Testing Liquid Rubber on a Cardboard Box

Well, the test is complete and I have to say that I'm impressed overall.  After six days in a greenhouse, where the water was getting to a point of almost boiling, it held up!  With zero water damage visible on the outside of the box and zero signs of any leakage on the table I’m willing to say that Liquid Rubber is quite effective as a waterproof coating!

The box itself did better with the overall pressure from the water weight than I expected as well, due I suspect in no small part to the strength of the Liquid Rubber coating.  The product will take on the color of the uncured product when it remains wet for long periods but there are coatings to deal with that.

The only down sides that I could see were a high pH level in the water, which is easy enough to deal with, and when it is in hot wet water, the product can be moved with firm enough pressure.  Since the average aquaponic fish tank should never get as hot as the water was in the box, I don't imagine this will be an issue for most aquaponic gardeners.

Based on the results so far, I have decided to build a 2ft x 3ft x 12 inch mini fish tank for the floating aquaponic garden.  The tank will be shaded most of the time so warming up the Liquid Rubber shouldn’t be a problem.  Don't worry, I'm not building it from a cardboard box … that was just an early stage test.  I'm excited to begin on this next stage of testing and will let you all know how it works out!

Is Liquid Rubber the Answer for Waterproofing Aquaponic Gardens?

Waterproof is something of a keyword when it comes to aquaponic gardening.  Waterproof the garden grow bed, waterproof the fish & sump tanks, make sure those water lines are sealed up tight … the list goes on and on.

If, like when I got started, you are happy with using storage totes for pretty much everything then this can still be helpful to you, just not as much.  I was happy with my totes for quite some time but as my garden grew, it became obvious that something larger was going to be required.  While many people seem able to find IBC tanks practically free, I am not so lucky and they are in fact, rather pricey here.  Add to that the fact that while they are very efficient and easy to set up, they aren't terribly pleasing to the eye and some building was going to be needed no matter what.

Building from wood and then finding a way to waterproof it seems like one of the best options.  Wood can be shaped into as many forms as the carpenter can imagine so it is somewhat ideal for a garden like these.  No matter what you want your garden to look like, it can be shaped with some wood and a skilled woodworker.  If your plans are simple enough, even the skilled woodworker becomes somewhat optional.  YouTube is filled with videos on how to do pretty much anything you want so …

Traditionally, waterproofing has been done with large rubber sheet liners that are cut and folded into the shapes needed with the waste tossed off to the scrap pile.  If it gets a hole, or doesn't fit, or any large number of things goes wrong … the whole thing is a write off.  Money wasted and it’s still not done.  There are some people that are using Marine fiberglass to waterproof  aquariums and such but fibre glass can be quite a pain to work with if you are inexperienced.

Liquid Rubber is the perfect combination of positive qualities in one easy to apply product.  100% VOC free and food safe (I've spoken directly to people at the company about this), Liquid Rubber is a paint on waterproofing product that almost anyone could make use of.  Depending on what way it is to be used, 1-4 coats are applied and left for 24-48 hours to cure.  Once that’s done, it’s safely water tight.  Areas that are exposed to water after curing will turn a brownish color but that has no effect on it’s ability to maintain the ‘waterproof’ status.  As an additional bonus, if a hole develops in a Liquid Rubber liner it can be dried off, have another layer painted on, left to cure and then put back into use.  No throwing away large sheets of pond or pool liner because of a small hole or being an inch too short!

For those who are concerned about color, Liquid Rubber also sells ‘Texture Coatings’ which can be applied to the surface in a few different colours to suit personal tastes.  All of these are available through their online store and they ship just about anywhere in North America!

Experimental Dirty Aquaponic Gardens

Good idea, bad idea … who knows but it’s worth looking into!

When people think about aquaponics they generally think of it as soil free, because for the most part … it is.  That being said, there are many crops that seem to simply prefer being in soil to produce the best colors and flavours they can.  I remember watching a video where sweet potatoes were growing in both the aquaponic garden and the soil nearby (they had spread a little bit on their own).  When these plants were harvested there was a noticeable difference in the color of the tubers and from what I understand there was a difference in the taste as well.

