Over the years I have been asked many times about what crops I think are best for aquaponic gardens. At the end of the day I figure it comes down to two key factors. First would be, how established is your garden and second would, of course, be what do you like to eat. Since the second is entirely personal I will focus on the first for the sake of this discussion.
From what I have seen in my own aquaponic garden trials, the first year should be devoted to favorite herbs & leafy greens. Mint, for example, can be an ideal starter plant simply because it is so hardy but basically any small leaved plant is a solid choice for the first few months. Larger leafy greens are also usually somewhat successful during the first year while the system develops & grows. Many gardeners will choose a type of lettuce at this stage but I have switched to kale for a couple of reasons. Number 1 being that it's so darn healthy, when grown safely, and number 2 being that it will grow in my greenhouse during the cold Canadian winter and the heat of our crazy summers. If you simply can't resist planting something that will produce fruit in that first year then I would recommend strawberries. Easy to grow, hard to kill and nothing beats a fresh picked aquaponic strawberry.
By year two an aquaponic garden usually has a much more developed internal ecosystem and should be prepared to host a different set of plants. Now you can start to think about crops like peppers & tomatoes that will produce fruit, but there is a warning here as well. These plants are greedy and can be quite good at removing any & all micro-nutrients from the system. For sustained success with fruit & flower producing plants you may need to find safe ways to reintroduce elements such as calcium and magnesium but fear not, nature has answers for all of it. A little research as to what your crop requires will keep your plants producing & your fish healthy. It is worth mentioning however that if you start adding things to boost fruit production it is wise to move herbs & leafy greens into a different system so that they don't go to seed and loose their true flavor.
Well, I hope this helps to point you in the right direction and has answered a few questions for you. Thanks for your time & best of luck on your aquaponic adventure!
Showing posts with label #Talkquaponics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #Talkquaponics. Show all posts
Saturday, August 08, 2015
Monday, June 29, 2015
Expanding the No Power Aquaponic Garden for Larger Settings
The idea of the no power aquaponic garden is a lot of fun to play around with but the basic truth that needs to be stated up front is that when you are saying no power you are committing to personally do a lot more work. Not a real problem for some of us, when I got started I was not working anywhere at the time so that left plenty of time available to me, but when it is a problem it is a big one. If you can’t get to your garden every few hours during the day, more often during the heat of summer, this might not be an option for you. Remember, if you have access to steady electricity I STRONGLY recommend a more advanced system with a pond pump. You’ll thank me for that later on …
Let’s take a look at what needs to happen in an aquaponic garden for everything to keep on living, growing and producing for you. Obviously the plants need to be watered, that’s a given, and the fish need to be fed. Regular feeding of fish produces waste products that will build up over time and kill your fish. It’s not pretty or fun to see. So the first big problem that needs to be solved is removing the waste from the water to keep those little critters happy, or at the very least … alive.
Now, if you’ve even looked into aquaponics at all you’re probably saying to yourself, ‘well, don’t the plants do that?’, or some variation on that theme anyway. If you are, then you’re right but there’s more to it than that. Successful aquaponic gardens are populated with a few naturally occurring bacteria that are essential to that success. These tiny workers need somewhere to call home and conditions that benefit their reproduction. Just like everybody else, they are looking for a safe place to call home & a steady food supply. Providing them a home is the easy part. Anything non toxic with surface area in the water will do quite well for them, mine love it! This is why you will see so many different things being used in aquaponic systems that are all generally referred to as the bio filter. I’ve seen everything from lava rocks to lego, clay pellets to river rocks and even some fancy scientifically engineered stuff to be ‘better than nature’. That’s a bad joke but we’ll just push past that issue for now. Building a basic bio filter into a no power aquaponic garden isn’t that difficult, but it does need to be done. I could make a whole playlist of video options for this but just be creative and it will probably work for you as a starting point.
So now that we have a bio filter in our garden the fish will be safe right? Nope. With a completely no power garden your fish face a few other dangers that all need to be looked after as well, or they will die. I’m not going to sugar coat this for you, that’s just how it is. Some of the other concerns include, but are not limited to: dissolved oxygen levels in the water, pH imbalances, ammonia spikes from low bacteria levels, greater risk of water borne diseases such as ich plus a few other issues I’m probably forgetting at the moment. Some of that is as easy as the bio filter, in fact if your bio filter is almost always getting a ‘fresh’ supply of dirty water it will take care of a few of those for you. Dissolved oxygen and ammonia spikes at any rate. So here is the next big question. How do we keep water flowing without electricity?
