Blackwell System

Blackwell System

Today I introduce the Blackwell System. The owner Alex Blackwell, is a good buddy of mine. His system is awesome. It can be reproduced all over because it uses universal parts. It is in his basement so he needs supplemental lighting. He is using an eight bulb, T5 fluorescent light. It has two settings to choose between flowering and vegetative stages. The grow beds are two heavy duty plastic totes bought at Walmart. The whole system is nested in a stainless steal utility shelf. The bottom  portion is filled with a 75 gallon aquarium. The whole system has a 2 x 4 footprint, so it is very space efficient. 

Lights on! The plants are loving their aquaponic home.

The system is growing peppers, green and purple basil, mixed greens, and two types of melons! The melons were just planted so they are only sprouts at this point, but the rest is going amazingly! We have harvested the mixed greens three times in the past 16 days! And the next harvest is not far away. 

Peppers started flowering not too long ago.

Delicious mixed greens. It grows about as fast as we can eat it!
Everyone here loves here "fish poop salad!"

The nutrient machines that power this awesome system are just as beautiful as the greens they produce. I never knew tilapia were such colorful fish until I saw these! They have doubled their length and more than tripled their weight (all estimates at the moment) in  the two months or so Alex has had them. They are super lively and have personalities I did not expect.

Cool colors that I did not expect from tilapia.
Leave it to aquaponics to teach me even more!

This system is a perfect example for someone who wants to set up an aquaponics anywhere in their home or business. It has easy to find materials and simple mechanics. The Blackwell System has lots of cool odds and ends that work awesomely. I will highlight these in upcoming posts.

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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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Reliable Aquaponics Siphon

Hello everyone. It has been for so long that my problem in aquaponics is the "siphon reliability". Since most of my previous aquaponics system powered by small aquarium pump, therefore the siphon effect most of the time failed.

Recently, I have wondering, how to make the siphon more reliable even if the flow rate of the pump is really small. This is what I manage to come out so far.

Feel free to comment. I really have no idea whether this thing could work.

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Aquaponics Update August

Latest update of my aquaponics system during first 7 days of Raya. The ph and ammonia is so high. Maybe it is due to the alkaline condition of the media caused the ineffective nitrification process. Anyway, the ph is around 7.6 and the ammonia level around 1.0ppm.

From my observation, the watercress are doing very well in this kind of growing techniques. The water level is constant with continuous flowing rate at small volume on each grow bed.

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Cloth Nappying

We discovered a lovely surprise on arrival to Mudflower ..... there is no electricity or water pressure in the laundry.

At what point did I discover this you ask? Well it was AFTER the removalists had placed the machine in the laundry and I went to try and wash 4 days worth of nappies.

Could this pregnant belly and Damos broken spine move the machine into the bathroom where there is pressure and electricty? Not likely.

So what did we do? We ran an extension cord into the house and bucketed the water into the machine. Not a great deal of fun and this is how we will have to continue with washing until we get things fixed up.

We have had an electrician out to have a look and he will get to it when he can. I think he may just be the farmer across the paddock who does work for those he knows, our other neighbour recommended him. So we will just sit tight on that one. As for the water, the laundry is gravity fed from a small water tank. We need to look into a water pump and possibly a larger tank to fix the water. Something for when we have some money.

If the river water ever comes back on we will be able to fill the machine up with a hose. Fingers crossed something fixes up soon.

But all I can say is, if I can keep using cloth in these conditions so can you. I will no longer accept the excuse that it is too much hard work.

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Apples

The variety you get with homegrown organic apples are amazing. Above is our biggest and littlest apple together. Then just the littlest one to give perspective of size.

It was the cutest littlest most sour apple ever.

We have unfortunately lost a lot of our apples to coddling moth and even fruit fly. It is completely heart breaking throwing out kgs of fruit every day.

We need to try and figure out how to manage these issue organically. Hopefully we can and fast. Once we have chooks and ducks free ranging the numbers of these pests should be significantly reduced.

