Sunday, June 23, 2013

Aquaponic update, some lost fish & plans for the pipes...

A few Goldfish deaths :(

Lost a goldfish a few weeks ago & found 2 more laying on the bottom of the tank on Monday..
I had no idea at the start as to what could of caused the deaths so went looking online for some idea of what it could of been.. I came across a few sites with the one listed bellow being fairly comprehensive in its listing of different diseases & their symptoms..
http://www.csh.rit.edu/~tonyl/goldfish/testarea/symptoms.htm


I had no idea what might have caused the deaths at the time but am now fairly certain it was a sudden drop in water temp that may have caused them to perish..  Another theory put forward by a viewer is that it could of just been tired after mating... Apparently, as the gills & eyes looked so healthy this could of been a possibility.. Have never read of this happening before & really hope I didn't bury a few fish alive..  The goldfish are destined to go to a new home soon I don't know if I will get to test this theory.. 

Update walk through..
Bit late I know but here is the latest update clip for the aquaponic set up..


I found sometime this week to finely sort out how I will be altering the pipe work on the system so that all the water will run through a filter to remove solid fish waste & un eaten food..
One of the first things to make up was the 90° elbow units..
At the moment I am using normal 90° fittings on the pipes to redirect the water but it was pointed out to me that making up these nifty little units out of 2 x 45° elbows will let the water flow a lot more efficiently increasing flow rates throughout the whole system.. An upside to that is I think I can now down size the pump to one that should be slightly cheaper to run..


 As the system can’t be left off line for any length of time I have been making up these elbows & pre fabricating the other pieces needed so they can be added on all in one go..  I really want a whole day set aside for this just in case any unforeseen events arise needing extra parts & time to finish the job.. 


That's about it for now as I really should be out there harvesting the Yacon..
For more regular updates & pictures from the patch come visit us on our Bits Out the Back Face book page..
Thanks & take it easy all..
Rob..