It can be easily said that there are vast numbers of ways to make this happen but they are all varying degrees of annoying, unreliable or just plain hard work. One of the first solutions that comes to my mind is some form of a water tower to do the trick. This adds its own difficulties and challenges but hey, we’re building a large scale no power aquaponic small farm here so it’s not going to be quick or easy. Just saying. To avoid the water tower one could perhaps make use of a very basic wind turbine and use that to drive a rope pump. Another solution with its own unique issues and challenges. Let’s take a better look at both of those options, shall we?
What are some of the issues with the first option of a water tower? Well, as a tower that suggests it will need to be built to some height and moving water uphill is a problem for nature. Gravity doesn’t really play that game. Another issue is the large amount of water that it removes from the fish tank all at once. Rapid raising and lowering of the water level can cause the fish huge amounts of stress and stress is a killer. Best to avoid it whenever possible. Good life strategy right there but back to the topic. Creating an overflow drain in the fish tank, more on this later on, that goes to a secondary sump tank can solve this problem if done correctly. I would think a sump tank that holds at least as much water as the tower plus half again would be about the right size. This will ensure that your fish have a steady ceiling height at all times and keep them a little happier. Happy fish are healthy fish! The height of the water tower is basically easy enough to deal with as well, just make sure the bottom of the water storage on your tower is above the top of your growing beds and make sure they are taller than your fish tank that has it’s sump tank even lower down. Gravity will do everything but put the water into the tower for you, not bad. Just make sure you build that tower base strong, water is a lot heavier than most people think. Options for getting the water from the sump to the tower are unlimited. Buckets, rope pump, DIY piston pump, cast iron cistern pump (old west style can pull water up 25 feet!), water screw … I could go on here but I think you get the point. Next!
The other solution mentioned was the use of a wind turbine and a rope pump. Again, any style of hand pump can be made to work here with some creativity. While there is a very typical picture that comes to mind when we think of windmills or wind turbines that doesn’t mean they are the only ones, or even the best ones for that matter. In my library of previously loved books I have a copy of ‘Practical Projects for the Handy Man’ that was first published back in 1913 by the editors of Popular Mechanics Press. In this gem of a book is a simple windmill that works no matter which way the wind is blowing but doesn’t swing around like ‘standard’ wind turbines do. I’m not going to explain how to build one here but if you’re interested you should definitely look into them, very cool & super basic. 1913, enough said! If you build something along those lines it would become fairly simple to attach a pulley for a rope pump and let the wind do the work for you. Wind moves the water up & gravity moves it down. Excellent, no electricity so far!
Next we need to get that water moving into, and out of, those aquaponic garden beds or why are we building all of this?!? This is a good time to start thinking about installing the bio filter. As the water leaves the tower and runs into the garden is a GREAT time to make sure that it’s been converted from fish waste into plant food! Now is also a good time to figure out what style of grow bed you will be using since that will make a big difference to how you want to deliver the water to the plants. For a floating bed or raft system simply allowing the tower to drain, through the bio filter, into the beds at a set rate would be fine. Adjust it as needed to keep the water moving all day, or at least in between times you can refill the tower, and you’re good to grow! More or less, we’ve still got a couple of important points to go over so don’t run away just yet. If you are growing with a flood and drain bed in mind then water control will be your personal nightmare from here on out, just my opinion. The easiest way out of that trap is a quick fill with a slow drain. Our three main goals with the water are to keep the plants hydrated, but not swamped, and to keep oxygen levels up while keeping the waste levels down. With a quick fill of the beds the water gets plenty of oxygen as it rushes through all of the grow media, and it gets even more with the slow drain out as it will always keep the top of the fish tank in motion. Waves = oxygen for the fish. This type of bed also provides a second area for bacteria to live which will help prevent those evil ammonia spikes.
