We planted yellow squash, zucchini squash, Celebrity tomatoes (hybrid), Homestead tomatoes (heirloom), Roma II green beans (seed), Silver Queen sweet corn (seed), cucumbers, Bell peppers, and Jalapeno pepper.
We ran our system without plants and fish and the water tested OK for pH and alkaline. Chlorine was not an issue since it had evaporated from the water in the several days prior to testing.
Below is a short log of the first week in maintenance. It is provided to catch up to date.
- Saturday 4/24- Tested water, everything in spec. Fish seem OK. Plants fine except for jalapeno peppers which seemed wilty.
- Sunday 4/25- Tested water, everything in spec. Fish seemed OK but wouldn't eat. Lack of appitite OK due to stress. Fish also exhibited slight white marks, probably due to fish agression.
- Monday 4/26- Tested water, everything in spec. Large fish is harassing other fish, establishing territory. Smaller fish have whitish scrapes. Fish seem not to be hungry but perhaps they're not able to "smell" the food because of the quick flow of water in the tank.
- Tuesday 4/27- Quick check of system. All seem OK. Fish are active. Plants look fine. Bean and jalapeno peppers have bounced back and are less wilted.
- Wednesday 4/28- Tested water, pH slightly more acid than previous but still within spec. Nitrite levels climbing as was expected as bacteria begin to colonize and convert ammonia. Some fish look a bit more beat up but still active. All but large fish still not eatting. Large fish comes to top and eats pellets but doesn't respond to sound. Fish seem more active and willing to feed in late afternoon/evening (5PM - 630PM). Plants doing well.
- Thursday 4/29- Quick stop showed little change from previous day. Some fish more beat-up. There is some concern that topping off water (adding chlorine) on Monday may have damaged the fishes slime coat that protects its skin though it was added to grow bin and was not a lot by total volume.
- Friday 4/30- Tested water. Still in spec but Nitrates are climbing into stress level. Tested water with other test kit so chlorine and bromide levels are within spec. Fish show lots of damage, many have leasions and lots of white spots. The fish still are not eatting. Plants are doing well. Beans are standing straight and look healthy.
- Saturday 5/1- In the morning we hung our Sustainable Missions project sign. Water tested OK. Nitrite levels have risen and are getting close to danger levels. We expect the levels to begin to level off as Nitrate levels begin to rise. Nitrate levels are rising. Plants look fine though tomatoe plant leaves are contrasting leaves. Older leaves are a dark green and new growth is a light green. We theorize that the lighter leaves are due to a lack of neutrient. We expect that the leaves will darken as the nitrogen cycle progresses. We expect to see fraster growth once the Nitrate levels increase and level off. In the afternoon I got a call from another member who had inspected the fish and found one dead on the bottom of the tank.
- Sunday 5/2- Arrived at site and removed dead fish. The fish was white and showed several leasions. We inspected the other fish and found two others that seemed to exhibit similar aspects; whiteness, cuts and leasions. We removed those to fish, killed them and buried them next to our in-ground tomatoe plants. This should cut the stress in the tank. We only need these "stunt fish" to colonize the bacteria in the grow bins. The fish still are not eatting but we plan to try worms. We also discovered some of the corn had sprouted, and some beans had sprouted. All the other plants looked healthy.
Anthony Faircloth, 5/2/2010
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