Best Crops for Aquaponic Gardens

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!

Easy DIY Clean Air Intake for the Greenhouse

Hi there everybody!
While I don't yet have a picture to share of this there will be a video in the next week or so, basically once I get paid, showing how I will be putting mine together.  If you already watch my YouTube channels then you will have some idea of just how simple this project will be, otherwise just trust me and know that you can probably do this yourself.
First let's just quickly talk about why you want to make one of these as much as I do, and you already do or you wouldn't be reading this would you?  When it comes to our greenhouses there's usually not a lot that we wouldn't do to keep it safe, clean and producing the best fruit and veggies you could ever hope to tease your friends and neighbours with.  A well running greenhouse is a thing of beauty!  Even a poorly managed one, take mine for example, is capable of some pretty impressive stuff.  Don't get me wrong I try to look after my greenhouse but it was built, and is still managed, on a very tight budget so it lacks in some of the more expensive details.  Such as real windows but let's carry on shall we?
Any greenhouse, no matter how it was built, does a few basic things to help improve our overall gardening experience.  Basically it's all about climate control.  Hmm, that sounds kinda familiar ... anyway, we are regulating the temperature while in total control over the soil, water and air our plants get from that point on.  Playing god if you will.  If we forget to water then those plants are basically screwed.  Forgot to make sure the plant had enough nutrients in your soil, or 'ponics, and they're headed for the compost.  See where I'm going with this?
One of the things I enjoy the most about the artificial environment created by my little greenhouse is the basic level of protection from airborne pollution.  Since I do live in the middle of town, granted it's a smaller town, there is just about as much road pollution here as you can get in town.  As a special bonus we also live directly under the 1 of 2 routes to the local airport so that's a bonus sprinkle from above isn't it?  Then, moving up a bit more, there is also all of those planes leaving the very straight clouds behind them.  You know, the ones you can watch slowly falling and spreading out as they do until they become a haze up above?
Here then is the reason why we both want to make something that can provide our personally managed environments with clean, fresh & moist air at little to no cost.  As always that will depend on what you have laying around.  I, for example, will need to wander off and buy some pipe and fittings that are the right size.  Half inch PVC pipe just isn't going to do it for this project or there would be a video by now!
It's at about this point that I want to thank all those hippies who have worked so hard to make sure the next generation had access to this kind of technology.  Basically what we are going to build a water based filter for forced air.  To use a more relaxed phrasing, we're making a bong bro!  No, really, we kind of are.  So here's the plan, do with it as you will but if it works please post a video to YouTube & share with the whole class.

Bad lighting picture from a video camera, what do you do?
Breaks the 'wall of text' somewhat though ...

Into the lid for a fresh storage tote we will use a hole saw, that's the big circle drill bit that kinda looks like a bent saw blade for those who didn't take shop class, and drill two holes that are just large enough to pass the pipe through.  If you have to push a little that's okay as it will help make for a tighter seal.  You will need to measure and cut 2 lengths of pipe to insert at these locations.  The first should reach almost to the bottom, about 1/2 inch away is good.  The second should just barely go into the lid, 1/2 an inch is more than enough here.  Be aware, as weight is added to the lid it may sag and change these distances so checking from time to time is advised.  Attach the 2 curved 90° fittings to the pipe ends that are sticking out from the top of the project tote facing in whatever direction you like.  Makes no difference yet.  Believe it or not, we're almost done!  Almost.
After finding a suitable location in the greenhouse the tote will need to be positioned so that the longer pipe is closest to the wall and the shorter piece isn't.  This is the part that sucks.  We now need to cut a hole into the side of the greenhouse that we can pass some more of our pipe through.  That fresh air has to come from somewhere!  If you can, choose a place where the air intake will usually be covered with a shadow as this will help to naturally bring the coolest air available into your building.  Now comes the hardest part of the whole project, the forced air.  Since I would wager we will all be using different fan shapes and sizes I will simply leave it at saying you need to attach the pipe to either side of your fan and seal it well.  Oh ya, and make sure that it's blowing towards the tote, not the wall!  Since I will most likely be using a computer fan I suspect this should get interesting, can't wait to edit the video and see how I pull this one off!  Anyway ... after installing the fan and sealing the greenhouse wall around the intake pipe this project is just about ready to fly!  Pro tip - keep your powercords safe and clear of water danger because getting shocked sucks.
Now you can attach the pipe in the wall to the pipe that goes almost to the bottom of the tote.  Check to make sure that it's still close to the bottom but not touching.  If you are so inclined then attach something decorative to the fitting on the short pipe to pretty it up a bit.  Otherwise just leave it open as an easy way to fill the water in the tote!  Next step, fill the tote with water.  I recommend about halfway between the 2 pipe ends for the average greenhouse.  Plug in, or turn on, the fan and you should have fresh air pumping into your greenhouse from outside!
So basically how this works is that the outdoor air, filled with who knows what, is drawn into the intake by the fan and forced through the pipe into the water.  Since it is lighter it will naturally travel upwards towards the open end that leads to the greenhouse.  As the air from outside passes through the water much of the offending pollution is removed before it ever gets close to our beloved plants.  The water can be changed when it becomes too nasty and it will also help to keep the air reasonably humid for the plants!  Want more humidity?  Try adding a bit more water!
So, there it is ... the whole plan so far!  This may, or may not, be a new idea but I say share it freely since I just stood here and typed this whole blog entry I know the work is original at least.  Assuming you find this on the talk-qua-ponics blog on blogger anyway!  Post videos of your projects and the results, I'll be getting my DIY video posted on the JT Bear YouTube channel about an hour after it's built, editing & coffee take some time you understand.
Anyway, thanks for checking out the idea & seriously please give it a try or tell me why I shouldn't!
Have a great day everybody!