Getting back to the overflow drain in the fish tank for a moment here if I can. These sound more difficult to make than they really are. There are many great videos out there on exactly how to make them but the basics of it are simple enough to cover here in the blog. The goal is to collect all of the solid waste from the fish, the poo if you prefer, and to draw it away from the main tank. A good goal, after all nobody wants to swim around in poo. Some aquaponic gardeners have attached various fittings to aid in the collection at the bottom so explore your options and see what you like. Since my fish are all fairly large I simply leave the bottom of my drain pipe open and it seems to collect most of the waste. The top end of this pipe needs to be attached to a ‘T’ fitting so that the water can be directed through the sidewall of the tank and into the sump while still leaving the top of the drain open. As for getting the pipe through your fish tank sidewall I prefer the rigid nature of bulkhead fittings while others seem very fond of Uniseals. Whatever you can find that’s non toxic and does the trick … works! If this is setup correctly, it should create an overflow that draws the water and debris from the bottom of the tank while not making the vacuum suction that would drain the fish tank entirely. VERY important that the top of that upright drain pipe is open, that’s not a fun mistake to make.
The last couple of things I should mention here are water changes and fish food. Both of these are often overlooked in many aquaponic systems but vital to the overall health of your garden. In the case of a ‘No Power’ style aquaponic garden, your fish are basically in a fishbowl and as the water evaporates not only do levels of the fish waste become more concentrated but so do the levels of assorted hormones that the fish release into the water as part of living day to day life. Not a problem if you are trying to keep your fish small but it can become an issue if you want significant growth from them. Sure, a top up of the fish tank will thin things out again but none of it is removed so ultimately it just keeps adding up. As often as your water supply will allow for, you should remove at least 10% of the overall systems water BEFORE adding more fresh water into the system. If you must use tap water, try to allow it to sit in the open for 24 hours first to naturally remove the chlorine. That stuff can wipe out your bacterial colony so fast it will make your head spin, avoid whenever possible. The final thing is, as I stated above, fish food. Let me just leave you with this thought about your choice in fish food. What they eat becomes what feeds the plants that you eat. Anything that goes into that water could make it’s way into your food …
Thanks for taking the time to check out my thoughts on a larger NPAG for small farms. I hope it helps or at least entertained you! Blessed be & many happy harvests to you!
JT Bear
Let’s take a look at what needs to happen in an aquaponic garden for everything to keep on living, growing and producing for you. Obviously the plants need to be watered, that’s a given, and the fish need to be fed. Regular feeding of fish produces waste products that will build up over time and kill your fish. It’s not pretty or fun to see. So the first big problem that needs to be solved is removing the waste from the water to keep those little critters happy, or at the very least … alive.
Now, if you’ve even looked into aquaponics at all you’re probably saying to yourself, ‘well, don’t the plants do that?’, or some variation on that theme anyway. If you are, then you’re right but there’s more to it than that. Successful aquaponic gardens are populated with a few naturally occurring bacteria that are essential to that success. These tiny workers need somewhere to call home and conditions that benefit their reproduction. Just like everybody else, they are looking for a safe place to call home & a steady food supply. Providing them a home is the easy part. Anything non toxic with surface area in the water will do quite well for them, mine love it! This is why you will see so many different things being used in aquaponic systems that are all generally referred to as the bio filter. I’ve seen everything from lava rocks to lego, clay pellets to river rocks and even some fancy scientifically engineered stuff to be ‘better than nature’. That’s a bad joke but we’ll just push past that issue for now. Building a basic bio filter into a no power aquaponic garden isn’t that difficult, but it does need to be done. I could make a whole playlist of video options for this but just be creative and it will probably work for you as a starting point.
So now that we have a bio filter in our garden the fish will be safe right? Nope. With a completely no power garden your fish face a few other dangers that all need to be looked after as well, or they will die. I’m not going to sugar coat this for you, that’s just how it is. Some of the other concerns include, but are not limited to: dissolved oxygen levels in the water, pH imbalances, ammonia spikes from low bacteria levels, greater risk of water borne diseases such as ich plus a few other issues I’m probably forgetting at the moment. Some of that is as easy as the bio filter, in fact if your bio filter is almost always getting a ‘fresh’ supply of dirty water it will take care of a few of those for you. Dissolved oxygen and ammonia spikes at any rate. So here is the next big question. How do we keep water flowing without electricity?
