Al in Mandurah WA

[Outbackozzie]

Cucumbers did excellent
Watermellon did excellent

lettuce very poor

What sort you got?

[Alwyn]

Cos Lettuce, they go pretty well but got a bit bitter as they got older and try to go to seed.

My Watermellon set one fruit and then no more, and now that fruit has stopped growing at the size of a small auskick footy.

Pumkins are gone and will start thining out the beds ready to put seedlings in when I change from Barra to trout.

[Outbackozzie]

yeah Cos lettuce did well, but isnt really a nice sort for eating.

[Alwyn]

Yeah, I liked it to start with but the older they got the leaves tend to be very dark Green and bitter. At the start they were more tender and sweet. We got several good weeks out of them though.

My Bok Choy and Chinese spinach turned out really nice, I think I'll do more of them soon too.

Probly try a couple of diffrent lettuce and some more cos.

[aussieap]

those asian greens strike me as things that should thrive in aquaponic systems. I am keen to give them a go.

[Jonty]

I find the migonette lettuce grow fast and quite sweet. I also grow cos but it needs to be picked when small. If the leaves are soft they are fine, if hard they are usually bitter. Great for caesar salads though.

I find the hardest part is having follow on seedlings available, as I like to grow my own. Another couple of weeks and I will replant broccoli.

[Alwyn]

Hey thanks Ausieap and Jonty.

The bok choy have leaves the size of saucers! and they taste great too.
They seemed to take a bit to come up to 5cm but after that they took off!
I planted them by direct sowing the seed, seems to go ok...
A bit like spinach but the caterpillars dont seem to go for them as much.

[Adareaqua]

HI Al
the silvers are ready if you are interested
just drop us an email.J:)

[Alwyn]

Im excited about getting some trout.
I'll harvest soon and get the tank ready for the second lot of fish.
The Barra have done so well.
Only one loss and they are now all about 40cm.
Ill put up pix after the harvest.

They have stopped eating in the mornings, I am guessing that it is too cold for them but by evening they are feeding good again.
I stopped pumping to the grow beds over night which leaves the bio filter and small indoor grow bed providing the air over night. There is a 300w heater running 24/7 in there too.

Hopefully the trout will go ok in the same set up (minus heater).
I am thinking I'll have to leave the covers on to stop jumpers but that should be the only reall diffrence... ?
I'll be putting a handfull of Silvers in there too and am thinking I'll leave them in there to ballance the system a bit between changes in stock levels...

[Alwyn]

Hmmm mmmmm!

9 Juicy Barra for good friday.
The family and in-laws were impressed.
It was classic to get a comment from my sister in law who said "nice fish" - you should have seen her face when I said they were the ones from the back yard!

The rest will come out tomorrow ready for trout arriving on Friday.

[aussieap]

I love the fact that u waited for the comment b4 telling them where the fish came from. Crack up!

[Alwyn]

Yeah it was a classic moment in a great day.

The system got an all round clean up yesterday.

All set for the trout to arrive on Friday.

I have ice in the freezer ready for them (allongside the rest of the barra).

Cant wait!

[Alwyn]

Sad news.
The baby trout had been in for a week.
I had a root blockage last night in one of the grow bed syphons (tomatos expanding)and lost most of my water.
So I cleaned out the syphon and re-filled the tank.
That was about 7pm.
I was so knackered I was aspeap in bed by 8:30.
This morning when I woke up i went to feed the little guys and found them all floating!
I had forgoten to turn the main pump switch on after my repairs last night.
I am so pissed off about it...
I am just so tired latelly I am forgetting little things.
This one turned out to be a big one...

[Dufflight]

Sorry to hear about the fish.
I put in an overflow on my first gb's to counter blockages.(had mint growing)

[aussieap]

Terrible news Al.
The blockage is bad luck.
You may also think about a back up battery.
In the event of power failure, this will kick in and keep the water circulating via a bilge pump in ur tank. This would help in the event of memory loss, which I suffer from too!
Back on the horse mate.

[Outbackozzie]

That is a story that is recounted so often on AP forums all over :( .

Take this opportunity to ensure your system can not have this sort of failure again, I assume the Trout ran out of air? 12 hours without water circulation should not have caused the deaths by itself. Airstones, and lots of them.

At least it happened now, rather than 6 months time.

Good luck

[fishfood]

Thats the beauty of a chop system

[Alwyn]

Hmmm.
There are 10 or so still alive.
:(
Gonna leave it at that for a while and re think a few features of the system and its opperation.
Will ad seasol for plants.

All air is supplied to the system by the water circulation.
It is probably more than enough with two 6000 litre pumps in there (one running 24/7) but none when the pumps are left off!:mad:
Also overflows are needed as suggested.

A good oportunity to refine this system (and get it right before building a bigger one!)...

Al