Ghana Ponics 21

 Still carrying on.  

We cleaned out the site office system a few days back.  Quite a nice group of Tilapia. Gave them to our Chine contractor.  They had them for dinner.

 Then we refreshed the tanks with some baby catfish.

Ghana Ponics 20

Just as a memory. Added the system we set up on site.  Quite prolific.

Ghana Ponics 19

A couple of months back I made a new Tote system for my mate Rob.  Seems to be going really well.  Tilapia are growing as are the veggies. Bar B Q soon.....He set it up on his back veranda.  Its on wheels for can be turned towards sunlight etc and for ease of maintenance etc.  All very cool.  Needs to say he's hooked. 

Ghana Ponics 18

Not really posting any more. The two tanks continue to jog along as it were. So really using this post as a diary entry.

Had a few cat fish jump out the tanks a couple of nights ago. We had had heavy rain and lightening so I think they considered it time to move on. Well being on a balcony on the 4th floor of an apartment block is not a good place to start.

Rescued 4 and two died. Sadly one of the dead ones was the biggest. 

Yesterday added some horizontal string lines to support the tomatoes and morning glory.  Time for some new plants.

This one died.....:-)

She lived......

Ghana Ponics 17 progress

Again just a quick record of the way things are growing. What's been especially interesting is that after we cleaned out the stone some time back the tomato plant was replanted.  I had assumed it would be OK.  But not to be. It slowly withered away, but even after 4 weeks it still refuses to die. It has been hanging on and the top leaves are not dry and do not appear to be dead. I wonder if there was so much stress in the move that whilst it did not die it is not really going to recover either. I'm planning on leaving it a few more weeks and then see, either it will improve or we will have remove it. Decisions, decisions....

As for the seedlings, they are doing fine.  I took a couple of the young tomato plants over to the community school project and planted them in the system. I will go back and check on Friday how they are doing.

Ghana Ponics 16 Renewed... Progress

After the clean up last week I am still having difficulty getting the syphon to flush properly.  Need to have a good look at this this evening.

As for new seeds. Well we added some Chinese cabbage (Bak Choi) and some tomato seeds last Sunday.  Progress seems OK at this stage. The old tomato plant has not completely died but is very need giving up.  I do hope it can hang on but lets wait and see.  Fish are fine.  Do wish they would grow a bit more.....

Ghana Ponics 15 Tank Clean Up

The syphon seems to have given up the ghost. I've tried reducing the input water flow to the grown bed, increasing the flow to the flow bed.  Makes no difference. I can only assume I could try and make the air bubble areas at the top of the syphon a big smaller.  That's tomorrows job...

However what occurred to me is that the bed is so full of old weeds etc that is needed a full clear out.

Accordingly this morning we removed the few remaining plants and then took out the gravel.  Very dirty.  Lot of old organic waste. We washed the stone and replaced it. Replanted the tomato and pepper plants and added some seeds. Also added a few worms.  Not sure how effective they will be but certainly cannot do any harm.

Before...............

These are Morning Glory Roots

These are Morning Glory Roots.....

Moring Glory again being pulled out by a fat slob........

Very clogged up gravel

Clean Grow bed area

Looking good...

The Boss hiding and providing final touches.....

Adding a few worms...

Worms in their new home....

Ghana Ponics 14 Another boring update......

Just a quick update. I've been away for the last two weeks and came back with some trepidation.  Hoping I did not need to start all over again..... Well all good but very dirty.

I had to drain out the tank.  The syphon had stopped working. Nothing wrong with the syphon itself.  Reason being the pump had got clogged up with fish crap. Therefore no water flow. However surprisingly the fish remained alive.

So I cleaned it all out and then emptied the tank down to a few inches. Lot of fish poop. I kept the fish alive in the little water left and then refilled with tap water.  Checked this morning and the little guys are quite happy running round in circles... Even enjoyed the new food. I know same as they go yesterday......?

As you can see below I keep the pump on a paving block so the nozzle is about 3 inches above the bottom of the tank. A safety precaution incase for some unimaginable reason the tank dries out.  You can never be too careful. That horrible lump of green in the tank is a bit of lettuce..... Ugh!!!

Ghana Ponics 13

Not a lot to report.  All my fish are doing OK. No more deaths. In fact pretty boring to be honest. We did harvest a bit of our herb. Added to some chicken stew. And it worked. No complaints in that department.

Tonight we are clearing out a lot of the tomato plants as they have reached the end of their natural live. Sad as they have done quite well.

Ghana Ponics 12

Well things are progressing. Nothing special just the usual sort of day to day growing. But best to keep a record.  Had a few tomatoes and morning glory.  Made for good salad and stir fries.

The fish are all OK.  I tool a overview photo of them. Seem happy enough.

My other plant is also growing and I was recommended to a web site  I love growing marijuana 

Self explanatory I think..... And I don't smoke but will be interested to see how all this pans out.

Ghana Ponics 11

Well it had to happen.  One dead fish. One of the Tilapia.  It had grown quite fast. Trouble is I came home about 5.00pm last night and was hushing out to dinner.  So quick photo followed by quicker disposal.  Then out the door.  Forgot to measure the fish or indeed have a close look at source of death. If I had to say a few words... he must be going to a better place than a 600mm diameter blue plastic barrel tank......  And he went off with a big "Flush".... :-)  Thats right, straight down the pan.

Anyway for what its worth......'last photo......

Ghana Ponics Ernest Style Part 3

Ernest has been doing well on the Aquaponics front.  I had not written about his system as it was just rolling along OK. In fact these things were working are interesting but difficult to write about. I am not Ernest Hemmingway so for me to make watching lettuce growing is a tall order. But then things did change.

That is when Tawatchai one of my friends at work called to say he had three more tanks for Ernest. So of course I then realized it was last July 20th to be precise when I last loaded up a few photos. So called him this evening. "New tanks available and I need to see progress so I can do a Blog post."

Well things have moved on.  Lots growing.  Hoping this Saturday, Ernest's wife permitting of course, we will be adding a few extra tanks. Keep it rolling.

Ghana Ponics 10

Not a lot to report while watching lettuce grow.  Tomatoes are possibly a step up in terms of watching but.........but not by so much. So two months into growing and the plants are doing exceptionally well.

The wires going into the water are a home made water top up system.  Its connected to a solenoid on the tap. When the water gets too low the solenoid automatically opens and refills the system. Hope it works when required!!!!!

The remaining electronics has taken a back seat due to my travelling and I now need to get this all back up and working.