First Live Session

I just attended my first chat and found it extremely useful since the instructor, Sylvia, asked me about my system and I included my question about locally available grow media.  I have come to the conclusion that lava rock is my best option.

Lava rock has lots of surface area for bacteria to grow on.  It is tough on the hands though.  I already have a pair of leather gloves so that won't be a problem.

I recommend fired clay if you can.  It is much, much easier to deal with.  It is light weight and completely inert.


The Course has a nice feature.  It allows its user to participate in Live Chat Sessions right on the course page.

The Course videos and slides

I just finished with the videos in the aquaponics online course.  The videos are coupled with presentation slides.  It is the best online course I have had the pleasure of taking.  If you are like me, online courses sound like a lot of reading and busy work.  Well not this one.  It feels like being right in the thick of things with Sylvia and Alan.  As you might have imagined, most of the videos are shot in a greenhouse so you it really feels like a hands on course.

Now I am ready to fix my mistakes in my systems.  Here is what I am going to start with.  I need to replace my current media with something 1/2 to 3/4 inch size.  My system gets clogged up because the gravel I use is too small and apparently has some limestone in it.  I tested it and found that it bubbles up in vinegar.  I prefer to use Fired Clay, but first I want to test a few samples of lava rock that I can get locally.  It should be inert, but I will still test it and make sure I can get my hands on something that is the right size.

To your successful aquaponic gardening,


Scott    

Aquaponics = happy fish and happy plants :)

When checking your aquaponics systems, look for two things, happy fish and happy plants.  If you don't hear water moving then you immediately check for a broken pump.  The area should smell like a crisp morning in the garden.  If you detect fish smell or anything rotten than something is definitely amiss.

If your fish are not happy to see you then you need to ask yourself why.  Are they stressed out because too many people were poking their heads in to see them?  Probably not, but if you have had lots of guests over, just give the fish a half day or so to recuperate.  Check that the temperature is in the right range.  If it is too cold the fish won't be moving as fast as they usually do.  Fish suffer from lack of oxygen much faster than plants will suffer from lack of water, so make sure there is plenty of air movement in the tank.       

If your plants are wilting, you need to see if it is just one plant or all of them.  If all the plants are wilting than it could be that the siphons or timer are not functioning properly.  If just a few plants are wilting then check for insects.  Logistically, checking for insects under the leaves is a good habit to be in every day. I have my system in my garage and I have still found spider mites and aphids.  I have even seen little grass hoppers around.  Where there is food, there is a feast.

For more information on troubleshooting, take the course.



To your urban farming success,

Scott

Vertical Aquaponics

A week or so ago I ran into an interesting idea at a lawn and garden show.  One of the displays was of a vertical garden.  It had a forty gallon tank and was an excellent use of space.  They said their best customers were home owners and restaurants since the unit takes up very little space and grows an abundance of plants.

It was hydroponic, but I believe the idea would easily work for aquaponics as well.  The benefits of aquaponics out way the waste produced in hydroponics.  Fortunately, aquaponics is not damaging to the environment since there is no need to dispose of the nutrient  mixture in the water.  Aquaponics also outproduces hydroponics once the system matures past six months.  Check out this youtube video for more benefits of vertical gardening.    

The neat thing about the vertical garden I saw was its ability to move.  With such a small tank it could be moved indoors when the temperatures outside got too low for plant growth and bacteria survival.  Since the days can be very warm and the nights get cold, the system could be moved outside during the day and indoors at night; thus making it easy to capture as much sunlight as possible.  The sun grows plants the best.  I like LED lights, but the sunshine is free.

LED Grow Lights are by far the best solution for indoor lighting.  When you take into account the amount of energy they save over traditional HID lighting, the units pay themselves off very quickly.  In fact, I believe the up front investment can be paid off with one round of cucumbers.  Good wholesome, organic cucumbers sell for more than other cucumbers and a four by four foot LED light is sufficient to grow an enormous crop.  Of course that does not even account for the amount of energy saved by just not running a HID light.  Read more information here.

To your successful urban farming,


Scott

Testing your Aquaponics System

Since water keeps your fish and feeds your plants in an aquaponic system, it is extremely important to test it. API test kits are an excellent way to test water.

I recommend testing the water every day when you first setup your system.  That will show when you can safely add fish and plants.  Bacteria have to be present so that Nitrates are produced, since Nitrates are relatively harmless to fish and wonderful food for your plants.  When you see that your Nitrate levels are equal to your Nitrite levels, it is safe to add fish.

Once your system is established, you can go to testing the water once a week.  Beware of the dreaded pH spike.  If your pH gets high (up to 8), it is time to look for a dead fish, and remove it.  If there are no dead fish, start looking for nasty dead zones in your grow beds.  If you find one, just thoroughly mix it in with the rest of your grow bed.  That should do the trick, but if your pH is still too high (above 7.0) then you need to start checking for bacteria problems.  Your water may not be heated enough for the bacteria to thrive.  If the temperature in your fish tank is lower than 60 degrees  Fahrenheit, your bacteria are not thriving.  Track everything you put into your system.  If you have added something and then have a change in pH, you can see if what you have added may have killed off the bacteria.  Don't add citrus based products into your system.  Lemon juice is actually anti-bacterial and will kill off your beneficial bacteria.  That bacteria is the backbone of your system.  It does all the work of converting toxic ammonia and nitrites into nitrates.

Testing the water is really easy with an API test kit.  Of course, you have to follow the directions that come with the kit!  Here are a few items to watch out for.  When testing pH you can read the results right away.  When testing the Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates; wait five minutes after adding the test drops.  Then you can read the results.  Do not read the results before five minutes are up.  Also, don't wait too long.  Record all your results so that you can troubleshoot the problems that will come up.

