What preps are you doing this week? Part 3.

[angeuk]

Do I add plants first and feed them with seaweed extract plant food then add the fish, or do I add the fish and wait for bacteria to grow in my grow bed so that the plants can grow and prosper. I've been twisting my melon trying to get the answer and while I've been typing this I think the only way forward is trial and error. So, here's the plan: Add seaweed extract plant food to the lower tank. Let that circulate. Check the water quality. Add a few fish. Add a few plants. check water quality. Repeat.

What's the worst that can happen, it's not like it can catch fire, is it? If it all goes boobs up I'll let you all know.

I don't know if it is similar, but I got my first brand new tank about 5 years ago. Because it was new, the whole 'cycling' process hadn't happened. I don't know how many poor fish I killed off before I got it right! It was only a small tank, so the balance is quite precarious. It took months of clearing 10-20% of the water a couple of times a week until it was fit for fish. Once I'd got it right, I could chuck any fish in quite safely

A large set up isn't quite so sensitive, but I'd still hold off for a month or two before I put fish in. Just treat it exactly as if you have fish in there, throw a bit of food in, check for the usual chemicals and the levels will sort themselves out.

[defender130]

Which type of fish are you going to be chucking in there ?

Was looking into this yesterday as it looks like a good way of doing things but figured if I was going to have fish swimming around in Ibc's helping crops grow they would eventually breed make more fish and eventually crowd the water too much so an edible variety would be best

Pick one out every now and again for tea along with the stuff they are helping grow

Is that a realistic idea ?


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[Arzosah]

Briggs, in spite of your change of avatar can I ask if you'd be prepared to start a new thread about your aquaponics? It's really interesting to read your thoughts on it, I'd love for it to be a separate thread as you progress bit by bit.

I'm fiddling about with a new battery charger today - the instruction leaflet is done in such small font, I'm scanning it so I can enlarge it

Plus my garden is starting to have more plants in it than weeds. I like that.

[MissPrep]

In my quest to add variety to our stores, which we are now mostly living off on a regular basis so there's no rotation problem, I got myself one of those Easiyo yoghurt makers & a couple of flavours to try out.

Because there's just the two of us, we've got the small version that makes 1/2 kilo at a time, but I'm buying the 1kg packets as it works out a lot cheaper (10 1/2 kilo portions for 12.89 versus 3 1/2 kilo portions for 5.79) although I actually got it on a special offer buy one get one half price so was a bit cheaper again. Offer now over.
I know you can make yoghurt cheaper, but only if you have milk.

The packets have about a years shelf life on them (best before date), but you only need to add water to make it up & it requires no electricity, just some hot water in the pot around it - milk is the thing I would find most hard to get in a SHTF situation.
e.g. manufacture date on Lemon 18/09/2015, bb date 18/03/2017

Strawberry is okay, Vanilla is bang on target & 1/2 kilo disappeared in an hour although it took longer to make than it said (should be 8-12 hours, which worked for the strawberry, but for the vanilla I left it more like 24-36 hrs to get a set)

Now making up Lemon, which is my favourite yoghurt so hoping it's successful too.

I have deliberately set aside some of the packets to see how it turns out past the bb date next year. Plan to try one 3 months past & if it's okay, one 6 months past.

Have also picked up another metric copy of the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving as it's only 4.99 in Lakeland as mine went walkabout - very useful for anyone looking at pressure canning, but also has info on water bath canning, freezing & dehydrating.

Please do a thread on Aquaponics Briggs - love your new avatar btw

[Decaff]

Miss P - the secret in the really cold months with Easiyo is to wrap a towel around the maker to keep it warm. I find it harder to get a set when it's cold as the water cools a lot quicker and wrapping a towel round it makes a difference. Also using slightly warmer water to mix it up helps too.

Banana is absolutely delicious and my favourites are the "and cream" flavours and the ones with bits in which you then mix in when it's set as the float to the top.

They don't all work past expiration date though but no logic to why some do!!

You can order flavours online cheaper and QVC often have good deals going. You can also pick them up in Wilko.

[MissPrep]

Miss P - the secret in the really cold months with Easiyo is to wrap a towel around the maker to keep it warm. I find it harder to get a set when it's cold as the water cools a lot quicker and wrapping a towel round it makes a difference. Also using slightly warmer water to mix it up helps too.

