Community tank update

Greenhouse update that is being powered by 16 small Jade Perch. Tomatoes, rockmelons, capsicums and onions all growing really well, as are the fish. :)

Aquaponics

Fish are feeding well in all systems and growing well. Plants are also growing well with the added nutrients from the extra fish food.
Noticed one of the big Silver Perch flashing yesterday, so mixed up 9kg of pool salt and added it to the system
This should take it to 3ppt salt which should help the sick fish

Tomato update

Tomatoes are colouring up big time now. Here is my Azoychka X Juanne Flammee F1 cross.
This tomato is a winner and I will be growing out the F1 seeds next year to start to stabilize it 

The tomatoes on the bench are one big Grubs Mystery Green, lots of the AZ x JF F1 and a nearly ripe Brandywine

Fishy things

Jade perch are feeding well now after sooking for a day

Also this rainbow trout that I caught the other day at Natimuk lake got some treatment in the smoker box

Overwintered Jades moving out

Well half of them anyway. 11 of the jades from the aquarium in the shed went into the greenhouse system today with their goldfish mate who thinks he is a jade :)\
Will get some pics of them feeding in a few days once they have settled down

Fishing at Natimuk Lake

Went for a fish at Natimuk lake today and caught one rainbow trout with a scrub worm dug from the lake shore, and it dont get much better than that, Bait  and fish in the same place :)

The asparagus I picked from the river bed on the way home , life is good

 Took out the old blue barrel bed from the greenhouse as it was moving the supports due to its rounded bottom. Replaced it with another  black tub, and jacked up and rejigged the  bessa block supports.

Had a left over bit of an ibc container , so made it into a bed feeding off the fish pond. The fish are happier already, with the water movement and added aeration. The goldies were chasing each other around today mating :)

Have since planted a lot of herbs in this bed as it will be shaded by the tree in summer

Aquaponics update

A bit of a walk around after leaving the top up hose running in the sump hehe

New system update

 Plants are coming along nicely with the peeponics and some Charlie carp as the ammonia sources

Dwarf pear tree is coming into leaf and the blueberry is flowering

Pond growbed

Had a left over end of an IBC so decided to put it on the fish pond too  both give some vegies/herbs from the fish waste and also clean up the pond, which is full of years of gunk. I will pretty it up a bit with some timber in the future

Greenhouse

Took the pressure washer to the greenhouse roof and walls and cleaned up a few years of gunk. Also took down some bunched up shadecloth off the end of the hoophouse that was blocking sun from the gh. Its much warmer in there now and the tommys are looking better already.

Tomato season is starting

Planted my tiny seedlings into the tubs in the greenhouse on the weekend, and my god they look small. I hope they come good. If not it might be a season of Grosse Lisse and Apollos

System has cycled now and adding Charlie Carp and getting the ammonia to 2 only takes two days and its back to 0. So its ready for fish but its still too cold for the Jade Perch to go in there. Maybe by the end of next month it might be safe for them.

Fishless Cycling

Been cycling this new system for the last three weeks fishlessly using charlie carp and humonia

Date	PH	Ammonia	Nitrite	Nitrate	Water Temp
3/07/2011	6.8	1	0	0
4/07/2011	6.8	1	0	5	11.7
5/07/2011	6.8	0.5	0	0	10
6/07/2011	6.8	0.5	0	0	9
7/07/2011	6.8	1	0	10	9.4
8/07/2011	6.8	1	0	0	9
9/07/2011	6.8	1	0	0	9
10/07/2011	6.8	1	0	0	8
11/07/2011	6.8	1	0	20	9
12/07/2011	6.8	1	0	0	9
13/07/2011
14/07/2011		Holidays
15/07/2011
16/07/2011
17/07/2011	7	1	0	5	9
18/07/2011	6.8	1	0	5	9
19/07/2011	6.6	1	0	5	9
20/07/2011	6.6	0	0	10	10
21/07/2011	6	2	0	7	10
22/07/2011	7	2	0.3	5	9
23/07/2011	7	2	0	10	8
24/07/2011	7	2	0	10	9

 Brocolli is starting to take off and experimenting with a dwarf pear and blueberry plant.

This bed has lettuce, just planted silver beet, parsley and spring onions

Start of tomato/pepper season

Sowed tomatoes and peppers 13th June as it was a good time by the moon and winter solstice this weekend
Varieties :

Kellogs Breakfast
Brandywine Suddeths
Brandywine Red
Grubs Mystery Green
Pink Ping Pong
Cherokee Purple
Azoychka X Juanne Flammee F1
Toms Yellow Wonder
Faux Box Car Willie
Flathead Monster

 Got two of the three beds running with all pipework glued
20 odd small goldfish in the fish tank

New system update

System is starting to come along with fish tank, one grow bed and sump in place. Plumbing from the sump pump to fish tank hooked up for testing.
Fish tank is filled to let it sit for a while to see if it sinks in the freshly placed dirt under it.
This coming Sunday will be gravel washing/carting day and not looking forward to it eh

New system update

Not much to add here but did some work on it today. Sump hole is still not deep enough and is hard work.
Got tops cut out of sump and fish tank ibcs and cleaned them out. Gave the fish tank cage and growbed cage a coat of kill rust and painted the growbed ibc. This needs to be done to protect the plastic from sun damage
When I get the sump hole deep enough the real work can start and I can start cycling the system with some charlie carp and pee

.

New system in the making

Digging the hole for the sump is hard work.


 IBC's in waiting, one for the sump and the other the fish tank