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Post by steev on Aug 17, 2017 19:25:52 GMT -5
Right, like the coffee kicking in to clear my "mind".
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Post by oldmobie on Aug 17, 2017 22:08:48 GMT -5
You'll be fine. You're overthinking this simple easy system and making things way more complicated than needed. Okay, I thought back to my aquarium days. (Been a few years.) The surface area I have should provide oxygenation for a bigger fish load than I have, even with no pump or airstone. So I'll wait for it to cycle, just feeding the fish and tending the plants for a while. The murky water may filter back out. Even if it doesn't, clear water is MY preference. The fish haven't complained. IF it doesn't clear in a few days, I'll decide what to do then. |
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Post by steev on Aug 17, 2017 23:01:15 GMT -5
I would point out that I had a galvanized stock-tank for years, in which goldfish and koi (close cousins) did fine.
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Post by aufin on Aug 18, 2017 7:52:00 GMT -5
I would point out that I had a galvanized stock-tank for years, in which goldfish and koi (close cousins) did fine.[/qsuote] Ah, yes......the voice of experience is always better than "I read somewhere......." |
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Post by aufin on Aug 18, 2017 8:54:59 GMT -5
[/quote] The murky water may filter back out. Even if it doesn't, clear water is MY preference. The fish haven't complained. IF it doesn't clear in a few days, I'll decide what to do then.[/quote]
Don't expect the cloudiness to filter out. It's the dusty stuff that's too small to be filtered by the sand and more than likely has passed through your system more than once already. It'll just settle out onto the bottom of your fish tank to be disturbed every time your guys get excited about something. Remember back to your aquarium days to the neat vacuum cleaner gizmo to clean the gravel. The one with a length of clear tubing and a clear much larger plastic tube on one end. Let your tank settle a few days and drag out the tank siphon and "vacuum" the silt to the ground. Shouldn't loose much water.
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Post by oldmobie on Aug 22, 2017 5:00:35 GMT -5
Don't expect the cloudiness to filter out. It's the dusty stuff that's too small to be filtered by the sand and more than likely has passed through your system more than once already. It'll just settle out onto the bottom of your fish tank to be disturbed every time your guys get excited about something. Remember back to your aquarium days to the neat vacuum cleaner gizmo to clean the gravel. The one with a length of clear tubing and a clear much larger plastic tube on one end. Let your tank settle a few days and drag out the tank siphon and "vacuum" the silt to the ground. Shouldn't loose much water. It wasn't just dust. Beginning of an algae bloom. I just couldn't see the green. Yet. I drained / syphoned about 15 gallons out. (Of 200.) I'm topping it back up a bucket a day. Then I'll change 5-10 gallons at a time as needed. |
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Post by oldmobie on Aug 24, 2017 16:15:01 GMT -5
My algae bloom is slowly clearing up. Maybe due to progress in the nitrogen cycle, maybe due to the small water change(s). I just retested. Nitrates and nitrites are both down. I always forget which is which, but one indicated "safe", the other "stress". It's major progress that neither is off the chart. The grow bed is progressing.  Most things didn't seem to object to the constant moisture, but this airplane or spider plant was slowly dieing. It started putting on new growth when I put the pump on a timer.  The cukes seem to like it. I hope they set fruit before frost.  I have little to no weed load so far, but this may be the first. Is this mimosa?  Joseph Lofthouse , what do think of this corn? It's grown along the ground like this since it germinated. It came from your Harmony Grain Corn. Possibly the same genetics as that Oaxacan "corn vine"? If it makes anything, you're welcome to some seed.  |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 26, 2017 1:06:20 GMT -5
For me, the oaxacan corn vine typically grew like normal corn, and then laid down on the ground after a while. Another trait it had, is that the stem was really hairy.
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Post by oldmobie on Sept 2, 2017 1:40:39 GMT -5
I'm having a bug issue. They mostly eat on the corn, but I just caught one eating an onion top. I don't like poisons in the garden, though I do use a little sevin sometimes. I don't even wanna use that, with the fish. So, until I figure something else out, I'm picking these guys off when I see them. I don't know if the fish eat them, but I do know they're bad swimmers. Also, any frog, toad, or ladybug that fails to outrun me will make it's way into the grow bed. They're free to stay or leave after I deposit them. Does anyone know what these bugs are, or have other ideas for controlling them?       |
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Post by aufin on Sept 2, 2017 9:32:54 GMT -5
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Post by oldmobie on Sept 2, 2017 15:52:33 GMT -5
Comparing my pics to that PDF, they seem to be army worms. Hand removal, predation, Bt recommended for organic control. I don't know if Bt affects fish. I caught two tree frogs and a young toad last night. They seem to have left, but I couldn't find any army worms this afternoon. I added another young tree frog caught today. |
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Post by aufin on Sept 2, 2017 16:36:50 GMT -5
According to this, the fish are safe. www.planetnatural.com/bacillus-thuringiensis/Need to decide which kind of Bt you need. Another site stated Bt is non-selective and will kill Monarch butterfly larvae, so be very careful where you use Bt. Learned something today. I'll start looking for some Bt for my cucumber and squash plants. |
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Post by reed on Sept 2, 2017 16:44:00 GMT -5
Bt is the only thing I use in my yard and garden. It works great for all kinds of worms and for mosquito larva. I'm pretty sure it does not hurt fish or anything else except caterpillars and the like. Sill I'm very careful with it as not all caterpillars are bad. It comes as a powder, I put maybe a 1/4 teaspoon in a spray bottle with water. Much easier to apply that way and keep better control of where it goes. It only take a tiny bit to get the job done.
Yes it will kill any caterpillar and yes, I think the kind for mosquito larva is a different kind. It is a bacteria not a poison and it has considerable residual effect as long as a hard rain doesn't wash it off.
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Post by prairiegardens on Sept 2, 2017 21:59:41 GMT -5
Enjoy it while you can. Since Bt corn has hit the big time now with hundreds of thousands of acres of monocrop, it's only a matter of time before it won't be effective anymore. Humans are a stubborn and hard headed lot, mules have nothing on us when it comes to changing attitudes when we don't wanna.
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Post by steev on Sept 3, 2017 18:47:04 GMT -5
Indeed so; we will use something for immediate advantage, regardless of downstream effects; it's all about the bottom line, not the eventual effect, even when that can be shown to be disastrous. Profit uber alles!
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