2011/02/12 - All is not lost

So I was pretty sure I'd killed all the fish.  I was netting the little floating guys out much too frequently, and no one was coming up to eat when I fed them.  So Saturday I planned to drain out most of the water and do a thorough (and depressing) clean up.

As it turns out, it was only the little guys that were lost.  At the bottom of the tank were some seriously big ones.  And my algae eater, whose death would have upset me even more than the Tilapia.

I've purchased a bucket heater and a temperature controller, but don't have the skill to hook them up together.  I've got a call in to my electrician.  Meanwhile, the heater is plugged into the same timer as the pump.  So it's 15 minutes on, 45 off.  The temperature has risen from the high 50's into the low 60's.  I want to get it up near 70 if I can.

So here are my happy fish:

And my happy plants:

The cilantro only sprouted in one of the two pots.  And the cucumbers didn't sprout at all.  But that's not a big deal.  If they still haven't next weekend I'll just plant some more.

I have fish!  Live ones!  YAY!

2011/02/06 - Progress... and not

I definitely think the fish are dead.  A friend from an aquaponics community helped me pick out a bigger, better, badder heater and thermostat (thanks, Chi) and it will arrive this week.  Meanwhile, though, the fish aren't coming up to eat.  And there are a few more floating.  Damnit.

The plants are doing really well, though.

2011/01/30: Two week follow up on plants and fish

The lettuce are SO happy in their new home!  They're growing so quickly I almost feel I could stand there and see it happen.  These are actually several seedlings in each group, so I'll separate them in another few weeks when they're big enough, and strong enough, that I think I can do it without hurting anyone.

I also started some new seeds.  And this time I labeled them!  I always think I'll remember what I planted, or I'll recognize it when it gets bigger.  I have learned my lesson.  These are labeled and will stay that way even when grown.  Unless I can actually see Red Bell Peppers hanging off a plant, I won't know that's what it's supposed to be.



I elected to plant the seedlings in coir-filled pots, and put those directly into the growbed.  I figure that way they get watered and fed regularly.  When they get bigger I'll take them out of their pots and put them directly into the clay.

New additions:
Swiss Chard
Spinach
Cilantro
Pak Choi
Armenian Cucumber (yes, this one's going to get ridiculously big.  I'll either tie it to the roofbeam or enclose it in a tomato frame)

On the fish front... I'm pretty worried.  Since I've got the water flowing through the system, it's one huge evaporative cooler.  And of course that happens just as our weather goes to hell (for CA... I know it's nothing compared to the rest of the country, but I'm set up for CA weather).  And the aquarium heater just isn't keeping up with it.  So now the fish aren't eating.  And since it's dark in the tank, I can't even see in well enough to be sure they're alive.  But if they are, they won't be long if I can't get some food into them.  So I'll stop at the fish store today and see if I can get a better heater.  I'm also considering turning the system off at night.  Maybe 8 hours of still water with the heater going will warm it enough.


So the plants are thrilled, the fish may be dead, and I'll learn more this weekend.  :-D

DONE DONE DONE!

I finished replacing the liner last weekend, put all 500 pounds of clay back in, then started it up... and the stand pipe was leaking like a sieve.  Grrr.  I just couldn't face moving any more clay, so I procrastinated.  Today I finally pulled the clay back and siliconed thoroughly.  After drying for 3 hours I tested with a pitcher of water (I learned my lesson about putting the clay back without testing).  It was perfect!  I planted the few hardy seedlings that survived the long wait for a permanent home, and it's officially up and running now.  Yay!

Liner laid in:

Smoothed into neat corners:

Stand pipe reinstalled:

View from the end:

Filled with clay:

Plants!

Close up of lettuce, with pump starting to push water in:

Finally DONE

I finished the last few steps in about 2 hours this morning... and then had problems.

The pipe up from the sump tank leaked a little, as did the drain pipe.  And the pump wasn't pushing enough volume to overcome the drain holes in the stand pipe, so the growbed wasn't filling.  I looked at the pump and decided it just wasn't big enough for the job.  It's supposed to push enough water to cycle the entire system each hour, but it clearly wasn't up to the job and didn't have a volume control.

So I drove 30 minutes to the nearest open aquarium store, bought a 375 GPH pump with 6' head and a volume control, took a different route back to avoid some ugly traffic I'd seen on my way out, and decided on the way to ditch the sump-to-fishtank piping and go with tubing instead.  I stopped at Home Depot and bought some kink-proof hose in the fountain section, and a half-circle bracket to fasten the end to the upper lip of the fishtank.

This pump is a HELL of a lot stronger.  So strong, in fact, that it was exceeding my overflow pipe drain holes.

So I drilled twice as many. 

It's still flowing out the end pretty hard.  I may put in even more holes next weekend.  Yes, I could turn down the pump.  But that's the right amount of water volume for the system.  It's my job to make that work.  And it's working fine, it's just flowing out hard enough to splash and push pellets around, and that's less than ideal.

I also glued the drain pipe, but it's still got a bit of a leak.  I think I'll replace it (can't redo it since it's glued) and use some teflon tape this time.

Now that the pump is pushing enough water, I realized that my clay pellets only came up to the waterline.  It's vital that they be above the high water mark so they don't grow algae.  Luckily, I still had another 100 pounds of pellets I hadn't put into the growbed.  So I dumped those in and it's perfect.

As soon as I recover from it all (and catch up on the housework I intended to finish today and the dinner I planned to cook on Saturday) I'll get the plants in there.  

It's DONE!!!

SO close to done!

So far this weekend, I've gotten the rain-barrel connector pipe glued in, the standpipe glued in, the growbed full of 400 pounds of clay pellets, the overflow pipe drilled and installed, the fish tank drained about 3/4 of the way and jacked up so I could put 2x4s under the back corners to level it, refilled it, tested the overflow, and done most of the pipe work for the sump pump back to the fishtank (it might work the way it is, but it's not as neat a job as I'd like - I'll fix that today).  I would have gotten the drain pipe done but I'd bought the wrong adapter and the stores were closed for the day.  I'll buy the right one today and *hopefully* get the very last of the system completed!

Growbed full of pellets:

Overflow from fishtank:

Overflow pipe drilled full of holes:

Overflow pipe installed :

Video of overflow (tank filled by hose for this test):



Rain-barrels in place:

Sump pump from rain-barrel to fishtank:

Pump sitting in barrel:

Hole drilled in top of barrel for pipe:

Piping from barrel to fishtank:

Broke down and hired a handyman

I just couldn't seem to find time to finish the construction, nor did I have the right tools for the job, and I can't keep asking friends to bring their tools and work on it with me.  So I hired a handyman to come do the construction.  I've still got more work to do, but at least it's down to just plumbing work, and I can handle that.  Heck, I'm getting pretty comfortable with it after all this.

So I had the Handyman come and build the center support, and replace the plywood end with a thicker piece.  He did a fantastic job.

I've cancelled my Christmas weekend plans, and haven't made New Years weekend plans, so I WILL get the whole thing done for the new year.

In other news, I bought an algae eater.  He's about 6" long.  He wasn't cheap, but he and everyone else should be very happy for a while.

The Tilapia are doing well as far as I can tell.  If there are any dead ones, they aren't floating where I've seen them.  And the live ones are eating with great vigor.