I went into my room yesterday morning and noticed something odd. My carrots were trampled down in my right grow bed. I looked and discovered that my catnip was devastated by one or both of my cats. I found the stalks chewed down to the hydroton. One could also notice little paw prints in the grow beds.



I got a good little laugh as I thought what it must have been like to be a cat and discover a fresh catnip stash. I can see two little sprouts below the clay pebbles. Hopefully…

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All is well. I have added a second airstone into my system. The other day it was noticed that a couple of the fish were gasping for air at the surface as well as eating air bubbles. Thoughts were that perhaps there may not be enough oxygen in the water, and that could be another reason for my fish dying.



The fish look happy and seem to be swimming better. They don't surface nearly as much as before and like to chase each other around.



As the days go on I am zeroing in on… Continue

I found out in one night that minnows may not be suitable in my system. I found seven dead little fish this morning. They didn't even get a chance to float. I can think of many reasons as to why they may have perished. Temperature, stress, differing water quality than the fish store, etc... In the end what ultimately matters is minnows are too fragile for my aquaponic system. I take every fish death as a lesson. I haven't lost a fish in a few days before these new ones. I see that as an…

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I have purchased 30 new community fish. The fish are floating in their store baggies as I write. I decided to stick with inexpensive fish until I can prove my worth as an aquaponicist. This time I bought the fish from a different store than the previous ones. The 30 fish are a mix of red minnows as well as small and medium comet goldfish. I think this is a good choice for me as a hobbyist. The goldfish seemed to not be the best fit for my system until I re-evaluated the cost of typical…

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Things have been going well in the system. I have had a few more fish deaths. The fish all appear to seem fine when i observe them in the tank. In the last week I have found a floating fish every other morning when I do my first daily check and feed. I am not sure what is going on but I see that the gold fish may not be hardy enough. It is apparent. My water quality has seemed to stay stable. I have not noticed an increase in ammonia, nitrite or nitrate and my pH is stable somewhere between…

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