Aquaponic Growth Explosion

Hello viewers!

It has been a while since I have updated, my computer broke. But... now I am back and ready to update! I wish I could have shown the progress of my tomato plant, however I can show you how it is now! It is IMPRESSIVE! Everyone who sees it is astonished. Even if it is only been three days, they can see a big difference. My fish are also going great. They are growing and I actually had to sell a few because they were getting big and territorial.

Having African Cichlids makes my system different from other aquaponic systems. African Cichlids seem to have more personality and behavioral habits. They are fascinating to to watch once you know what they are doing. They can also change color or more like hues and color intensity depending on how they are feeling.

For example I have noticed that the dominant males tend to show off their colors for the females 15 or so minutes after they are fed. There are also relationships between certain fish that can be seen day after day. Some are scared of others, some are couples, and then some are friends or tend to stick together.

Enough chit chat :) here are some pics

Massive growth from the tomato plant.
Blueberry bush doing okay after transplant 

My first tomato plant!

Tomato plant after topping.

Blueberry bush after transpplant.

My blueberry bush is recovering from the transplant shock and it starting to grow... kinda. One of the first things I learned while reading Aquaponic Gardening was that blueberries do not do well in aquaponics. I should have read up on them before I bought them. The reason is they thrive in a more acidic soil / media.m My aquaponics has a PH bit other 7. I would guess 7.4 or so. While this is a tad higher than the suggested aquaponic PH level, my Cichlids come from Harder water so it is a compromise. I may have problems with low iron levels later on but i will fix that when the time comes... IF it ever comes!

As you can see, my ruccola isnt doing that well. I think if I want to continue with the DWC (Deep Water Culture) I will have to hook up some lights to it. I am toying with the idea of converting it to another flood and drain, media bed because my other one is just doing so well!

Arugula needs more light than the window provides.
I will need to add lighting if I wish to continue growing arugula
and other salad greens.

Fish looking for some grub

A group shot of my cichlids. From Left; Nimbochromis Venustus,
Placiachromis Milomo, Red Empress

Nimbochromis Venustus

Lastly, but very importantly... I would recomend everyone interested in Aquaponics to read Sylvia Bernstiens book,  Aquaponic Gardening: A Step by Step Guide to Growing Fish and Vegetables Together.

I am not all the way through it, but I have learned a decent amount already. I wish I had this book a few months back though. Instead of reading forum after forum, blogs and dozens of YouTube videos, you can just read this book instead. It has everything you need to know and in simple and easy to understand language. It is written in a way that you need a bit of your own creativity, but Aquapons (as we are called, I guess) tend to be creative and DIY folk, my kind of folk ;-) 

Until next update!

Felix

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Commercial Backyard Aquaponic System Wolf Pack Aquaponics

Wolf Pack Aquaponics

When people get into aquaponics, they usually get the idea of setting up a big system in their backyard. While there are plenty of factors that halt their idea, cold climates, lack of funds, a nagging wife/ girlfriend who does not want an ugly system in their yard, etc. But nothing stopped the Wolf Pack Aquaponic crew from setting up their backyard system. 

The tour started off with the water collection system that can collect over 300 gallons every time it rains one inch! The tour continued to the back side where there was eight or so 300 gal IBCs with half 275 gal grow beds on top. There is currently only a lonely blue gill swimming around, but once summer comes again they will be filled with home grown tilapia. Each grow bed fills and drains via an auto-siphon into the fish tanks below. Each IBC is connected with each other with a four inch PVC pipe so the fish can swim from one container to another. 

Inside the Wolf Pack Aquaponic greenhouse.

Inside the greenhouse there are IBCs on each side, but you barley notice them as IBCs. They are tastefully covered and look great! There are lots of plants growing but most have been harvested for the winter. One cool thing is the whole system is run off of one hot tub heater. This includes all the IBCs outside too! The pump doubles as a heater too, keeping the water temp suitable for tilapia. The pump does have a draw back, the cost of running it. It costs about $2-$3 a day just to run the heater pump. Although it does not sound that high, consider the pump is running 24/7, 365 days a year. That is $730 to $1,095 a year just to run the heater pump. Plus you need to factor in the cost to run the air compressor that provided air to each and every fish tank and DWC grow bed. 

