howdy from another northeastern ohioan

[keith_r]

hello all, and hello again Big Al..

i'm a few blocks from lake erie in northeast ohio, started my first system in may, a 110gal ft, 2 55 gallon barrels in half for 4 growbeds, based on barrelponics by Travis H., i made it in two pairs so that i can bring one pair indoors over winter and hopefully breed some fish
i started the system with humonia, after it was cycling i added minnows and 2 weeks ago this saturday added 15 hybrid bluegill, 2 dozen softshell crayfish, and 1 sucker fish..
i was kind of hoping that the bg would eat the minnows but they're getting too big (the minnows that is)
i'm hoping to get 20 to 30 perch in a few weeks.
anyways, looking forward to learning more here!
anyone here grow duckweed? and if so,, flowing water, aerated, still.. what works for you?

[davidstcldfl]

Hi Kieth, here's a link to some duckweed....more then you'll ever want to knw.... :lol:

http://www.fao.org/Ag/AGAInfo/resources ... DW/Dw2.htm (http://www.fao.org/Ag/AGAInfo/resources/documents/DW/Dw2.htm)


I'm growing it. It perfers very little water flow.
You can see, nothing fancy requied.The 3/4 inch supply line has a cap on it, below the water level. I drilled 2 small holes in it....1/4 inch or less

http://i931.photobucket.com/albums/ad157/davidstcldfl/duckweedpool.jpg

[JCO]

Welcome to the show....pull up an easy chair, relax and stay awhile. New voices are always a welcome addition to our family..! Whatever questions you have on you mind, this is the place to get the answers :mrgreen:

[Big Al]

hi keith, nice to see your system is moving along. :D how are the bluegill doing. have you noticed any changes yet. just wondering. my system should be flowing by wednesday. :D well anyhow nice to see you.

[keith_r]

lost 2 of them,, one was sluggish, and floating the next day, he looked beat up pretty badly... the other tried jumping out of the tank and got tangled in the bird netting i put over the top.

last night when i was standing next to the tank, i was able to count 14 bg.. they're not wild about the floating pellet food... they love worms though! i've gotta get out to thompson to the feed mill out there, but in the meantime, the worms are making them grow...

oh,, i use maxicrop with iron, about a cap full a week, i was putting 1/2 in each flood barrel right after a drain, but after reading on another msg board, a user put a cap directly in the ft.. i tried that and the bluegill seemed to get really active, kind of aggressive.. i don't think i;ll do that again!

what do you plan on stocking? and have you found a source?

[Big Al]

hi keith, sorry to hear you lost a couple bluegill. but a ap friend told us your not doing it right until you killed some fish and he's been doing this for a while. and he raises thousands of fish a year. so dont dispair i'm sure your doing fine. were planning on yellow perch or hybrid bluegill. so far the guy in claridon is the only local fish farm that ive heard of that has perch. stopping there tommorrow to see if you bought him out or not :lol: . just kidding. i'll let you know. we'll be flowing water tommorrow also. :D thanks Big Al

[jackalope]

keith_r, Welcome to the forum, good to have you here!

[Big Al]

hi keith, how are you. i talked to butch yesterday he said he was out of perch for at least a month. hope you had some ordered so you can get yours going. my system is up and running :D . later Big Al

[keith_r]

nope, i didn't get any..

bummer

let me know if you find some anywhere else.. there's a fish guy out in thompson, he had the hybrid bluegill, not sure what else..

there's a fish farm in new philadelphia that should have perch, but it's a bit of a drive for me..

[Big Al]

good morning keith, how are you. the fish farm in thompson is willow valley and has been there for years. my brother and there son grew up together. theres one in andover that im going to check with and i'll let you know. yes new philly is about 2-2 1/2 hours away. thanks Big Al

[Big Al]

hey keith, by the way nice pictures. very cool, and nice growth how long was that growth. forgot in my last post later.

[keith_r]

thanks Big Al..
i planted the first round of seeds may 6th or 7th, had stuff sprouting in a week, all the rain we had did in some of the sprouts..
i put some more seeds in about 2 weeks ago..

i really like working with the hydroton, if you are looking for any, let me know, i found a place that sells 50 liter bags for 19.90
i think you'd need a little over 2 bags to fill a half barrel, i used river gravel in the bottom half of my barrels to hold down the drainage pipe in the bottom of the barrel, then 1 50l bag of hydroton in each half barrel.. makes transplanting easier than straight gravel

i'm not even sure what all is coming up, but i think quite a few seeds got washed away (the real tiny ones)
next year i'm either going to wrap small seeds in tissue and put that in the gb, or maybe those little "plugs"
and i'm going to try to put the growbeds where they can get full day sun next year (the dirt garden is doing better than the ap garden so far)
the floating raft stuff seems to be doing pretty well

edit; it looks like it took about 3 weeks for my ammo to drop to 0

[JCO]

Keith,

It's too late for this year, but here is a lady with a handle on being ready for the spring planting and it fits right in with AP because she uses water from her fish tank to start and water the seeds. :mrgreen:

[video:1eo88tvz]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQL0MLvWwqE[/video:1eo88tvz]

[keith_r]

hey JCO, not sure what you mean that it's too late this year? do you mean planting seeds? i'' probably be starting different seeds throughout the year, as i harvest and clear up space..and before first frost i'll be bringing in at least 1 pair of growbeds, i have a 55 gal fish tank for an indoor system, and a single growlight (i can set this up in the basement)

while i'm looking at everything i do with or on the system as learning, i also want to try a variety of plants/densities to see what works under what conditions, and i'm having a ton of fun (i lost 10 lbs in the couple of weeks of building the system :shock: )

[JCO]

In that case, setting up a seed starter system like that should be the "Cat's Meow" for your way of growing. Get after it and know off some more weight...I could use a little less nutrition myself or something.. :lol: :lol: :mrgreen:

[Big Al]

hi keith, thanks for the tip with the eggs i put 6 in each tank thursday morning and saw a difference thursday evening. :D i found another place for perch but they wont sell them until september due to the heat stress on them. :( it's a place in andover. im also waiting on another place to call me back about them that is close by also. i'll let you know when i find out. later Big Al

[Big Al]

hi keith, we bought our perch last night. will be delivered next week :D things growing well in our system. nice to see the growth happening. later Big Al

[keith_r]

good to hear! (how many did you get?)
i have to call butch back, he left me a voicemail but it's been crazy this week.. i won't need to buy what he was going to set aside for me, but my son might want them..
i'm really happy about how the perch started feeding.. i was really worried the first week, but they've settled down, i think they ate the last of the minnows that started my system, and they're really hitting the food..
i've got to get out to thompson to get more fish food sooner than i expected, and will probably be getting a bigger size feed.. i'm using 2mm pellets right now, but will probably go up to at least 4 with the next bag.. butch recommended a brand, but i can't think of it off the top of my head

[badflash]

Stick with the 2mm pellets. That way you can feed any size fish from fingerlings to adult. That is what I do with the tilapia.

[Big Al]

hi keith, i got 450 perch there 1.5 -2" long the feed is silver crop i believe. he said the next ones he has are larger. so here go :D . later Big Al