Leaked again!
3:48 pm in Being a good member of this community, Help the project by testing this, made from scratch (without a kit), Plants, R&D-I-Y, Uncategorized by Sylvia Woerner
With my leg problem I was unable to secure my water supply lines good enough and my aquaponic farm leaked again – BOO HOO - I took it down and want to put up soil like Diana spoke about to keep some plants alive till I get my leg fixed and can put up my system again. Here are pics of the S hooks holding plants tied to my crocheted nylon line. The FAT 3′ goldfish will love our lake. Thanks Diana for the idea – I’m giving it a try. Pics when I get it up and Son can take them.
The S hook is holding up a large yogurt tub. I also hold up my upside down bottles with the S hooks but I do not have a pic of them.
I’ll be watching for new ideas with my windowfarm. Sylvia Indiana USA
Hey Sylvia,
I’ve been reading about your experiences with interest, and I’m glad you’re doing Aquaponics! Yay for synergies!
I can’t find the message where you spoke with Diana, so I’m making a bit of an assumption here.
You’re thinking about dumping your goldfish into your local lake?
PLEASE DON’T DO THAT.
Goldfish are not native to our waterways, and various species of carp (which are cousins to the goldfish) are already billion dollar problems to the economy, nevermind the fact that they’re virulent, invasive species that destroy aquatic habitat for other fish. I wish I was just being melodramatic, but they are seriously bastard fish. They have a bigger appetite than anything else in the water, they like to unearth plants (killing them entirely, instead of just grazing on the tops) and they stir up sediment from the bottom of the waterway, making it almost impossible for anything to grow back, or for fish that rely on vision to survive.
I understand you want to give them a good home, but please give them to a local pet store or similar. As much as they may be happy in a lake, the rest of the lake could very well end up quite unhappy.
Surely there’s a neighbour’s koi pond or similar nearby?
Sorry for the histrionics, but I feel North America’s waterways have enough problems. I think goldfish are pretty, but only in aquariums or ponds, where they belong.
And just to make a counter argument to something a friend said to me, yes, one goldfish cannot reproduce on its own, but if 1 person dumps female goldfish that survives just 2 years, and within that time a male goldfish is also dumped, you’ve just created a population of goldfish. They can find each other; That’s what pheromones are for.
If only it worked that way for people I wouldn’t be single, but there you go.
Also Also –
At aquarium and hydroponic stores there’s good iron-only supplements.
I did an experiment last year comparing a lightly stocked tank with aquaponics to hydroponics fertilizer. The fertilizer performed better, but not by much, and I think if I had taken the live plants out of the aquarium, I likely would have had much better results from the fish poop.
Sylvia- So sorry to hear about your recent troubles. Having an aquaponic system is definitely a commitment. If one thing goes wrong you have more to worry about — animal + plant pets!!
I have a salt water aquarium and a bunch of windowfarms and they are not even connected. Still, I can totally relate to having to take a break when there’s something else going on in your life. I have been so busy that had to give my fish away. I’ve found this to be a great time to focus on building a good basic ecosystem of healthy sandcrabs, microbes, shrimp and snails. It has really helped me understand all of the baselines of my tank setup. Without the fish, it is much easier to focus on the fluctuations in the top of the food chain in your system. Is there something analogous you could do with your setup?
-Britta
@danpowell Thanks for sharing your encouraging experience. I am a distance from a good aquarium store, and Wal Mart is my aquarium supply store that is close enough. So I do the best I can with what they have.
My results have been suprisingly good, and the problems I have had was because my leg handicapp caused problems reaching the top of my window. I did find an iron supplement locally, but the 2 times I used it, my plants looked good at first and then did not respond well. I plan to use regular soil for a while till I can get my leg fixed and put up my aquarium again. When I put it up later I will be sure to secure the water drip lines so they cannot fall again. Sylvia Manchester Indiana USA
@danpowell I AM 73 YEARS – HAVE FISHED, RIVERS, LAKES AND STREAMS – AND THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE HEARD ABOUT GOLDFISH BEING SO DESTRUCTIVE. I WISH I HAD NOT RELEASED THEM INTO OUR SMALL LAKE NOW, BUT I WILL WARN OTHERS OF THE PROBLEM. IT IS GOOD THAT THEY CANNOT GET INTO LOCAL CREEKS, STREAMS OR LAKES FROM MY POND. THANK YOU DAN FOR YOUR GIVING ME THAT INFORMATION. SYLVIA INDIANA USA
@admin Thank you Britta, I am proud to be part of this group. Your selfless hard work is much appreciated and I believe [I KNOW] these windowfarms are GOOD FOR OUR EARTH. I am thinking of using soil in the window for a while – then I’ll get my aquarium going again to be ready for the setup when my leg is better. AT THAT TIME I WILL GET A BOARD UP HIGH WITH METAL LOOPS TO RUN THE SUPPLY LINES THROUGH.
When I worked with my setup and needed to make some changes my leg would be quite sore by the time I got to the last thing to do – which was putting the drip supply lines up high and I (fudged) – using duck tape against the wall. Duck tape is great – BUT not perfect. OH! I also began growing worms to use later in my new aquaponic windowfarm. Sylvia