Lets suppose your pH is way too high, then you can add some AquaDown after you troubleshoot the above mentioned causes.

What if your pH is too low?  Alternate adding potassium from your local brewery and then adding agricultural lime.

That is it for now.

Next we will learn about some more troubleshooting.  Get all the details by taking this course.

To your successful urban farming.

Scott


P.S.  Yes, these systems can go virtually anywhere.  Want to grow food in your home or at your restaurant? Yes, you can and in a smaller space than you may have imagined.  Get a space saver system here.

Cycling your Aquaponic Systems.

Cycling is the process we use to get beneficial bacteria into our system.  Those bacteria convert the highly toxic ammonia into nitrites and then into nitrates.  Fish aren't usually harmed by Nitrates and the plants love Nitrates.

I have always wondered how cycling worked.  I have read about fishless cycling in aquarium books but one question has always been on my mind,  "How much ammonia should I add?"  Well, the answer is very, very little (1/2 a teaspoon full if you are using Ammonium Chloride).  That 1/2 tsp. will get an 100 gallon tank up to 2.0 ppm ammonia.

Once you get the ammonia between 2.0 - 4.0 ppm you just make sure it stays there for awhile.  If you add too much ammonia just stop adding and wait for the bacteria to catch up.  Adding way too much ammonia can actually make cycling take longer than needed.  Who wants to wait anyway?

Here are some ways to start now.  You don't have to cycle at all if you place an old aquarium filter or slimy rock in your fish tank.  If the filter or rock are from a cycled system, that is.  You will not have to worry about attracting the beneficial bacteria since it will already be there and multiple very quickly.  Of course, using slimy objects from other bodies of water could bring diseases along with them.  The best way to get started right away and disease free is putting this in your tank.  It comes with plenty of the bacteria you are looking for.  Just choose the size that fits your tank.

Stay tuned for how to test your water so you know exactly when it is safe to add fish.


To your success,

Scott

The Nitrogen Cycle

Ammonia (NH4) is bad for everyone.  Fortunately, it converts to Nitrite and then on to Nitrates.  I hear too much about nitrates being in hot dogs which are bad for me to eat.  However, plants love nitrates.

Mother Nature sure is awesome!  Everything that kills fish can be converted to something that plants thrive on.  We take advantage of that very fact in everything we do in aquaponics.  That symbiotic relationship between fish and plants is what makes aquaponics so much more enticing to me than hydroponics.  Nothing is wasted and there are no harmful affects on the environment when we combine aquaculture with hydroponics.  Not too mention that aquaponics out produces hydroponic growing after the systems have been in place for at least six months.  With hydroponics I would have to start fresh with every system flush while aquaponics does not need to be flushed.  The system just gets more and more effective with time.  The next lecture in the course is on cycling the system too.  You can get the cycling supplies here.

Fishless cycling is the best!  It is a lot safer for the fish and farmers don't stress out their food.  I mean, who likes killing fish anyway?  I sure don't want to loose them to nitrogen.  Besides, the nitrogen converting bacteria get a better start with fishless cycling anyway.

On a side note, have you ever noticed that bacteria seem to be named after the things they eat.    

To your successful urban farming,

For more info see me at http://www.scottalanwesthoff.com


Scott

Worms, worms, worms

Worms are so important.  When I started on this aquaponics adventure I knew nothing about worms.  I got some as soon as I spotted the worms in the aquaponic community rules of thumb section.  These are not your typical nightcrawler worms.  They are red wiggler composting worms and do an excellent job of processing some of the waste in your systems.  They are self-regulating (which means I can't put too many in or have to worry about them multiplying too much).  The fish love these little guys too. Worms are the best way to keep your grow beds clean of left over roots.

I have also read about how worm 'tea' can help start up a new system.  Worms leave behind castings that are great compost and provide smoother transitions of nutrients to your plants.  So feed your fish and plants by getting some worms.

To your urban farming success,


Scott

The Best Place to Start Aquaponics = education

I have been taking an online course by Sylvia Bernstein.  I wish this course had been available five years ago.  It would have saved me loads of money.

I have studied aquaponics for at least five years.  I ran into information on growing fish and vegetables together on Yahoo! Groups.  Travis Hughey was my original mentor and educator on the subject.  Fortunately for me, his group eventually led me to the fabulous Aquaponics Community Forum.  The rules of thumb that are listed there are awesome!  In fact those rules of thumb got me excited about Sylvia's book,

Aquaponic Gardening: A Step by Step Guide to Growing Fish and Vegetables Together

The online course is much more hands on and contains current information.  It is based on the book and costs a little more than I originally paid for the book.  

I have used the trial and error method to build many systems with varying degrees of success.  Today I learned how to test my gravel to see if it will work well in an aquaponic system.  I took a sample from my gardens and put it in with some white vinegar.  I knew I had gotten the wrong gravel when the fizzing started.  Turns out, I could have avoided that major mistake if I had had a way to test gravel before.  Another way to test the gravel is to put a sample in distilled water and see if the pH changes any the next day.  

Gardening the traditional way takes some time to learn and so does aquaponic growing.  So what are the benefits of aquaponics and why would you want to switch?  Here are a few ideas:  

No weeds

Less bug problems

Grow anywhere, even in the kitchen

Grow faster than ever

Grow more in a smaller space

Organic produce/You know exactly what is in it

Fresh fish 

Can't wait for tomorrow's lecture.  I will keep you posted.

Scott

Bigger and Better

For more info see me at http://www.scottalanwesthoff.com

Here is my first greenhouse.  It was quite the learning experience.

I attached this to the side of my house and added an old bathtub that someone was getting rid of.  Awesome!