Doing it again… learned a lot last year… this year’s Tilapia

[Magnum Man]

3/4 of an inch of mid 60 degree rain earlier this morning… tanks are intentionally positioned to catch refill rain off the roof… tank levels about 2 inches higher than normal, and dropped the temperature to 85 degrees, from 88 degrees… just fed the fish in a still light rain, took a couple more pictures… mmmm 1st tomato is getting close

 

[Magnum Man]

These pictures are at the point of overflow, because of the rain… so are normally with a little less water flow… The cut off buckets that you see, with water running into them, have several holes drilled through, and have a layer of lava rock on the bottom, with the floss, to catch any particles smaller than the holes, which are designed to hold enough water, to keep the rocks wet for beneficial bacteria growth… the lowest one, has the pipes coming out to water the plants, and overflow holes drilled higher, and bigger ( you can see water pouring out of them, as everything is at maximum, from the rain

Main filter is a 5 gallon bucket, with an extension, to contain the splashes, and keep the outside dog, from trying to drink out of it…holes on the bottom, and filled with lava rock, this sits in the barrel, above the sump pump, which pumps the water to the highest tank… and they all gravity flow back to the filter

 

[Magnum Man]

Got the last 3 fish out of the aquarium today ( had to drain it to catch them all )… moved the female today, the male , when I moved the other fish… now both the breeding pair are in the tank with the vegetables in ( by them selves… see if I get more fry by fall )

 

[Magnum Man]

Sneaky fish they are… today I moved the female, only to discover her tank is full of fry… best guess today, between 20 and 50, about the size I bought the ones outside, when they got here

 

[Magnum Man]

Hopefully this fix’s my water issues… it really should, as I only need to replace for plant use, and evaporation… 2-3 minutes worth every 3-4 days

 

[Magnum Man]

Fish are growing and putting on mass, which helps the vegetables greatly… when I 1st put them in, there is roughly 1000 gallons of water and not much nutrients… I don’t do water changes, until I start vacuuming off the bottom of the tanks… but nutrients are starting to build… got several baby cucumbers coming, and this year for the 1st time, we’re trying acorn squash… and we have our 1st baby squash…

 

[davros]

Seems to be a good year for cukes- at least for me.

 

[Magnum Man]

Well the water temperatures been fine, but I changed out heaters to clean the 1st set… these were in use in the Tilapia tanks for about a month… trying to avoid cold tanks this fall…

 

[Magnum Man]

Plastic containers for dry spaghetti, look to be the perfect size, I’ll fill them with white vinegar to soak them clean, give them a good rinse, and should be good as new again… this is 2 of them, that I cleaned this spring, from use last year… some of the buildup was more than 1/4 inch thick, so they didn’t heat efficiently

 

[Back in the fold]

Wow ! What a thread . Your pictures of the whole operation and the hydroponics is awesome Man ! This is the hobby gone bananas . I’d love to see something like that in person .

 

[Magnum Man]

We did 100 fish last year, only 50 this year… biggest were 8 inches last year, I’m shooting for 12-13 inch fish this year… easier to fillet… anything smaller is going to be smoked and canned, and or pickled this year… planning ahead for this fall… the fry in the 65 gallon are all about 3 inches right now… and I’ll be sexing, while harvesting.. . I’d like to add another couple females to the breeding group