casey lem

Switched the cover pipe back to 2", siphon works. Now as soon as I post this the siphon will stop again.

The pump is on a timer that runs every half hour. As of the day this was posted I changed the size of the pipe covering the stand pipe to 3" diameter (from 2") and magically everything worked. For three days. Then back to my standing water problem. With the 3" pipe I notice that when water is just trickling through the stand pipe the 3" cover pipe is floating slightly inside the media excluder.

 Please help. The bell siphon in our aquaponics setup has a mind of its own. Sometimes it will work fine, then, with no changes will stop firing and just trickle water out of the stand pipe. I've tried adjusting the speed of the pump and fiddled with different size pipes to cover the stand pipe. When I change the size of the cover pipe, MAGIC, it works again. Then, I'll check 30 minutes later, not working. If I reach in the media excluder and slightly move the cover pipe when it's overflowing, presto the siphon fires. What am I missing here?

Never mind, she's gone, just dug a hole. I guess I cook all the eggs from the past week well done scrambled as I'm worried about what killed her.

Found one of our quail unresponsive this morning. She's not dead yet, but can't move and eyes are barely blinking and she's cold. Moved her away from the flock incase of disease. How long should I leave her, or should I just cull? We've only had a flock for about 10 months and I'm slightly concerned about eating a bird that might be sick. Hadn't seen any problems with her until today.

We have used the reflective bubble wrap insulation in the summer with great results. I just safety pin in to our curtains w/ the reflective side facing outward. It keeps the living room w/ large windows cool while getting full sun for the hottest parts of the day. I was able to source it used from work, don't know what the retail price is.

Excellent again Dale! I'm gonna find a few for camping, or zombie invasions.

You'll have to check if it's permitted in your area, but kang kong (aka water spinach) would seem like an appropriate choice.I ordered some seeds through ebay to grow in a rain barrel w/ some fish & other critters this summer. I would check an asian market see if you could just buy some and root it( thought about that after spending $ on seeds & shipping). It would only be an option in the warmer months, being a tropical plant.

I did not use dried, it was fresh root, lightly washed, rough chopped, and covered w/ 80 proof vodka. The whiteish layer did resemble the picture above, but emerging from the bottom, from the pieces of root. I have checked it and all is clear now! Bubbles gone as well. I suppose since I had not been stirring it that the bubbles could have been the remnants of whatever microbes were left on the roots. From what I've been able to gather botulism cannot reproduce in alcohol 80 proof. If anyone knows otherwise, please let us know. I don't think I'm going as far as the construction of any stills, it's just a quart jar. Thanks for the replies! Perhaps the moderator should move these posts to a renamed topic so as not to derail the original thread.

This thread came to the dailyish email with perfect timing. I made my first echinacea tincture this fall, and was wondering what the hell I did wrong. It has white threadlike growth around the roots, almost resembling mycelllium. Also had a slight amount of bubbling, which concerns me. I would expect bubbles with any type of fermentation, but when submerged in vodka? I thought botulism would not be able to reproduce in that concentration of alcohol, but perhaps I was misinformed. I've been checking it and pondering tossing it, but thought Permies might be the place to get an answer. I'm sure there are more appropriate threads for this question, but here we are, who can help?