Bundy Bear's New Systems Expansion.

mattyry

sounds good, I was thinking about getting some SP,
let me know when you want to do something..

Regards
Matt

BNDYBEAR

Had a minor hsm tonight. the water level in FT1 was at overflowing point tonight. Obviously the SLO was not keeping up with the syphon from GB1 due to the filter sponge I used to help with the water clarity, removed it and fingers crossed for tomorrow. :think:

ph: 7.2
amm: trace
ites: 0
ates: 10

will probably move some gold fish from inside system to FT2 tomorrow to try and up the waste production as the SP just are not hungry at all atm. I don't blame them either if the water did not have constant movement it would have been frozen over the last two mornings like every other body of water in the yard. Had to the brake the ice from a bucket of water to poor over my car windsscreen this morning because the water in the pipes was froozen so I couldn;t use the hose.

BNDYBEAR

As I posted in my prototype thread I have moved some gold fish into the FT2 and moved some SP into the prototype system. If levels are all fine tomorrow I think I will try and source 10 or so trout from somewhere. I still need to get the 3rd GB online and the sumps/yabbie tank and wash more gravel to finish filling the GB3.

BNDYBEAR

YEAH! I aquired some Trout today :cheers:

(thanks Mattyry)
8 trout have now settled in with my 8 gold fish and 2 yabbies in FT2.
By rough calculations I reckon I would have approx 25 SP still in FT1 ranging in size from tiny to 90mm, the trout would be average 200mm! What have I waited so long for!

mattyry

BB,
bet yon can't stop looking at them!!
have they taken any food yet??

matt.

BNDYBEAR

Yeah mate, I am going out 2-3 times a day! Its very interesting. When I first go out and sneak up they are all swimming happily near the top and so are the goldfish actually which they never did beffore. Although as soon as they catch on that I am around they go back to hiding at the back of the tank in a bunch. The clear water is great because I can see clearly what is going on. I have been throwing about 1 pellet per trout in every time I go out but they dont eat while I am there. They must be eating when I'm not watching though because the food is gone not long after. I didn't feed tonight as I didn't get home untill affter dark because I was actually out fishing all arvo! Went to a little spot at the base of a falls near me and was tough work but actually managed to hook one nice trout of about 400g. Had smoked trout pasta for dinner.

I had actually gone with the intentions of trying to get a few small ones and try and get them back to the AP alive!!!! I bought a little battery operated air pump which I planned to put in a bucket and keep maybe 1 or 2 in there untill I can get them back to the car and into a bag with the air back up that I brought to your place on the weekend.

Unfortunately I think it time for some sharper hooks on my lures as I dropped alot of chances. Was getting a hit almost every cast at the base of the falls but just not hooking any. I was getting absolutely drenched to by the mist coming off the falls. All in all very hard work for one trout!

mattyry

hard work?
fishing yesterday and the day before?? what sort of job do have??? :laughing3:

the trout will get used to you as the one who feeds them. they probably need a few more pellets than just 1 each. I normally just feed till they are net interested any more with small handfuls at a time.
ok off to work and you'll just go fishing again today some time

regards
Matt

BNDYBEAR

Haha..... I was just looking for a fishing smilie and there isn't one! would have thought there would be.

went out and snuck up this morning, tossed a couple of pellets in and waited and BOOOF one hit the surface, then BOOF another one. So looks like they are definately feeding although very slow, but i'm guessing that 8 trout not having to compete with another 40 odd means they are not as desperate to get the food as they would be in your tank.
Was very excited to see them feeding though! :cheers:

I also havested a cauliflower today, bout 150mm in diameter supposedly a mini? My god it had a huge root wad! Most of it stayed in teh GB and I'll let the worms take care of it.
Have also been harvesting some leaks of late. Not massive but some where between a LARGE spring onion and a normall sized leak. :wink:

I have some tiny seedling coming up in the GB2 also but I can't remember what I planted where, so will have to wait untill they are a bit larger to know for sure. I'm guessing spinach and lettuce.

Added some seasol... Hope this was safe to do so. slightly concerned that it might stress my trout out if they are still trying to settle in.

Have been tinkering with the prototype system too but i'll post about this elsewhere.

quachy

Hi simon, great to see the trout have settled in. I would suggest don't feed them fo 24hrs and then chuck in a small handful. They will then know that it is you feeding them and should swim near the surface when you come around. Everytime I harvest a few, I don't feed them fo a day and then they hit the feed hard!

Put in the seasol, they'll be fine.

BNDYBEAR

Dont feed for 24 hours!!!!! how can you expect a newbie to trout not to feed for 24 hours! Its way to exciting not to feed! I stood back again tonight and tossed the food in and sure enough they hit the food really hard so I kept throwing food in until they stopped eating. There was still a few bits floating on the surface which i contemplated removing them but figured they might eat more once I really walk away and what ever is left the Gold fish should finish off and if not the 2 yabbies.

By default i probably wont feed for at least 20 hrs tomorrow through to Saturday since I need to go to Melbourne for work and then staying for the footy. GO BOMBERS!
So hopefully when I get around to feeding on Saturday they are hungry enough to feed while i stand there.
I LOVE TROUT! They are so much more entertaining than my SP that havn't really been interested in food all winter and some of them are still the same size as when I bought them around 12months ago!

BNDYBEAR

I was being a bit harsh on the SP before. I must say they are very resiliant as it seems the only real deaths of SP I have had have been on my uncontrolable prototype system in the shed due to yabbies or extremely poor water quality. But they definately don't compare to the trout for their growth rates, reckon I can already notice growth on a couple of my trout!!!
They are still not completely used to me yet and still only seem to feed when i'm not watching.

