool without any soil. My husband wants a settling tank then pump the water back into the pool. I was thinking-And I am not the fish person so it might not be feasible, but if we pumped the water from the settling tank into the gutters and then allow it to drain back into the pool, would that be okay for the fish? It wouldn't be a pump and drain system but a continuous flow.

I was going to cut Styrofoam to float the strawberries in the gutters. Is there any toxicity from that?
I do not mind experimenting with plants, but once I have an animal involved I don't want to make avoidable mistakes.

A settling tank or "swirl filter" is a really good idea for the long term benefits in an AP system. Don't use Styrofoam. That stuff breaks up really quickly and you'll end up with little white balls all over the place. Use closed cell polystyrene commonly called Dow Blue Board. Gutters are a great idea for the strawberry plants floating on the polystyrene. The roots of the plants are going to function as a filter taking all the nitrites and nitrates out before it gets pumped back to the fish. Depending on how many fish you have and how large the pool is you might have to have quite a few strawberry plants.

RichnSteph

 

[3goodeggs]

I can deal with too many strawberries. there are worse problems.

Thank you for the information. They are starting to send out runners again, so I should have plenty of plants by the time we get the system set up.

How does spinach grow in a gutter system? I am stating to like the idea of no sand in my spinach.

 

[RichnSteph]

I can deal with too many strawberries. there are worse problems.

Thank you for the information. They are starting to send out runners again, so I should have plenty of plants by the time we get the system set up.

How does spinach grow in a gutter system? I am stating to like the idea of no sand in my spinach.

I've not tried a gutter system myself although I plan to do so. I've seen spinach, lettuce, Swiss chard and kale in gutter systems and PVC pipe systems on YouTube and they appear to do well.

 

[RichnSteph]

Made a change in the system a couple days ago. I pulled the timer off and am now running a constant flood and drain. I thought I was doing right with the timer and the siphons so that the beds would drain off completely every four hours or so. I was wrong. With the constant FnD the plants are doing much better. I even have lettuce coming up (those seeds have been in there for weeks) in one bed and the swiss chard is going nuts in there with new leaves. I transplanted 5 strawberry plants from a banister box (the chickens were eating the berries before we ever got near them) into the beds and they are already making flowers and look much much healthier. The peas are looking a lot better, the broccoli is now standing upright and making new leaves, the cauliflower is likewise making new leaves and looking much better. Our cucumbers are still dying off before they get much bigger than a few inches. I've tried hand pollinating them but can't tell the difference between a male and female flower. They'll probably get pulled out and tossed into the compost until we can get our beehive next spring, I just can't seem to help them. I did go and buy 2 dozen minnows for the bass to eat and a dozen crawfish to help with the algae and to eat any left over food that settles into the substrate in the tank. I've started a schedule of adding .75 ounces of Epsom salts to the tank once a month and chelated iron at the same time to help combat some yellowing of the leaves and small fruit production in the peppers. The tomato plants are way too tall and I don't know how to support them without iron cages so we're using bamboo and string to keep them from falling over. We are still hoping to get some tilapia for the tank but so far the budget is happy with perch that we catch in a cast net from the lake house. Still planning on a 9000 gallon in-ground tank next spring if I can borrow a backhoe and that will allow us to have many more fish and at a larger size since they will be able to get deeper into some cooler water. This year though is all about learning what works and what doesn't and which plants we can plant at what times of the year. This fall/winter I'm making hoop green houses for each of the beds and the tank just to see how long I can keep things alive and producing.

Oh and so far I've been unable to teach the fish how to come to the surface to eat the BSF larvae that I toss in there every morning. I guess they eat them as they sink but I'd still like to see them rise to the surface to feed. Aquaponics, for all the literature and Youtube videos carries with it a rather steep learning curve.

RichnSteph

 

[Sill]

Oh and so far I've been unable to teach the fish how to come to the surface to eat the BSF larvae that I toss in there every morning. I guess they eat them as they sink but I'd still like to see them rise to the surface to feed. Aquaponics, for all the literature and Youtube videos carries with it a rather steep learning curve.

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.