It can be easily said that there are vast numbers of ways to make this happen but they are all varying degrees of annoying, unreliable or just plain hard work. One of the first solutions that comes to my mind is some form of a water tower to do the trick. This adds its own difficulties and challenges but hey, we’re building a large scale no power aquaponic small farm here so it’s not going to be quick or easy. Just saying. To avoid the water tower one could perhaps make use of a very basic wind turbine and use that to drive a rope pump. Another solution with its own unique issues and challenges. Let’s take a better look at both of those options, shall we?
What are some of the issues with the first option of a water tower? Well, as a tower that suggests it will need to be built to some height and moving water uphill is a problem for nature. Gravity doesn’t really play that game. Another issue is the large amount of water that it removes from the fish tank all at once. Rapid raising and lowering of the water level can cause the fish huge amounts of stress and stress is a killer. Best to avoid it whenever possible. Good life strategy right there but back to the topic. Creating an overflow drain in the fish tank, more on this later on, that goes to a secondary sump tank can solve this problem if done correctly. I would think a sump tank that holds at least as much water as the tower plus half again would be about the right size. This will ensure that your fish have a steady ceiling height at all times and keep them a little happier. Happy fish are healthy fish! The height of the water tower is basically easy enough to deal with as well, just make sure the bottom of the water storage on your tower is above the top of your growing beds and make sure they are taller than your fish tank that has it’s sump tank even lower down. Gravity will do everything but put the water into the tower for you, not bad. Just make sure you build that tower base strong, water is a lot heavier than most people think. Options for getting the water from the sump to the tower are unlimited. Buckets, rope pump, DIY piston pump, cast iron cistern pump (old west style can pull water up 25 feet!), water screw … I could go on here but I think you get the point. Next!
The other solution mentioned was the use of a wind turbine and a rope pump. Again, any style of hand pump can be made to work here with some creativity. While there is a very typical picture that comes to mind when we think of windmills or wind turbines that doesn’t mean they are the only ones, or even the best ones for that matter. In my library of previously loved books I have a copy of ‘Practical Projects for the Handy Man’ that was first published back in 1913 by the editors of Popular Mechanics Press. In this gem of a book is a simple windmill that works no matter which way the wind is blowing but doesn’t swing around like ‘standard’ wind turbines do. I’m not going to explain how to build one here but if you’re interested you should definitely look into them, very cool & super basic. 1913, enough said! If you build something along those lines it would become fairly simple to attach a pulley for a rope pump and let the wind do the work for you. Wind moves the water up & gravity moves it down. Excellent, no electricity so far!
Next we need to get that water moving into, and out of, those aquaponic garden beds or why are we building all of this?!? This is a good time to start thinking about installing the bio filter. As the water leaves the tower and runs into the garden is a GREAT time to make sure that it’s been converted from fish waste into plant food! Now is also a good time to figure out what style of grow bed you will be using since that will make a big difference to how you want to deliver the water to the plants. For a floating bed or raft system simply allowing the tower to drain, through the bio filter, into the beds at a set rate would be fine. Adjust it as needed to keep the water moving all day, or at least in between times you can refill the tower, and you’re good to grow! More or less, we’ve still got a couple of important points to go over so don’t run away just yet. If you are growing with a flood and drain bed in mind then water control will be your personal nightmare from here on out, just my opinion. The easiest way out of that trap is a quick fill with a slow drain. Our three main goals with the water are to keep the plants hydrated, but not swamped, and to keep oxygen levels up while keeping the waste levels down. With a quick fill of the beds the water gets plenty of oxygen as it rushes through all of the grow media, and it gets even more with the slow drain out as it will always keep the top of the fish tank in motion. Waves = oxygen for the fish. This type of bed also provides a second area for bacteria to live which will help prevent those evil ammonia spikes.
