Fish
All of the fish are doing well, at least the ones alive. Two have died since I last updated, probably from harmful nitrate levels. That has been fixed so far because the fish are being feed less than they had been. The pH levels were low enough to hurt the fish and plants, so I added some seashells to the bottom of the tank and put some aquatic plants in there for the fish to use as hiding spots. Tank is now very large compared to last time.
He is getting all his food portions, probably more if I am being honest. The other fish are all pretty big as well, but the next biggest fish is about half of the size of Tank. There are two new suckerfish in the main tank. I added another heater to the system to keep the fish warm because the first heater wasn’t keeping the system warm enough by itself.
Plants
The plants are growing pretty well. Two out of the three pepper plants have peppers growing. The bell pepper plant has one pepper and the jalapeño plant has several peppers. The banana pepper plant doesn’t have any peppers yet but it is currently growing more leaves which means that it will be getting flowers soon.
The melons are also growing pretty well. They have taken over a good portion of the system, growing above their own grow bed and into the other grow bed. There is only one melon currently and when it is ready to be picked, I think I will remove the melon plants and replace them with either lettuce or other fruit plants. Either way, there is new growth to the melons and they will be exchanged for something else that is easier to take care of.
New Friends
There are several new friends to the aquaponics system, some intentionally put there, others just showed up. There are two new snails in the waste bucket, they are eating all the algae that is growing in there as well as other things that appear in the waste bucket. Those are the intentional ones. There is a spider that has shown up and that is pretty large. She, because female spiders are larger than male spiders and she is very large, helps by keeping the flying insects to a minimum and by pollinating the flowers of the plants.
Up Next
The next post will probably be the new fish feeder post, the website post, or another update on the system if I don’t finish the feeder before I update next.