Made some more progress on the expansion too this week! I wasn't happy with the sag in the bum of the tilky tub GB as I was filling it with gravel last time, so I had only half filled it untill I could come up with a way of supporting it better. Ideally they should be on 3 sleepers instead of 2 unless your using hydroton or similar. I'm using 10mm river pebble and the bum was sagging alot at half full and that was with out the weight of the water!! :shock:

I was thinking of welding up a full metal frame to support the bum and the sides but there was way too much weight already in the GB to lift it up. I decided to cut a couple of bits of 25mm round steel and after pushing all the gravel to one end could lift the GB enough to get the round steel under and then, using a rubber mallet, bashed it untill it sits nicely in the groove in the base of the tilkey tub. Then pushed all the gravel to the other end and repeat!! :cheers:

To over come the sides sagging I used some 15mm steel tube and screwed it along the long sides of GB. It now looks very uniform and sturdy, and I completed filling the tub with gravel.

Thought I would give the 1.25lt bottle a go for my bell syphon and it seems to work okay. although due to my 25mm drain riser will probably need to incorporate a air tube like the rest of my standard F&D beds.

I have now filled the two sumps and GB3 with water and will try and cycle these a little bit (goldfish or hummonia) before bringing the entire system online and placing the Yabbies in their final home in the sumptank2. :cheers:

RupertofOZ

You can't really compare the growth of trout and Silver Perch... in terms of growout times ....

Silver Perch, Murray Cod, Tandanus, Bass etc... are all at least an 18 month growout... from fingerlings....

Tropical fish like Barra & Jade Perch are very fast growing... due to their normal water temperatures... and take about 6- 9 months, if you can keep the water at the righ temps...

But then again, if you can keep the water at the temps required for Barra & Jade Perch.... you Silver Perch and other fish.... will gro a hell of a lot faster as well....

Although Trout appear to growout in only 6 months.... you need to remember that the fingerlings were probably 6-12 months old when you get them... :wink:

BNDYBEAR

Yeah I understand that Rup. Its just that its my first experience with trout and although I have read about the 6 month grow out for trout its amazing to experience it for the first time.

The other thing you mention which I am starting to realise is how some fish fingerlings you buy can possibly be 6-12 months old already but still the same size as ones 1-2 months old and come graded in the same order. I think this explains why some of my SP i have show some growth in the 8-12 months I have had them while others are still the same size as when purchased. 30-40mm.
I also reckon I got a bit stiched on my purchase and bought fingerlings that were too small/young to start with. This combined with the fact that I wasn't fully cycled before getting the SP and had to be wary of my feeding most of the summer season has resulted in a probable 24-30 month grow out for my SP.
Hence my ambitions to grow some out quicker in the heated prototype system.
Time will tell.

BNDYBEAR

Quote:

I was being a bit harsh on the SP before. I must say they are very resiliant as it seems the only real deaths of SP I have had have been on my uncontrolable prototype system in the shed due to yabbies or extremely poor water quality.

CAN NOT BELIEVE IT!!!!! Just when I open my big mouth, up pops that disease again!!!! :upset:

Sure enough if id taken better notice yesterday, the where two SP in the expansion system that looked a bit lethargic and again today just sitting at the bottom of the tank directly under my inspection hatch. I found this odd yesterday so pocked at one and it swam off happily, but today again, two this time! Netted them (easily) Noticed that same white mould around the tail fins and the mouth area! CAN NOT BELIEVE I MOVED THOSE FILTHY FRACKING GOLDFISH INTO THE OUTDOOR SYSTEM AND CONTAMINATED IT TOO!!!!!! THOUGHT I HAD KILLED THE INFECTED CULPRIT!

All gold fish have now been moved and isolated in one half of the offline sump tanks. Most were showing signs of the infection again.
"slimy white mould on fins, some scales missing, freyed or ugly looking tail fins."
I put the two lethergic SP here too untill one started swiming upside down and figured it was the end of the line for him and cat was anoying me so she got a feed.

What should I do????? I really don't want to salt the whole system to 3ppt. I have salted the half sump to at least 3ppt and I have removed the the 2 yabbies from the system and put them in the sump too. This will remain offline now untill I decide what to do with all my goldfish. The cat could be getting a feast. Can I salt to 6ppt in this sump/isolation tank and try and rid this desease for good or is it likely that the goldfish just carry the desease and it flares up randomly.

I am just hoping it hasn't or doesn't affect my trout or any more SP. The fact that I have removed the infected fish I am hoping that no more show signs. If any more come down with it I will be forced to do a massive water change and salt to 3ppt in the main system. Or should I do this regardless?

quachy

salt the isolated sump to at least 6ppt, I would go 10ppt reason being, if you are going to give them to the cat anyway, then if the 10ppt kills them (which it won;t) then the cat will get fat anyway, but 10ppt will be moe of a shock to the fugus/bacteria that is on your fish. those more experienced (particularly with salting the system) may say differently (if so go with them), otherwise go 10ppt. I have salted a hospital tank to 12ppt before, no ill effects on the fish, fugus/bacteria gone. Fish stayed in the hospital tank (it was a sp) fo 2 weeks, then moved back to main tank, no probs. Just make sure temp and ph are similar in both tanks before moving and do the whole leave in a bag fo 10-15mins before re-introducing thing to be on the safe side to reduce shock.

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