Getting back to the overflow drain in the fish tank for a moment here if I can. These sound more difficult to make than they really are. There are many great videos out there on exactly how to make them but the basics of it are simple enough to cover here in the blog. The goal is to collect all of the solid waste from the fish, the poo if you prefer, and to draw it away from the main tank. A good goal, after all nobody wants to swim around in poo. Some aquaponic gardeners have attached various fittings to aid in the collection at the bottom so explore your options and see what you like. Since my fish are all fairly large I simply leave the bottom of my drain pipe open and it seems to collect most of the waste. The top end of this pipe needs to be attached to a ‘T’ fitting so that the water can be directed through the sidewall of the tank and into the sump while still leaving the top of the drain open. As for getting the pipe through your fish tank sidewall I prefer the rigid nature of bulkhead fittings while others seem very fond of Uniseals. Whatever you can find that’s non toxic and does the trick … works! If this is setup correctly, it should create an overflow that draws the water and debris from the bottom of the tank while not making the vacuum suction that would drain the fish tank entirely. VERY important that the top of that upright drain pipe is open, that’s not a fun mistake to make.
The last couple of things I should mention here are water changes and fish food. Both of these are often overlooked in many aquaponic systems but vital to the overall health of your garden. In the case of a ‘No Power’ style aquaponic garden, your fish are basically in a fishbowl and as the water evaporates not only do levels of the fish waste become more concentrated but so do the levels of assorted hormones that the fish release into the water as part of living day to day life. Not a problem if you are trying to keep your fish small but it can become an issue if you want significant growth from them. Sure, a top up of the fish tank will thin things out again but none of it is removed so ultimately it just keeps adding up. As often as your water supply will allow for, you should remove at least 10% of the overall systems water BEFORE adding more fresh water into the system. If you must use tap water, try to allow it to sit in the open for 24 hours first to naturally remove the chlorine. That stuff can wipe out your bacterial colony so fast it will make your head spin, avoid whenever possible. The final thing is, as I stated above, fish food. Let me just leave you with this thought about your choice in fish food. What they eat becomes what feeds the plants that you eat. Anything that goes into that water could make it’s way into your food …
Thanks for taking the time to check out my thoughts on a larger NPAG for small farms. I hope it helps or at least entertained you! Blessed be & many happy harvests to you!
JT Bear
Saturday, August 23, 2014
3 Years into the Aquaponic Garden Experiment
.JPG)
After 3 years of gardening with aquaponics I am so completely beyond hooked on the idea it’s a little bit nuts. Everything’s going to be just fine though, we know what to call it so therefore … we can find a cure!Obsessive Compulsive Aquaponic Disorder, it’s real and I have it. Okay maybe it’s not really real type real but it’s pretty real all the same. If it holds water I will, at one time or another, ask myself how it would work for an aquaponic garden. Is it deep enough? Does it hold enough water? Would the fish like it? Oh ya, I've got O.C.A.D. and I'm proud to say it! Have you got O.C.A.D. yet? Go ahead, it’s just gardening … just give it a try!
Seriously though, after these last 3 years of testing theories and trying new and different foods just because they would grow in the system, I really think there is something to this aquaponics thing. My garden is not the biggest or prettiest or fanciest or most expensive or any of that crap but you know what it is? It’s proof that anyone who really wants to garden with aquaponics can do it with very little expense or knowledge.
.JPG) |
| From about 1 year into Aquaponic Gardens (the fish pump was a bad idea) |
As primitive as that system sounds, it worked. It worked well enough I have spent the next 3 years finding out just how much I could grow and how little I could spend. In that time, this little aquaponic garden has produced foods I can't even pronounce and herbs with flavour depths I'd never imagined from what I was used to.
The truth is, the experiment is over and now things are getting a little more serious. Hard to believe from me I know but all the same I’m gonna try. I set out to find out if it works and it does. Simple as that really. What now?
Now it becomes about getting other people into aquaponic gardening & spreading the word. Now it’s about bringing back the idea of ‘Victory Gardens’ which so many of us all over the world would benefit from. Now it’s about inspiring others to find new places to turn into aquaponic farmland when it was just industrial wasteland before. Now things are just getting started to get growing. Now it’s about insuring that as many families as possible start their own little aquaponic gardens and feel the freedom that growing your own food can provide.
What now for you?
Best regards,
JT Bear.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
What is Aquaponics?