These are the floating raft beds (DWC).
This is where they start seedlings for transplant.

The fish tanks that lead to the floating rafts are filtered with a swirl filter. A swirl filter skims clean water off the top of the container while the heavy solids "swirl" to the bottom, also called a vortex filter. All of the solid fish waste that is collected is used as fertilizer for the "traditonal" garden outside. The plants love it! There were more tomatoes then they could eat, and pole bean galore! 

While the system is just feeding the Wolf Pack family for right now, they have plans to expand and have different offers that they are entertaining. There is lots and lots of work that went into making this system as well. The knowledge is being kept and collected to share with the public in the future. A "this works and this doesnt" manuel for aquaponics. 

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Is Aquaponics Truly Sustainable

This are the things that had always been in my mind. Is aquaponics truly sustainable and green? There are few critics towards aquaponics that yet has to be answered by us the aquaponics enthusiast:

1. How could aquaponic be considered green provided it is powered by electricity. All of us know, our source of electricity power mostly comes from fossil burning that release carbon to the atmosphere. Thus makes aquaponics indirectly contribute to the release of unnecessary carbon compound into the atmosphere.
2. Most materials used for the construction of aquaponics actually is not truly green and sustainable. We all know, the grow bed is made of plastic, metal or wood (which sacrificed valuable commodity of the environment), PVC pipe, synthetic glue. These products that we used to construct aquaponics produced in factory that releases those unnecessary gases to the environment.
3. Some space required for aquaponic setup. It do consume the "fertile/non fertile" top soil. However being a person with green mind, we all do appreciate the value of the top soil, since we all know there are many ways to revive its usefulness and fertility. Since aquaponics located and covered the top soil with concrete, cement, tank or whatever, then how could it considered to be green, whereby the space used could be utilized to a greater value for the environment. Therefore, optimizing the usefulness of space also becomes an issue.

These are the things that we have to answer. It is not enough for us to justify how green and sustainable aquaponics are. The answer lies on our actions and creativity to make it truly sustainable. Aquaponics still has long way to go. However, I believe with our determination and effort to thinks and think, we definitely someday will find a way for aquaponics to make its way as a green and sustainable endeavor in food production.

I am really optimistic to see aquaponics will become one of the solution to the catastrophic environment that we faced today, "Food Shortage". I want to see my aquaponics set. Maybe I should ask my brother to email me 2 or 3 recent pictures of our aquaponics at our home.

"Peng tolong dulu ba kunun kasi email saya gambar latest aquaponic di rumah kalau ko balik nanti, hihi XD"

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Green Festival Organic Sustainable Green Living

Its Summer Time!!!!!

And with summer comes all the green! This past weekend I attended The Green Festival at Navy Pier, Chicago. It was a fun time and there was lots to see! 

I was invited by my friend Alice to go as she had heard about it. When arriving, we donated canned food at the door and got our wrist bands for free. Thats is always a good start. We were greeted by the Cliff Bar booth and sampled all their products, delicious. 

While walking around sampling on all the free organic food samples, we found a couple cool booths. MyTerraceFarmer.com had a cool idea.

It was similar to aquaponics but not quite. They set up a small worm composting bin next to their drip irrigated "greenhouse." The composting bin is placed ontop on the water reservoir so the vermitea (worm tea, compost tea, etc.) dripped into it adding the nutrients. Very cool idea.

Another booth we spent some time at was the Tower Garden, made by JuicePlus+. We talked with two very passionate representatives from the company. 

The Towers they had growing were looking great. This Tower is actually the home garden of one of the reps! She brought hers in to show the systems potential. As you can see it does quite well. Inside the tower, there is a pump which makes it "rain" down on the roots. this allows for an even and often water supply. The plants love it and it does not take up too much floor space.

We took advantage of the beautiful day and walked along the bike path to Millennium Park. One of the reasons I love Chicago has to do with the public art, it is everywhere! And it is AWESOME!

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