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Brian, I had a TH that was submerged once. One thing I learned was to clean out the food as quickly as possible. It dries like concrete. Also, mine was solar and worked fine after re-cleaning.


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The TH will be fine. The fish populations are now mixed up but that is ok. Next step a self deploying water control system (siphon/release mech.)for excess water and fish release.
















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The feeder was empty!! so no problem there, but it was a little scary seeing that much water around it.

Eric, I agree, I need to add syphon pipes for the Topias. Georgetopia started out as a "lets see what happens" pond, but now I am convinced as to the potential of forage/spawning ponds to control certain aspects of the ponds.

As for the fish, the fish that were in Moretopia came from Gerogetopia so there is no problem there as well. If I had gone any further with the plans, I would have had a possible problem on my hands.

I figure a two or three inch syphon pipe setup for the Topias. The water does not enter all that fast, but it can slowly flow in for days. Even if it is a "normal" spring, I doubt I would over run a three inch syphon set correctly.

Thoughts?


Brian

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2-3 inch can handle a good bit of water. Mark the elevations from the pics and debris ring to see what should be changed if anything.
















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Okay, I have been out to the farm and I am learning patients. We had some real good rains and now the big pond is about 8 inches from full pool!! The bad side of all this rain is the fact that moretopia had a blowout. Georgetopia and Extratopia are fine. I am working with my dirt guy to repair moretopia as soon as possible.

On a side note, I now have better solar equipment for TP&L (Topia Power and Light). I am going to generate substantially more power out at the Topias. I plan to setup a pump, syphons, aeration, and lights for the Topias.

I do have a few questions for the group:

Has anyone used the Bojo lights? And if so how did it work? Were there any problems? How about maintenance?

I want to add a natural food source but only if it feasible and cost effective.


Brian

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Originally Posted By: highflyer
(Topia Power and Light)


Love it!...lol



Fishing has never been about the fish....

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Mark that is a good start, I would like a graphics on the shirt showing several fish turning a squirrel cage tied to a generator making electricity for the lights and aerators!!


Brian

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Also, I like blue text instead of black text..... and give it some style please!!


Brian

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Blue is much better!

Forgot to ask. How did the Aluminum welding gig go?

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Brian, I used a Bojo light a few years ago. I think you can get them solar powered, but not positive. They work pretty well, 8 on a 1-10 scale...


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Brian:

What are the goals for the 'topia where the Bojo will be stationed? Is natural food needed, or would it be more cost effective (strictly on a performance level - aestetics aside) to put the Bojo $$ towards a TH feeder and/or food?


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Phil, I am learning to weld Aluminum pretty quickly!! ( my practice looks good, the millermatic is making it easy) The box should be done next week. I'll post as soon as its done.

RM, are you still using the Bojo, or did it fail? I'll be using an inverter to power mine if I get any.

Scott, I wanted to consider natural food for the fish. I figure it might help them grow better. It is all about learning. Besides, I think I will have a little extra power now that I am getting serious about my solar power.


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Brian, I had an unexpected flood at my pond, and it got submerged, and I never bothered to try and fix it. I'd buy one again.


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Thanks for the update, I am still undecided. I would love to hear from others about their experiences with things like Bojo.


Brian

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Well I have had some time to work on some of the parts for TP&L. I have a Beta Charge controller for my project. I got to test it today and it looks very promising. I tested it using several configurations and I can say that it is a very solid piece of engineering. It is a MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracker). This Technology allows the panels to collect at their maximum power potential and the controller does all of the conversion to charge the batteries.

TP&L is also going two axis solar tracking for better daily power. As my testing shows, I should be able to produce far more power out of the existing panels and do even better if I upgrade to bigger panels. In short, TP&L looks like a go!!

Here is a test run using 90 watts of solar potential in partial cloud coverage. It produced 83-84 watts without cloud coverage.



With any luck, TP&L will have this upgrade before the spawning and aeration seasons this year!!


Brian

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Well I got to get out to the farm late last week and we fixed Moretopia. The skill of the equipment operator was fun to watch. That thing never stopped moving.



Moretopia now has an eight inch drain pipe and is now six feet deep. That should be idea for my eight foot tall seine net!!





The plan for Extratopia this year is to try to spawn the best LMB from our big pond in a closed environment. To that end, Allen and I Alumed Extratopia. Here is a before look.



And on the sechi disk, it look like this before the treatment.



That is about three inches of visibility.

Here is Allen's great idea for mixing the alum and Hydrated lime. He set up an old trough with a few directed holes in it to chanel the water to one end. That end is weighted to keep the intake well below the waterline. Pouring the alum or Hydrated lime into the shallower end allowed it to mix with the water before being pumped through the system and back to the pond.



After we cleaned up the system, we took a look at the water and noticed an improvement. The visibility was now over 12 inches and still clearing.





In fact by the next morning, the visibility was around 24 inches and the temp was closing in on 60 degrees. I added some fertilizer to promote the phytoplankton as this week should see rising temperatures.


The plan for the Topias this year are as follows. First off, I am going to add bottom aeration to all three Topias to see how that works for us.

TP&L is getting a major upgrade. I am going 24Volts and I am going to use a nicer charge controller and solar tracker. I should be making a lot more power which will allow me to try a few different ideas.

Gerogetopia will remain my CNBG pond. Extratopia will be for LMB spawning. I am planning on catching the three nicest Female LMB we can from our big pond and also using three FLA LMB males to see how we do. Moretopia will be for extra CNBG production or if I need to "try" something else this summer.

I could not have done it this year without a lot of help, so to all who have helped, Thank you so very much, this is so much fun and a great learning experience!!