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Recent update during Ramadhan

It has been few moths since the last update of our aquaponic system. Recently, my brother has emailed me few pictures of our system. They are look great, however I think the system can be improved more.

Overall view of the system.


Happy fish. I hope so.


The Ulam Raja.


The Pegaga.


I dont know what this plant called. We call it Sayur Ginseng if Im not mistaken.

Until the next update, see you :)

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My Mini Aquaponics Set

Hai everyone, since my bigger aquaponics set left behind in Sabah. Therefore I made a new one here in Johor. This is just experimental indoor set. Because of large space is not available, I just make a mini set. I have gone through a lot of trouble in finding the material needed, and finally, this is the result.

Overall view

Grow bed

Fish tank/ container

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My Latest Aquaponics System

It has been so long since my last post.  Anyway, this is my latest aquaponic system, built on last June- July 2012. These pictures was sent by my brother in Sabah.

I am still experimenting the best possible and simplest system. One thing for in my opinion, every aquaponic system should have some filtration system, regardless of the techniques used (media bed, deep water culture, nutrient rich technique and whatever), filtration system is really crucial.

In this system, the water level is constant, and I think, some adjustment should be done. The media is quite alkaline, around ph 7.5 to 8. However my mom said the fishes are great and healthy.

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Perennial Leeks

A few years ago we got some perennial leeks online. Like all plants you get online it is difficult to know if it will survive being posted or survive in our garden. They are meant to grow and taste just like ordinary leeks. Instead of saving seed and raising seedlings they grow numerous tiny leeks from their base.

When we moved here I dug up the leeks and brought them with us. Normally they keep growing as usual but this summer they seemed to die down to bulbs which made moving easier. I planted them out in one of the vegetable gardens. The picture below shows some of the leeks I have planted.

Perennial leeks - very hardy

Having never eaten or grown any other type of leek I can not compare them, but these are easy to grow and are tasty. They are very productive and take heavy frost with no worries. If they die down when stressed they should also be able to take the heat here.

As all leeks apparently do, they grow rather slowly. But these ones multiply fast. I have let some plants flower but they have never produce viable seeds for me. By the time a large leek is ready to be dug up and eaten it will have numerous smaller leeks ready to take its place. If you divide the babies off they all grow large and start to multiply, if you do not divide them they keep growing but are much smaller.

The picture below shows a larger leek in the background, with many smaller leeks in the foreground waiting to be divided. As you can see the lack of viable seed is not a problem whatsoever.

Like all the vegetables that I have got online I had hoped that these would do well and would eventually pay for themselves in one way or another. Some things have paid for themselves by reducing the amount of groceries we have to buy, others such as yacon pay for themselves by being sold. The leeks certainly have been hardy and generous plants and have grown and multiplied well. After seeing the prices for leek in the supermarket I know that they have paid for themselves several times over just from what we have eaten.

Since writing this I have grown some regular leeks and have written a post comparing these with perennial leeks here

 I do sell perennial leek plants as well as some other perennial vegetables, herbs and some vegetable seeds, please see my For Sale page for details.

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Birth at Mudflower

?Immalis birth is almost indescribable, there really are no words for how absolutely amazing it was. I can write about what happened, I can list the things in order but there really is no way to capture the awesomeness of her birth. I almost feel blessed to have been given the privelege of bringing her into this world. It was the most perfect birth and I find myself each day longing to go back to those moments to re-live them.

But to tell her story. It all began at around 11pm on Monday 16th May at 41 weeks pregnant. I was not utterly convinced that I was in labour for real this time and so tried to sleep, but much like the prelabour of the past 4 weeks I could not sleep through it particularly well. Close to midnight I thought I best call Lisa (my midwife) and let her know what is going on. The intention was to let her know to get some sleep, she decided for me that I was most definately in labour and she was on her way.