In my own experiences trying to grow carrots in the aquaponic garden I found a similar result.  There was a distinct lack of richness to the color and the flavour was lacking somewhat as well.  This struck me as quite odd, since the vast majority of what has been produced in my aquaponics has had better color and flavour than what one would normally find at market.

The goal of the experimental ‘Dirty Aquaponics’ garden is to test the controlled use of soil in my system and see if I can improve on those previous results.  There are a great many root crops that I would like to be able to grow but until this, I had been unable to do so.  As this ‘Dirty Aquaponics’ experiment continues I will try to grow a variety of things and see what comes of it!  I have some golf ball sized carrots I’m quite interested to try growing and some beets that have been around for ages as well …

Aquaponic Gardens & Cost vs. Benefit

Starting an aquaponic garden is an investment but unlike an investment in the bank, this one takes effort on your part.  Just how much effort you ask?  Well, just how much do you want back in return?
While there are many things a new aquaponic gardener will need to consider before building their system, cost is something that needs to be worked out in the beginning.  These garden systems take time, space and money to work really well.  How much of those do you have to spare?

Let’s start with time.  It will take time to setup your new garden.  It will take more time to get everything flowing ‘just right’.  It will take even more time to start producing those veggies that got you excited when you first learned about aquaponics.  All of these things take time, so for many people there is very little ‘instant gratification’.  If you have some skill with tools or plumbing, then the setup portion will not take too long at all.  The time it takes to get things flowing and draining correctly isn't terribly great either it’s just that last one.  Growing plants takes time, that’s all there is to it.  Sure, aquaponic gardens grow big plants quickly, but it still takes time.

Okay, so let’s talk about space.  An aquaponic garden doesn't need to be huge to be productive.  At the moment there are only 16 square feet of aquaponic garden in my greenhouse and I assure you, it’s using it’s space VERY well.  Unlike a traditional soil based garden, which you basically just need to dig a hole in the ground, aquaponic gardens seem to do better when provided with their own environment.  Even if that just means a cover for shade in the summer or a poly tunnel (hoop house) for some extra heat in the winter.  Plan accordingly.  Do you have enough space for what you want to build as a new garden?

The biggest issue with an aquaponic garden would be the money involved with getting started.  A good pump will cost you money, whatever you are going to use to hold your plants and fish will cost money.  It takes electricity to run fans and pumps, that costs money.  So, how do you decide how much you’re willing to spend on your garden?  Well, that’s up to you.

In setting up my garden, I probably spent far more than I would have if I had just planted into the ground … or did I?  Seeds cost the same regardless of how you are going to plant them, the same can be said for plant starts.  When I think about how much it cost me over all to get my garden up and running I would suspect that my investment of cash is somewhere around $300.  So there is the cost part, how about the benefits?
What are YOUR favorite fruits and vegetables?  How much do they cost at market?  If you run your math with an average price of even only $1 per pound of vegetables you could easily see enough harvests to get your money back in no time at all.  In the case of organic vegetables your cost to purchase at market would be MUCH higher.  What about herbs?  Where we live, fresh organic herbs cost an average of $10 per pound.  Which is a lot to spend but since these things are only purchased ¼ lb at a time, it never seems like much.  It all adds up though.

How about fruits?  At the market here ‘standard’ strawberries will sell for about $5 for 2lb in the summer months.  I can honestly say, having eaten a fresh strawberry from my aquaponic garden only minutes ago, that grocery store strawberries do not even come close to the true taste from the ones that grow in the AP gardens.  When you consider the price of fresh produce, it is hard to imagine how a reasonable aquaponic garden could be a bad investment.

If you are truly worried about the cost of getting started, use recycled materials where you can, use second hand parts but get started all the same.  The longer your garden is growing for you, the more of a return you can enjoy!

Happy harvests!

Selecting Plants for a New Aquaponic Garden

Setting up a new aquaponic garden can be a very exciting time!  After getting all of your equipment collected and taking care of putting it all together, the urge to plant in the new garden can become somewhat … overpowering.  You're all ready to go, but what to plant?

