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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 4:19 pm
by chefkeith
Thanks for update, those plants do look great.

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:36 pm
by Vancmann
Can anyone figure out the third update? More updates:

First, the progress of the tomato vines
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Second, a macro shot of one of the flower.
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Third, I found snails, my "maintanence crew", two weeks ago in the upper PVC tube. One day I saw one snail and a week later I saw a bucch of babies and quite a few egg sacks all up in there. I have always wanted snails but for obvious reasons was never able to keep them for more than a few days with those voracious loaches. Now I have snails breeding and keeping the upper tube with the roots keeping the pipes clean. Ocassionally I would throw a few down in the tank only to never be seen again. Complete cycle. Anyhow, can someone tell me how on earth they could possibly get there and what kind of snails? I have not added plants or fish since July/August 09. My plants are from seeds in packets. Or, could it be from a piece of water crest that I took from the dinner table about a week before I saw the first snail. I would hate to think its the latter, those were washed thoroughly and I was eating them things??!!
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 10:35 am
by Diana
Even when it seems the Loaches are eating 100% of the snails, they are not. There will be a few survivors. Whenever the survivors get too numerous the Loaches have easy pickings for a while, then the snail population is knocked down to the point that they can all hide again. Typical predator-prey dynamics.

The snails survived in your tank, and when a safe place (PVC tubing) and food source (Food trapped by the roots) became available they started multiplying.

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:18 am
by chefkeith
Excellent pics. I was once getting those kind of pond snails and I'm not sure where they came from either. I haven't seen any for awhile.

I thought my ramshorn snails all died off, but I found a few in a canister filter. I put them in a 5 gallon tank, now a few months later I have a few hundred.

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 7:12 pm
by Vancmann
Diana what you are saying makes sence. Its hard to believe but it makes sense.

CK, thank you

Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 2:41 am
by Vancmann
Here is an update as of today Jan 28 2010. Hopefully next update I will have lots of little red vine ripe tomotoes in the pic.

The first pic is a comparison of the system from July 2009 to January 2010. I planted the tomato seeds about a month after (august 09). The tomato plants only started growing fast after I added the t5 plant light. Now, although the initial peace lillys are much more and much bigger, they are totallu covered by the tomato plants. For scale, the fish tank is 6ftX20"X19" so 120 Gallons or 450 litres roughly.

FUELED BY LOACH
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Night Shot with long exposure. The tank is not as bright as it looks and all my loaches are asleep. For comparison, the orange light to the right is the little light from the heater.
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 8:35 am
by Keith Wolcott
Your experiment has certainly been a success. All that growth must be removing a substantial amount of nitrate from the water. Thanks for keeping us posted.

Re: Followup on land plants and loach tank- aquaponics

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 1:32 am
by Vancmann
Update:
Its been over a year, since late summer (August?) 2009 that I started this project. Here are some updates: My plants have been fruiting since may 2010 and all through winter till last week. Yes, I have been eating lots of organic tomatoes, through the winter as well, that was supported 100% from my loaches! I think the loaches are happier too because, they now eat directly out of my hand and a couple of the 1.5yr old baby loaches are almost the size of my oldest loach. Now the cycle renews.

Few weeks ago, one of my tree died and in the process of removing the decaying entangled root, I killed the healthy tree. I have already started some more seeds. I think however that the death of one plant and removal of the other has affected a couple of my loaches because they have stopped eating. It could be because I left the dead plant to rot for a couple weeks. As for the peace lilly plant, they are blooming and growing more than ever. i had to remove and trash quite a few of these plants.

Here are a few pictures of the tomatoes
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Re: Followup on land plants and loach tank- aquaponics

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 10:25 am
by starsplitter7
Amazing. The plants are incredible. Are things getting better for the loaches?

Re: Followup on land plants and loach tank- aquaponics

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:47 am
by Vancmann
starsplitter7 wrote:Amazing. The plants are incredible. Are things getting better for the loaches?
Well, except for these two, the others are fine. Infact, one of the young one started eating properly a little over a week ago. He went through a month period of eating little and now he gouges himself. It may be a coincidence as well that they stopped eating when the plants were removed. Also, I want to believe that all clown loaches go through a cycle of fasting, atleast from my experience.

Re: Followup on land plants and loach tank- aquaponics

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 12:22 pm
by Vancmann
Within a couple weeks of the tomato plants not being here, the lillys have really started growing. Here are some pictures I took with my phone a few minutes ago. They are about 30 inches tall.
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Re: Followup on land plants and loach tank- aquaponics

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 4:54 pm
by Graeme Robson
Excellent work! 8)

Re: Followup on land plants and loach tank- aquaponics

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 3:11 pm
by wasserscheu
Vancmann wrote:... Yes, I have been eating lots of organic tomatoes, through the winter as well, that was supported 100% from my loaches! ...
I love this most effective "bio-filter" and of course the idea of the obtained organic tomatoes 8) I have been missing your updates.

Re: Followup on land plants and loach tank- aquaponics

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 12:33 am
by Vancmann
Thanks!! :D
I plan on overhauling the whole system in 2011. Since i didnt expect that much growth, the design was flawed because the system got clogged and water backed up. Last july or so, the system got clogged up by the roots and my overflow was not enough for the flood pumps so I had a little flood on my on my carpet. Not exciting to wake up to the sound of water dripping water one level. Actually, too much excitement for me. I will keep posting.