Brian

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Nice job -- well done !
















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Well the Tilapia arrived on friday and we got busy. First off, a Big Thank You to Allen for driving!! And a Really Big Thank You to Todd for growing such nice looking Tilapia yet again!! Overton's just does it right year after year.



The other good news this year was I had some help!! I had one of my nephews helping me so setting up the blocking net was a lot easier this year. We went with a triangle shape as it gave us more deep water for the Tilapia. The water temps was 64.3 degrees so I was not worried about the Tilapia, but I did want to give them a little deeper water in the big pond just in case.



For the big pond, it was easy, we floated the fish bags for about four minutes to start the temperature equalization. We then allowed the bags to fill partially with pond water to let the Tilapia get adjusted to the pond's water then we set them free in the netted area.




After an overnight soak to habituate the Tilapia, we set them free!!

For Georgetopia, things went about the same, but since there are no predators, no net was required. After the Tilapia got use to the pond water, we set them free and gave them some food.



As you can see, there is a little FA available in Georgetopia, but I expect them to feed on the aquamax most of the time.

Georgetopia got ten pounds of Tilapia. Moretopia and Extratopia both got five pounds of Tilapia, which is what I put in Georgetopia last year.

Moretopia went the same as Georgetopia. Extratopia was a little different as we treated that pond to reduce the turbidity and it showed. Extratopia was a lot cleaner and the Tilapia swam away sooner than in the other three ponds. But as soon as we tossed in some food, they came up for it.



On a side note: I really like the colorization of Extratpoia after we treated it. That pond is greening up nicely now that the temperature is rising. I have added a pound or so of fertilizer and it shows. We also added some hand selected CNBG from the big pond to start a nice forage base in anticipation of adding a few select LMB to Extratopia for brooding purposes. This should be an educational year to say the least.


Brian

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Can you post the plan for Extratopia ?
















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Methinks you need a lot more alum in Georgetopia...........


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Eric,
Extratopia will get three of the biggest female LMB I can catch from the big pond. RW has to be high or I won't use them. Then I am going to get three male LMB trying for pure FLA genetics. They will also go into Extratopia for the spawn.

I then have two choices to make again. Choice one: Leave the spawn in Extratopia and grow them out over the summer and see how they do. If I go this way, I know that for the first week or so I will need to add really small food for them. After that, they should be able to eat the FHM's and other fry.

Choice two: Catch all the fry and release them in the big pond in the shallow end and let them survive on their own. The good thing here is the big pond is mature enough that it contains all the food they will need. But I would not know the results directly.

There are pluses and minuses to both ideas and I am still undecided as to which way I am going to go. I would love to hear your thoughts and the thoughts of others who may have tried this in the past.

I still have time to decide as the Dogwoods came into bloom just this last week. In another few weeks, the Male LMB will start to make their beds and I could be too late for this experiment this year.

It is going to be interesting to see where the LMB males make their bed this year as the water level is up several feet from last year. I am curious to see if they will use the old bed areas or move to new areas at the old depths.


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If you leave them in there, add a bunch of cover for them to hide in. If not, I'd expect a lot of cannibilism.


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Brian, you asked my opinion earlier on the phone about your LMB brood program - you know I don’t give advice without prior experience - but - if X-topia was my brood pond, and It isn’t - I know exactly the plan I would execute - I envy your opportunity.

First of all - the LMB spawn is already in progress in many ponds in our area - probably too late to harvest new brood stock. These cold fronts coming through are moving the bass off and on the beds.

I would talk to Overton about availability of his projected June availability of this year’s Camelot Bell spawn and purchase fingerling numbers recommended by Todd for maximum survivability.

In the meantime I would build the maximum forage base for X-topia by transferring as many CNBG, tilapia and FHM from G-topia and M-topia for CB fingerlings.

Yeah, there will be cannibalism but you want the to maintain the fastest growing “jumpers” for future brood stock - feed them heavily with trapped or net forage throughout the growing season and transfer smaller CB to main pond caught by hook and line.

This would be a great opportunity to preserve pure CB LMB genetics to jump start a world class fishery. Any bloodstock currently harvested would have questionable genetics IMO.

I would rely on Todd for management advice.
This would be my dream!

Good luck on your plan,
George





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Original george #173 (22 June 2002)




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Brian, re-thinking your LMB brood plan last night (dangerous grin ), it’s not going to be a simple matter to run out and catch brood stock right now.
You and I got skunk all over us a couple of weeks ago and Jeff couldn't buy a bass last week.
These spring storm fronts are killing the fishing right now.
How ‘bout giving X-topia a few months to develop stronger forage base and grow out some advanced certified pure Florida fingerlings from Todd or Bob Waldrop later in the year.

Save your best of the best for next year brood program?
Tyler Fish Farm is a near neighbor if you can’t make the Camelot Bass thing work.
Just an idea?
George



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Original george #173 (22 June 2002)




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I would try the method described by George (plant small fingerlings) into X with as much forage as possible. I would want a bloom going as the yoy LMB put in (depending on size) will eat plankton/inverts at first then switch to a piscivorous diet (fish).

If I were going to try the plant adults to spawn route I would want them in the pond for 6 weeks prior to the spawn. This is because the stress of catching/ moving could delay or abort the spawn. Another option would be to move yoy LMB fry from the big pond to X. This is also hard as morts may be high and survival uncertain (you may put in 100 and all but 5 die or all 100 could live and overrun the forage).

The other plus to planting known yoy is you maintain the known quality for next time if you hold a few back. The negative is finding the right genetics for those planted yoy (sourcing is hard and uncertain).

My 2 cents worth.

Last edited by ewest; 04/09/14 10:07 AM.















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