Growth Update

Howdy Folks,


My arugula plants are growing like crazy! I tried to take a picture of the roots growing, but my phone camera is not very good. Its a shame too. The roots are at least 5-8 cm on all of the net pots.

My heirloom tomato is still being a beast! Growing super fast. I hope that I will get some tomatoes form the plant but I am not sure if it will self pollinate or not. But I will find out :) From my reading most tomato plants will self pollinate because they have both male and female parts. Might be different from heirloom tomatoes though. I try to self pollinate the flowers by rubbing my finger on each flower and trying to act like a busy bee, spreading the pollen.

Here is what you came to see. Pics!

The roots are taking off!

The roots will grow and hang in the oxygenated rich water.

Lots of room for more net pots and more veggies!

Tomato plant loving its aquaponic home

Stay tuned for another update soon!

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New Fish!!!

I got some new fish last night! I am very happy with them. One of my fish contacts had to get rid of some of fish to make room for new ones. I was happy to come by and see if there was any that caught my eye. I ended up coming home with five little guys. Im very excited about them.

Blue Dolphin mug shot. When they are older,
they will grow a big hump on their forehead.
This hump is to attract mates and is composed of fatty tissue. 

The first pair is Blue Dolphins (Cyrtocara moorii). I have been interested in them since I began keeping cichlids back in 2004. They are very peaceful fish that grow to big sizes, very cool. One of the distinguishing features of an adult Blue Dolphin is a large hump that grows on its head. The larger the hump, the older the fish. While it is mostly males with large humps, females can have them too.

The next pair and single, Im not sure exactly what type they are yet but I think the single one is a female "Rusty Cichlid" but is def a type mbuna. This family of fish is pretty easy to identify. They look very similar.

Rusty Cichlid

Here are some more pics I took of all my fish

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Los Gomez Bridge Complete

We complete the bridge near the community of Los Gomez, providing year around access to health care, education, and shopping to residence of 4 small communities. The design and financing were provided through engineering students from Colorado School of Mines. Bridges to Prosperity provided technical support and the support cables for the bridge along with basic design and implementation support. Nica Impact (we) provided logistical support and correspondence between all the players. Everybody worked on the construction, from excavation to mixing concrete, to collecting rock. It was a team effort and very rewarding. 

This stuff is fun, folks. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

42 Meters across and 5 meters above the river floor.

High water will come to about 6 feet from the bridge 

Engineer Todd Wang and wanna-be engineer Doug Effinger (me) listening to the mayor inaugurate the bridge. 

Mayor of the Municipality of Santa Teresa Ivan Dinarte walks across .

Students from Colorado School of Mines share their appreciation.

Seven year old Noalisa. So many cute kids.

Another little munchkin. Julie takes great photos.

Todd Wang looking on. We wouldnt be involved with bridges were it not for Todd taking an interest and leading the projects. He is a retired Colonel with the Army Corp of Engineers and has many years of experience doing these types of projects. 

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Welcome to FeelGood Aquaponics! Intro Post

Welcome to FeelGood Aquaponics

     My name is Felix Vogele. I am 23 years old and living in Helsingør, Denmark. I have long been interested in sustainability and alternative ways of thinking. The last few years I have been wanting to work more and more with plants, farming, and nature as a whole. The last few months I have been introduced to aquaponics.

     Aquaponics is a blend of two better known farming methods, aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (soil-less growing). The way aquaponics works is simple. The fish are raised in fish tanks, the fish poop, and then the waste is pumped to the grow area where it is used to fertilize crops and plants, the plants and grow medium filter the bacteria and then the then filter water returns back to the aquarium. Here is a picture to help explain 

     I very much wanted to try aquaponics for myself! I am starting in August at Roskilde Teknisk Skole here in Denmark as a Greenhouse Gardener. I am very much looking forward to it and am planning on using my education towards aquaponics. 

    I decided to build my own system. This is easier said than done. I live in a 70.5 m2 apartment. I already had a 250 liter aquarium and had to keep the place looking nice. 

     The design is simple but turned out to be kinda complicated with a few things. I used my existing 250 liter aquarium as my fish tank / sump tank. I built a low stand for my tank so I could build a "table" over it to hold the grow beds. I made it low enough so it can fit under the window and receive natural light pretty much all day.

     I choose two different styles of grow beds to try them out. The first is a flood and drain system with expanded clay as the grow substrate. I made a bell siphon as the draining mechanism. In this grow bed I have an heirloom tomato donated by my girlfriendss mother, rosemary, dill, and jut a bit of parley too. I have also thrown a few head lettuce and spring onion seeds in there just to see what will happen. 

     The second grow bed is a Deep Water Culture (DWC) grow bed. This means that the plants are floating on top on the water in little net pots. The water is filtered so no solids get intertwined with the roots. It drains through a standing drain pipe back into the aquarium. I am currently growing rucola in it but plan on growing many leafy greens when I get more net pots.

Finished!

First set of plants. 

 

Mixed African Cichlids

Another view of the cichlids.

  

     I should also add that these are my African Cichlids and I do not plan on eating them! They are my pets. :) I do plan on getting some Tilapia and somehow add another tank, but that is another post and project all together! I hope you enjoy the pictures. I will continue to update you on my aquaponic adventures!

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