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Assessing the Cost of my Aquaponic Greenhouse Garden as a Hobby

Wow, I can honestly say that I'm quite shocked by what this worked out to show!

There are lot’s of different hobbies that I have gotten involved in over the years and they've all been fun but most of them were eventually set aside because they were just getting to expensive to continue with.  The RC trucks for example got way out of hand, as did the paintball equipment before it.  For the most part we've gotten rid of most of the clutter from those pastimes but there are still a couple of pretty sweet RC trucks in the attic that I’ve been thinking about getting down lately …

As some of you who follow my outdoor channel & blog are aware I have recently gotten back into more ‘manly’ hobbies like fishing & hunting.  Although to be honest there are a LOT of women that are taking an interest in these activities now as well so … sweet.  Anyway, equipment for either or both of these hobbies is kind of costly as well but it’s different because these both provide meat for dinner.

Aquaponics falls into that same sort of ‘grey area’ of spending as a hobby because it has that same bonus.  There are costs to setting up an aquaponic garden but as it turns out they really don’t have to be that much.  Please keep in mind that prices will be different for EVERYBODY building an aquaponic garden because we all shop in different stores and have different levels of urban foraging skills but basically here we go.

What I most commonly refer to as my greenhouse is, in fact, just a poly tunnel hoop house with delusions of grandeur.  Since it’s not heated, or really environmentally controlled at all, it sadly doesn't count as a proper greenhouse.  Well, not in my thinking anyway but I want to have something more like a conservatory anyway.  Ideally.  For now, I have built this little hoop house and it cost about $60 so far.  I’m okay with that compared to say several hundred for a smaller, but premade, garden greenhouse.  DIY is fine by me and Chox doesn't seem to mind either so … perfect!

Inside my little hoop house I am currently running two separate aquaponic gardens, as I discuss in the video on YouTube Assessing the Cost of my Aquaponic Greenhouse Garden as a Hobby.  The first garden has some of the older & more expensive pieces in it so it totalled out at $244 as I recall, the second garden was built with a little more experience and I was able to put it together for $168.  So the total cost of this is some $472.  Not bad.

Now, as I already said, the price of setting up your aquaponic garden will probably be different from that.  I was brought up to salvage lumber & reuse the nails, things like that tend to lower costs somewhat.  If you look around I’m sure that you can put an aquaponic garden together for WAY less than that.

So, for less than $500 I've been able to keep myself busy in the back yard growing herbs, fruit & vegetables for my family that are clean, fresh and healthy for them to eat.  Nice.  How many wives would gladly pay more than that to keep their hubbies happy and within eyeshot?  I feel confident to say that with all of the better than organic herbs we have stored away in the house from that garden, the countless green salads we've eaten, the heaping bowls of tomatoes that have come in and that Malabar spinach that was so excellent for sandwiches that we've gotten WAY more than our money back from this little garden.  What’s even better is that it will just keep on growing more food for us, all year round, year after year … oh ya.

What do I think after assessing the cost of my aquaponic garden in the greenhouse?  I think that money was darn well spent and if I had the space I’d double my greenhouse!

3 Years into the Aquaponic Garden Experiment

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.