While results will be different in EVERY aquaponic garden there are some plants that will do better than others in the beginning in almost every case.  When selecting your starter plants you must think about a few different things.  How large will this plant grow?  How demanding is it for nutrients?  Will it be productive enough to be worth the space in your aquaponic garden?  Is it a fruiting plant or more of a leafy green?

From my experience, and from many other gardens that I have watched grow over the years, it is impossible to resist the temptation to plant either tomatoes or peppers into the garden bed.  I can’t even count how many times I've seen that.  These plants are wonderful, productive and beautiful BUT they require a LOT of nutrients in order to reach their maximum potential.  Often new aquaponic gardeners will plants these before their garden has matured enough to support their high demands and the end result is feeling that their garden wasn't as good, or worse yet that they themselves had failed at aquaponic gardening.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  These plants do amazingly well in established garden beds where the bacteria have really taken hold.  This can take up to a year in some gardens, longer in places where the grow bed is subjected to temperatures at or below freezing.

In that first year you can still grow a wide variety of different plants and see a very healthy return on your garden investment.  Leafy greens and kitchen herbs can be grown to surprising size quite quickly, even with a brand new #AquaponicGarden.  Spinach, kale, chard, watercress and lettuces (which variety depends on your temperature more than your garden) will show you results to keep you very happy.  Growing mint, oregano, sage, thyme, basil and more has never been easier than since I've started my little aquaponic greenhouse.  As I sit to write this, I can’t even recall the last time we had to buy any of those.  In fact there is a rather large box behind me stuffed with paper bags that are still filled with these herbs from last year!

At the end of it all, what YOU are going to plant in YOUR garden is up to you and I wish you the best of luck with your aquaponic adventure!

We need Saltwater Aquaponics

While it may seem crazy at first, I think that saltwater aquaponics is a field of study that needs to be taken seriously.  With all of the damage that has been done to our seas and oceans, something has got be done to preserve those marine species which have kept us alive for so many years..  As assorted fish struggle to survive in the ocean they will encounter: garbage floating in the water, boats out for a cruise, chemical pollutants, dwindling food supplies, extensive fisheries … that’s not even mentioning any natural predators out there.  As a double feature bonus we now have somewhat radioactive ocean waters adding to the risks they face and creating a new danger these fish now pose to us when they are harvested from the wild.  This situation is unacceptable and something must be done.

Aquaponic gardening allows us to reuse the same body of water time and again to grow fish, & plants, in a healthy environment.  The end result being: fresh fish, grown close to market, & of unequalled quality of flesh due to the reduced stress levels and lack of chemical pollutants.  As advanced as we have become, with the internet providing the knowledge of the world at our fingertips, it is almost impossible to think that anything is impossible anymore.  The worlds greatest universities have shared huge libraries of information on the required subjects.

From the world of saltwater aquariums, such as Sea World, we have learned how to maintain correct temperatures, pH, salt levels etc. for large ocean dwelling creatures.  Marine biologists have presented volumes on every stage of life for almost every species of aquatic life they can find.  So in that body of work we have any needed environmental or dietary information for the entire lifespan of the chosen species.  We have available the technology to reproduce anything they could need to live a healthy life while growing quite large.  Once again, thanks to our fine marine biologists, we also have collected quite a list of plants which grow only in ocean water.  Even if we were to grow the plants as a base for biofuel, it seems reasonable to assume that saltwater plants growing in a re-circulating water environment would filter in a similar fashion as leafy greens in a more standard freshwater aquaponic setup.

So, using our available technology and collected body of research it should not be too difficult to create the perfect environment to raise oceanic fish and plants in aquaponic style garden.  Granted, it would take HUGE facilities to even begin such an adventure but at this point, it would be unwise to not start developing this method of farming.  We are at a breaking point for the planet, either we do EVERYTHING we can to try to repair it or we face the very real risk of extinction.  No air, no water, no food … no life.  It’s that simple.

When we take our food production needs away from nature, not only do we have the chance to control what goes into our food supply but mother nature also has the opportunity to reclaim that land.  Left to it’s own devices, the planet could easily erase any trace of mankind and the damage we have caused.  Do we help now or shall we just let mother clean up after we are gone?