...happy to find this site, and learn a few things from the community. i consider myself an environmentalist at heart, but you won't find me marching in protest....i prefer to quietly do what i can to lessen my personal impact on the urban landscape:, drive a frugal car, in a frugal house, grow trees and plants to filter the air, passively cool the house and micro-climate, and a garden to feed my soul (and stomach). i stopped pesticide use on my 1/8acre of Dallas about 25 years ago. (and most chemical fertilizer, tho i sometimes put on chelated iron to battle the alkaline sols around my trees.) my nearest neighbors are now ginkos, swifts, garden snakes, dragon and damsel flies, wild honey bees, beneficial wasps (and daubers) bumble bees, fire flies, visiting owls and a host of other creatures that inhabit the urban landscape beneath our very noses (racoons, squirrels, opposums, rats, mice, i am in year 4 of an aquaponics system. i am researching humanure composting vs BSF composting for the recycling of yard, pet and human nutrients (please do NOT tell my neighbors, i would prefer to stay under the radar on this one.)..hopefully the bsf grubs will be enjoyed by my fish in the aquaponics system. i will be seeking guidance from you all, but will first search the topics here, and then create new topics for my specific concerns in the appropriate venue. thank you all for being here.....talk to you soon, i am sure.
Welcome D Wepenzel, You're on fire! Would love to hear more/see your aquaponics system. I'm sure we'll be seeking guidance from you also, especially if your BSF system works. What type(s) of fish are you growing?
since i have the tendency to occasionally "chloramine" my fish by leaving the tapwater on too long when refilling, i am sticking with the cheap replacements -$0.29 Petsmart Comet Goldfish, and Ruby Red Minnows, both supposedly good for mosquito control. ( i want my neighbors lulled by the sound of my water flowing from growbed to growbed, not slapping mosquitos and cursing me in fear of West Nile or Zika.) some of my goldfish have reached 4" despite my occasional killing sprees, and sudden temperature drops outside their tank. (the tank rimed over with 2" of ice on our first big freeze this winter, and as i had forgotten to turn off the pump, several gallons of water spilled off the ice dam onto the ground instead of into the tank...it took me several days of slow replacement using city water trying to safely build up their water volume....i lost some of the larger fish from either the shock, or the ammonia spike adding so much new water. i also have some bluegill, but they are not of a size yet to harvest, and lost some of the bigger ones with the goldfish in the freeze. this was the first year i have had any real problems with an outdoor AP system over wintering. i think the choramine (chlorine-ammonia City tapwater) was the biggest culprit. i am not set up for photos...sorry. i will work on that. dana
i had to laugh at the "you're on fire!" accolade....a slow smoulder might be more appropriate, as this as all occurred over a span of 20 years or so.... conservancy and nature work at their own pace, sometimes inches a year... trees grow, beneficial bugs come to visit when the environment welcomes them. The bugs may have always been here without my notice, except that I too have slowed pace, perhaps enough to finally see.
Hi, welcome to the forum. I'm hoping to learn from you too, it sounds like you have a lot of wisdom tucked away over there.
it sounds like you need a top-off-tank of water that is ready to go when you need it, especially if you have treated water tha needs to be conditioned before use. when i was running reef aquariums i had to keep a reverse osmosis unit going and then had to run that through dolomite to get the minerals back in it. i still miss those tanks, but they were too hard to move.