Here is a quick look at the introduction to aquaponics that I have in the beginning of my little eBook. I hope to have a version I am happy to post on the FundRazr campaign as a 'perk' for peoples kind donations. How does this look to you? Please feel free to share any thoughts on writing style or general content. Thanks for your time!
What is Aquaponics?
Basically, aquaponic gardens and farms are attempting to re-create the system that nature uses. In an environmentally controlled area, such as a greenhouse, these systems are used with great success to raise both fish and plants in a closed loop waterway. As the fish live, breathe, eat and make waste their water can become quite toxic to them if left untreated.
Aquaponic gardens, however, clean and filter that water for the fish before it returns to them. As the water is pumped through a system, it will travel through both bio-filters and plant roots, each having a very important part in keeping those fish healthy.
The biofilter, aka your happy bacterial colony in the growing media, are a two part team. The first part converts the raw ammonias from the fish pollutants into nitrites and then the second part finally converts those into nitrates. Once these previously toxic elements have been naturally converted they become a healthy source of nutrients for the plants that are growing in the aquaponic garden bed. The plant roots are eager to get any source of extra nutrients that they can find, and as such, they will rapidly deplete them from the water rushing by.
It is by taking advantage of this natural bacterial cycle that aquaponic gardens are able to do so well for food production almost regardless of the gardeners personal skill level. It is my opinion, that aquaponic gardens might just be the much needed answer to providing food security for individuals as well as for entire communities.
When edible fish and plants are used they can provide more than enough food in return to cover the initial cost of setting it up. If you think of your garden as an investment, it’s the best returns you can find on the market without breaking the laws. Think about the price of a packet of seeds when compared to the price of some produce! It’s even more when you use the price of ‘Organic’ foods for your math and I feel that aquaponic foods are probably better for you anyway. Did you know that ‘Organic farms’ can still use fertilizers and pesticides as long as those products are ‘certified’? Using anything like that in an aquaponic system would cause massive damage because they are designed to use technology to simulate nature.
Nature doesn’t have those type of products … just saying.
What is Aquaponics?
Basically, aquaponic gardens and farms are attempting to re-create the system that nature uses. In an environmentally controlled area, such as a greenhouse, these systems are used with great success to raise both fish and plants in a closed loop waterway. As the fish live, breathe, eat and make waste their water can become quite toxic to them if left untreated.
Aquaponic gardens, however, clean and filter that water for the fish before it returns to them. As the water is pumped through a system, it will travel through both bio-filters and plant roots, each having a very important part in keeping those fish healthy.
The biofilter, aka your happy bacterial colony in the growing media, are a two part team. The first part converts the raw ammonias from the fish pollutants into nitrites and then the second part finally converts those into nitrates. Once these previously toxic elements have been naturally converted they become a healthy source of nutrients for the plants that are growing in the aquaponic garden bed. The plant roots are eager to get any source of extra nutrients that they can find, and as such, they will rapidly deplete them from the water rushing by.
It is by taking advantage of this natural bacterial cycle that aquaponic gardens are able to do so well for food production almost regardless of the gardeners personal skill level. It is my opinion, that aquaponic gardens might just be the much needed answer to providing food security for individuals as well as for entire communities.
When edible fish and plants are used they can provide more than enough food in return to cover the initial cost of setting it up. If you think of your garden as an investment, it’s the best returns you can find on the market without breaking the laws. Think about the price of a packet of seeds when compared to the price of some produce! It’s even more when you use the price of ‘Organic’ foods for your math and I feel that aquaponic foods are probably better for you anyway. Did you know that ‘Organic farms’ can still use fertilizers and pesticides as long as those products are ‘certified’? Using anything like that in an aquaponic system would cause massive damage because they are designed to use technology to simulate nature.
