Last weekend Elliott helped me clean out the bed of the aquaponics system again and we did an almost complete water change. The old water went out into the garden and the new water came from our Discus tank and the hose. I think weekly cleanings may be mandatory until we strike the right balance of fish, food, and plants.
The styrofoam plant float has been deteriorating since my (suspected) raccoon visit last week, and now has several breaks in it. We've decided we'll try to make a new float out of plywood instead. Hopefully we can get that cut during the evenings this week and put it out in the garden next weekend.
The plants, on the other hand, are doing FANTASTIC. Without the algae to compete with, many of them are doing extremely well. I've had several basils double their size in the last week, and the roots on many of the plants are downright huge! I think once we get a float that works well and get the algae under control, it's going to be very successful. Sadly, many of the plants I originally planted didn't survive the competition with algae and/or the raccoon attack, so I will be replanting lots of pots over the next few days. It looks like the hydroton rocks are going to be the preferred medium because they don't accumulate algae as quickly and they are much more reusable. The basil, however, seems to prefer the rock wool so I want try perlite to see if that provides a good middle ground.
The tilapia seem to be doing quite well. They have good appetites and seem to be growing. We have lost two fingerlings and the smaller of the two tilapia that were still hanging on from last year. This leaves me with 53 fingerlings and one large fish, along with 3 crawdads, 2 guppies, and a pleco in the aquaponics pond.
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