From about 1 year into Aquaponic Gardens
(the fish pump was a bad idea)

When I first got involved with aquaponic gardening, about a year or so before the YouTube channel started to document everything, my system didn't even have a pump.  I had some old coffee cans with little drain hoses into a wading pool from the neighbours.  Very kind of them.  If I went into the garden area I would refill the cans and they would slowly drain back into the pool.  No pump, no power.

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.

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.

Growing the Aquaponic Community aka Sharing My Passion

The other day, I had a wonderfully inspiring ‘Hang Out’ chat with a man I am quite glad to say that I know, and hope I can safely call my friend.  Over the course of our discussion we talked about a great many things but one thing that really stood out, was about sharing our passions and making a positive difference.

In society today, it has become so easy to be completely disconnected with our food supply that many of us don't even know what country it came from.  That scares me a little bit.  I would have to say that my passion is getting others involved in creating their own aquaponic gardens.

Knowing that all over the world, people are starting to grow food for themselves and re-establishing that connection is what drives me forward every day!  I am delighted every time someone new asks me how to get started and I can't even pronounce the names of some of the countries ALL OVER THE WORLD where I have helped people to do just that.  My friends, that truly is a happy feeling deep down inside.

Let’s face facts.  The world today is so completely nuts that it will take something massive to make an impact at this point.  Let’s take a quick look at how aquaponic gardens are beginning to make their mark, shall we?  Every day thousands of trucks, trains, airplanes and cargo ships carry untold amounts of food, all over the world.  On the surface this seems like a wonderful thing!  We can grow food halfway around the world and still have it on our dinner plates.  Great!  Right?  In some ways, sure … it’s an amazing thing that mankind can do that now, wonderful.

How much fuel goes into transporting those crops thousands of miles around the globe?  How much time do those crops spend slowly decomposing once they have been picked?  That’s okay though because we have all kinds of chemicals we can spray on it to ‘keep it fresh’ for the journey.  Fact is, NO!  IT”S NOT OKAY!

Aside from those chemicals seeping into our food supply, building up over time in our bodies and generally taking away our sense of good health & aside from all the fuel being consumed in the process, it’s not so bad right?  Well, there is all the food that get destroyed because it doesn't ‘look’ good enough for the grocery stores once it gets there, and there is all the food that gets thrown into dumpsters because it sat too long on the shelves.  Oh, let’s not forget all the ‘amazing’ stuff they put into those foods before they hit the shelf too!  (so they can last longer…)

Why am I passionate about sharing how simple aquaponic gardening can be?  If you really need to ask that still, I suggest you reread the last couple of paragraphs.  Why aquaponics over soil gardening?  Well, that’s a whole different topic.

What I hope to do, is to help grow the global aquaponic community, so that we can all have healthier foods, grown locally.  The amount of water required for an aquaponic garden is only 2-10 percent of what it takes for soil based crops, that means fresh food for a lot of dry areas where people right now are starving.  ANYONE can grow crops with aquaponics, I know because I've made a lot of mistakes along the way and it still works!  Sure, maybe you don't have a big yard and can't grow all of your own food, so what?  I don’t grow all of what I eat yet, but when I eat what I grow … I feel pretty darn good about it!

I personally have made an aquaponic garden as small as 18 inches across by 32 inches in length and it still grows.  It’s great when we can afford the time, cash & space to build a really large and beautiful aquaponic greenhouse but don't wait until that point to get started.  Make a garden from a storage tote, make one out of from a 18 gallon water bottle, convert an old fish tank, run garden beds to filter that old koi pond out back … just get started!

If you need any advice, I’m always happy to lend a hand.  Subscribe to me on YouTube @ JT Bear and check out the video library.  If you still have any questions just send me a message or comment under one of the videos and I‘ll get back to you as soon as I can!   Blessed be & many happy harvests to you!

Are Aquaponic Gardens the Answer for Sustainable Living?

First off let me just say that anybody involved in gardening for food production gets a big ‘thumbs up!’ in my books.  Taking that first step towards producing your own food is, in my way of thinking, one of the most important steps for anyone to take on the journey towards a more sustainable lifestyle.

Now, you may life in a tiny flat or apartment and be reading this saying, ‘JT, I’d love to but I just don't have the room…’  Believe me, I feel your pain.  Not too long ago however I built a super basic aquaponic garden for a friend of mine to keep in his tiny apartment.  Sure, it’s not going to produce all the vegetables that he needs but it will save him a fortune in fresh herbs for the kitchen!