Nature doesn’t have those type of products … just saying.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Avoid these 3 Easy to Make Aquaponic Mistakes
The easiest mistake to make with a new, or an old, aquaponic garden is over planting. What’s that? I hear you asking about how that can be if one of the advantages of aquaponics is it can grow so many more plants? Here, let me explain this thought a little better. Plants need a few basic things besides just water and nutrients. Light and air flow are great examples of this. Even though you CAN grow 50 plants in 16 square feet of garden, really doesn't mean that you should. Based on my own personal experiences, I would recommend using something similar to the square foot gardening method when it comes time to plant your aquaponic garden bed. Yes, it’s less plants but it’s also more nutrients for each plant so think about the potential for a bumper crop of whatever you plant in there.
 |
| Over Planted Much JT? |
The second super easy to make mistake is shallow garden beds. I have two grow beds that are each only 6 inches deep and I can honestly tell you, it’s not deep enough. Sure, I saved a few dollars buying the shallow bed and sure I saved a few more when I made the second one at that same depth. However, it’s just not a good idea. It may work, but it’s not a good idea. I think that ideally an aquaponic garden bed should be at least 12 inches deep to allow for proper water flow and bacterial function. Plus deeper beds allow for adding worms to help with any solids that might sneak past your filters.
 |
| An Excellent Example of a Bad Drain, sadly taken in my greenhouse today. |
So here you go, learn from my mistakes … don't repeat them.
Now go out there and get growing!
JT Bear
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
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!
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!
Thursday, May 08, 2014
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!
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!
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Selecting Fish For Your Aquaponic Garden
When selecting fish for your aquaponic garden there are a great many things you will need to consider and they will all have an effect on your overall system.
Cost of heating is however, something to think about. The monthly costs to heat a large body of water and maintain it can be staggering. If you don’t believe me, ask someone with a backyard hot tub what’s cheaper, buying it or running it. My money is on running it, I've asked a few hot tub owners myself. Sure you aren't going to need to keep your water quite that hot, but you will be heating more water and moving it around where it has many chances to shed heat that you paid for.
Edible fish will have different dietary needs than ornamental fish, so a different food source will be required depending on which you choose for your garden. Will you be growing duckweed to supplement the diet of your fish or will you be purchasing something factory made for feed? If you’re growing your own fish food you will need to be certain that all the nutritional needs of your fish species are met, there are a host of good websites and YouTube channels to help you with this. If you've decided it would be better to buy premade fish feed you will need to make sure that it is food safe, if you plan on eating those fish or not! The food that gets left in the aquaponic system will break down and begin to feed, or poison, the plants depending on how much of it there is and what it’s made of. Even if all the food is consumed, it still needs to be food safe because when it comes back as waste … it becomes food for your plants.
How large will your fish grow and how much space will each one require to get to that size? Different species of fish need different things. A general recommendation for tilapia is as many as 1 per gallon, which seems crowded to me, whereas people will recommend a minimum of 10 gallons per koi. If you’re going to put all this effort into your aquaponic garden, why not do just a little more research first? My goldfish have somewhere around 2.5 gallons of water in the system per fish just because that’s how it worked out but they were just fine with only 1 gallon each before …
If you plan on marketing your fish, is there a market for this variety? What will these fish be worth to you after the cost of feed, pumps and the rest of your overhead? When you are getting involved with aquaponics on a hobby level this doesn't really matter quite as much but if you plan on making a business with aquaponics, this may make or break it. In some regions the fresh produce will more than cover the entire running costs, however in others the really big money item will be the fresh fish. I can’t say what’s going to be better where you are, but I will remind you to look into it before you get started. Ah, the joys of a hobby garden … my fish are just helpful pets but if I were to sell them I suspect I would get enough to replace them with at least twice as many!
Once you've begun to establish what you require for a fish species, you can begin to design your aquaponic garden to meet those assorted needs and grow nice, healthy fish. In the example of my garden, goldfish were selected for a few simple reasons. First off I did not require fish that I could consume, and getting edible fish would have meant a great pile of paperwork to try that locally. Secondly, goldfish are sturdy. Temperature changes that would kill many decorative aquarium fish are of little concern to these hardy little goldfish. Thirdly, even at their largest, a goldfish will only reach about 12 inches in length. That meant I would be able to have larger numbers of fish, in a hobby sized garden, without overburdening the bio-filters or stressing out the fish. Fourth and finally, as I have mentioned in many of my YouTube videos, goldfish are CHEAP! I mean really cheap. I could get one good quality koi for the same price as about 40 feeder goldfish so … In a starter system, it still seems like a solid financial choice to go with a more affordable option.
Just a few things that you will want to bear in mind when first selecting your aquaponic fish!
Share & enjoy!
JT Bear #JTBear
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