We have fish

Five little comets have been added to our Sunset Road abode. They of course have their own little house - being the 140L tank that feeds our aquaponics system. They do not have names (mainly because three of them are the same size and we can't tell them apart) but I am attached already. One day in and I had to buy them an ornamental sunken vase so they had "something to play in". Once they had sussed out the vase by checking it out from a distance, swimming around it, going up to it and backing off, sniffing if (?? no idea if fish can smell??), one finally ventured in and now they love it. It is fun and somewhat therapeutic to watch them swim around, but they are there for a reason...

The aquaponics system is up and running and is currently housing some cos lettuces just to get it going but it is really in place to grow the chilli plants of the seeds we are currently germinating (update on that - five days in and one jalapeno has germinated).

The system (when explained by me) sounds fairly simple but Elliot has done an amazing job programming the PLC (programmable logic controller) to control the pump cycles, the float switches, the lights and the fan.

The large white tank hosts the fish, one of the pumps and an air pump to give the fish oxygen and of course their little vase.

The water from this tank pumps up to the tubes with the plants and fills them every 15 minutes for 15 minutes. Then they drain back into the sump tank (smaller black tank with yellow lid). This tank also has a pump which pumps the water back into the fish tank.

The sump tank has two float switches - one high and one low so that the water never gets too high to flood and too low to make the pump run dry and crap out. Once the water hits the high switch the pump comes on and pumps the water back into the fish tank.

The water from the fish tank is tested for pH and ammonia. Ammonia is what comes from the fish's waste and there is a bacteria in nature which turns this into nitrogen which is what the plants need to grow. We made sure we got decent fish food with lots of good fruit and vege sources in it - with the notion that the better the nutrients going in, the better the nutrients coming out.

Our conservatory gets really hot so Elliot has set up a thermostat so that when the temperature of the conservatory reaches 25°C a pedestal fan comes on and goes off again when the temperature drops below 25. We are trying to keep the water temperature at about 20-22°C so are monitoring that but at the moment it's getting up to about 24 during the day.

Four days in and so far so good. A couple of leakages and an overflow due to a clay ball in the drain meant a couple of saturated towels but apart from that it has been pretty drama free. The week we have had off work to do this has been great to be able to monitor the system and deal with problems straight away. Fingers crossed for next week as well as a check that all contents insurance is up to date.

The lettuces are looking good but we now need to monitor the ammonia hoping it will start getting up to provide the nutrients the plants will need. A couple more fish may be needed (I want some cute Blackmoors) but will see how we go over the next couple of weeks. The comets will eventually get quite big so need to bear that in mind as well. We may also have to add some seaweed concentrate to try and boost nutrient levels but will wait and see what happens. Watch this space...

Gotta say - far more interesting than the hydroponics as am loving having, feeding and watching the fish. Can't wait to show my niece Isla and my nephews Caelan and Ayrton who are up from Dunedin at the mo - am sure they will love it!

NB: after a quick Google search, yes, fish can smell.