Since Lisa was on her way I thought I best get Damo out of bed and get him moving on the pool. Then tried to get hold of Danielle without a great deal of effort as I really was feeling no urgency. While Damoworked like a machine getting the pool ready I stayed online chatting to the beautiful Kizzah in between contractions. Funny to think I had told her I would not been online updating her when I was in labour, but there I was being wonderfully distracted in between each contraction while I sat on the gym ball. The hour flew by thanks to a wonderful friend staying up late with me.

At 1am I decided a shower might be nice, things were getting a touch more intense and thought the hot water on my back may ease the pain. It did help ease the pain but also massively intensified the contractions. I really started to struggle in the shower and was really wondering why I was coping so poorly (little did I know how close I was to birthing). I filled the base of the shower with water, the tiny tiny bath base and squished myself into the water to help ease the pain a little more. I started to completely lose track of time and everything else and went completely into myself. Id had enough of being squished in the shower and tried for what felt like forever to climb out, eventually I managed to call out for Damo to help. Somehow I got dry and dressed and went and found the ball to lean on. Strangely I decided to kneel on the incredibly cold and painful uneven slate tiles. Oh my were my knees hurting but the pool took up the entire rug. A cushion would have worked but I was beyond that sort of thinking.

Danielle turned up at what I think was around 2am, may have been earlier may have been later Ive really no idea. I remember smiling at her awkwardly after she entered slightly embarrased at how poorly I was handling things (I look back now and realise how well I was actually doing). At some point she came and rubbed and held my back which was almost bliss. I thought my back was going to split in half and the hand there reminded me it wouldnt. I will forever thankful for that hand.

Lisa turned up not long after and I think I gave her the same awkward smile then went back to trying to deal with the contractions. I heard talk of Lisa having a nap, and it was then I started thinking hmmmm Im not sure if there is time for that but hey what do I know.



I think it was around 2:30am when I demanded the pool, thankfully due to Damos massive effort it was ready. Oh my the water, the water was just wow, absolutely perfect bliss. Things were intense really intense then crap oh my there is a head wanting out. I freaked, I cried, I asked for help, I for a moment did not know what to do. When no one understood what my cries actually meant I pulled myself together and realised I could do it. It took a few incredibly painful contractions to pull myself together and realised I had to push, getting the head out was the only way the pain would stop. So out her head popped still in the caul. Panic two came then about what I should do, and took me a moment to gather myself in this time I remember feeling a little nose pointing up, didnt process what that meant at the time. Another contraction and push and out she came, the caul broke at I think roughly when her feet came out. It really was an incredible experience having that break in your hands. I lifted her up to meet a stunned room of onlookers very surprised at her sudden entrance at 3 oclock in the morning.



I checked to make sure she could breathe, checked to make sure she was in fact girl, then realised she was the most chubby baby I have ever seen in my life. She was just perfect. Next thing I know her two brothers are there to meet her. Nanuq overly excited and Igloo refusing to wake up.



I wish the birth could end here, but the placenta must be birthed apparently. It was agony and felt like it took forever. The one thing I wish I had done differently is cut the cord a little sooner, it was much too short for me to do anything but sit and I really needed to move. But I did it to a degree. The membranes thought they may stay behind and so the placenta hung for a while until we cut the cord and I stood up. It then ripped away and I spent the next week passing the remnants of membrane.





It was done, I had birthed my gorgeous girl all by myself in the caul, posterior, and weighing a whopping 4.6kg (10lb3oz), 54cm long and 36cm head. It was the first time I had touched my own babies head before they were born, this was something I could not bring myself to do with the boys, it was amazing and terrifying at the same moment. Who would have thought I would catch my own bub, not me that is for sure. Maybe Damo can be 4th time lucky and finally get to be the catcher like he has wanted since Igloo. Thats if I let him :).

Welcome to the world my precious girl, thank you for letting me birth you. I cannot wait to birth your next little brother or sister.

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