Banana is absolutely delicious and my favourites are the "and cream" flavours and the ones with bits in which you then mix in when it's set as the float to the top.

They don't all work past expiration date though but no logic to why some do!!

You can order flavours online cheaper and QVC often have good deals going. You can also pick them up in Wilko.

Thank you Decaff, I did replace the water before I went to bed as it had cooled down so much as I'd made it around lunchtime but it never occurred to me to wrap a towel around it. Will do this time
I never thought to look on Wilkos or QVC; I did check out Amazon & a few other places, but they didn't do Lemon if they did it at all.
Off now to search.

[Briggs 2.0]

Do I add plants first and feed them with seaweed extract plant food then add the fish, or do I add the fish and wait for bacteria to grow in my grow bed so that the plants can grow and prosper. I've been twisting my melon trying to get the answer and while I've been typing this I think the only way forward is trial and error. So, here's the plan: Add seaweed extract plant food to the lower tank. Let that circulate. Check the water quality. Add a few fish. Add a few plants. check water quality. Repeat.

What's the worst that can happen, it's not like it can catch fire, is it? If it all goes boobs up I'll let you all know.

I don't know if it is similar, but I got my first brand new tank about 5 years ago. Because it was new, the whole 'cycling' process hadn't happened. I don't know how many poor fish I killed off before I got it right! It was only a small tank, so the balance is quite precarious. It took months of clearing 10-20% of the water a couple of times a week until it was fit for fish. Once I'd got it right, I could chuck any fish in quite safely

A large set up isn't quite so sensitive, but I'd still hold off for a month or two before I put fish in. Just treat it exactly as if you have fish in there, throw a bit of food in, check for the usual chemicals and the levels will sort themselves out.

Thank you for the response. I think you and I are on the same wavelength here, taking it one small step at a time. Yesterday, I ditched the lovely eco idea of using a 12v pump with battery and solar re-charging because it's not reliable. I got a 240v pump today and from this evenings test run I'm a long more confident about the life-expectancy of the fish. Tomorrow, I'll be wiring in the new pump to an RCD and leaving the system running for a week with no plants and no fish.

I may be moaning on the outside but deep down I'm enjoying the challenge and the prospect of some home grown trout dinners with fresh veg.

[metatron]

Replaced my door locks with multi-t-lock's this week and upgraded all my padlocks to Abloy models, all of which I've found I can't pick.

[Briggs 2.0]

Which type of fish are you going to be chucking in there ?

Was looking into this yesterday as it looks like a good way of doing things but figured if I was going to have fish swimming around in Ibc's helping crops grow they would eventually breed make more fish and eventually crowd the water too much so an edible variety would be best

Pick one out every now and again for tea along with the stuff they are helping grow

Is that a realistic idea ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Rainbow Trout because they are edible and are happy at UK temperatures all year round.

I've worked on getting one IBC right to start with and there's been a bit of wastage while I've tried siphons and pipework. I've got another IBC next to it that is ready to go once I've got the first one working.

My idea is to have young fish in one IBC, then as they grow, they get moved to the other IBC, and the bigger one's from that IBC end up on the dinner plate along with some spuds. That sounds ideal but I do know trout will eat anything up to one third of their length so at some point I will have to plan for separation into more tanks, or perhaps I eat more fish.

Tomorrow, I'll be ready to add some plant food to the system ready for adding some seedlings in a few weeks time. Mind you, I may shelve the project for this weekend as I've just picked up the Division on PS4....the intro is very thought provoking from a prepper point of view. Flu virus on a single dollar bill, passed from person to person, from cough to door handle to....you get the idea

[Briggs 2.0]

Briggs, in spite of your change of avatar can I ask if you'd be prepared to start a new thread about your aquaponics? It's really interesting to read your thoughts on it, I'd love for it to be a separate thread as you progress bit by bit.

I'm fiddling about with a new battery charger today - the instruction leaflet is done in such small font, I'm scanning it so I can enlarge it

Plus my garden is starting to have more plants in it than weeds. I like that.

Yeah, when I've got it working I'll put up a post with some of the errors I made along the way and if all goes well, my first fish dinner

I'll maybe put up some pics tomorrow of the IBC design I went for.

Briggs.