Steps towards sustainable living don't need to be huge, as long as you are making progress towards your goal it’s still progress!  So, how does aquaponics fit into all of this?  Well my friend, it’s quite simple really.  As with my friend from the last paragraph an aquaponic garden can be made to fit almost anywhere.  Every day people from all over the world are getting involved and adding their own way of doing things and solving problems.  Not only is this helping to create a friendlier global community based on helping each other to succeed, it’s also providing us with new and better ways to build our aquaponic gardens.  Ways that use even less power and water than ever before.  That’s what this is all about really.  Water.

Do you have any idea just how much fresh water goes into the growing of a single days worth of food?  It’s really quite staggering just how much is required.  It’s even more if you wish to enjoy meat in any of your meals.  With aquaponic gardening, the water use is cut down to a range of  anywhere from 2 to 10 percent of traditional farming.  That means up to 98% less freshwater could be used to produce that same amount of food!  Imagine that on a global scale … it’s truly awe inspiring.

With aquaponic gardens comes another food source as well though.  It’s not just fruit and vegetables anymore!  Once you switch to aquaponics you have the chance to begin growing your own fresh, clean & healthy freshwater fish.  I know plenty of fisherman who will only eat fish if it’s less than 10 minutes out of the lake, I think this would solve that problem!  How could you get fresher fish than from your own backyard?  Not to mention the bonus of stocking your favorite fish & being guaranteed a catch every time out!  The wild fisheries just aren't what they used to be anymore.  Our worlds lakes, rivers & oceans are getting more polluted every day and those fish are just not that safe to eat anymore.  It’s sad, but a fact all the same.  Anyway …

When you are growing your own fruits and vegetables, no matter how you garden, you are helping to reduce your overall carbon footprint as well.  How endless are the miles travelled by the vast majority of grocery foods?  How much fuel is used?  How about all that packing for shipping?  Wow, it’s disturbing how much of a mess you can see from the produce section going straight into the landfills.  Every head of lettuce you grow, every tomato you eat from your own plant, every savoury bite of fresh grown herbs … it all helps to reduce your overall carbon footprint in a pretty massive way once you think about it.

So the question again then was, ‘Are Aquaponic Gardens the Answer for Sustainable living?’  I'm just going to go ahead and say an enthusiastic YES!  Let’s summarise shall we?  Up to 98% less water used, that’s a good thing.  Aquaponic gardens can produce two sources of fresh healthy foods in your backyard, yup … that’s a good thing too!  With the added bonus of the overall reduction of fuels consumed & packaging required it seems to me that aquaponics is a clear winner!

Get started on your own aquaponic adventure today!  Come visit the YouTube channel and check out some of my assorted videos as I have learned about aquaponic gardens to keep our small family in fresh produce all year long!  Now go get growing!

JT Bear

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!

Growing Food in Aquaponics

Ah, the age old quest for food.  Primitive man learned that by planting seeds along moist river banks, gathering time could be greatly reduced.  This naturally lead to more free time for what mattered, like hunting and trying to control that ‘fire’ thing.  If you think about it, this was mankind beginning to learn about aquaponics.  We just didn't really quite understand how it worked.  All that mattered was that it did.

For the modern gardener getting involved in aquaponics the basic desire is not to different from that of our ancient gardening ancestors, we just have a wide variety of books and videos to help us along now!  Wow, is that ever true for aquaponics.  YouTube is filled with people working on developing their own aquaponic gardens and trying new ways to get even better results than before.  New filter ideas, new flow patterns, new fish and plant combinations but all aquaponics.

Aquaponic gardens offer the opportunity to grow two separate food supplies in the same balanced ecosystem.  The fish, often an edible variety such as tilapia, are kept in the tanks and produce their waste products just as they would any where else.  As the water re-circulates, these wastes are carried through bacterial colonies in the bio-filters.  The bacteria convert the waste into a readily acceptable plant food as the water moves on towards the grow beds.  In the garden beds, floating or media based, these nutrients are absorbed by the roots they rush past, thereby cleaning the water for its return to the fish tank.

Since the water is being reused in the system, rather than being drained into the soil and lost, the amount of water required to grow fresh fruit and vegetables is greatly reduced.  Some estimates place water demands of an aquaponic garden at 2-10% of what a more traditional garden would use to grow the same crops.  In addition to the produce grown, since fish are required to provide the nutrients in the water there is also the ability to raise meat in these gardens.  Tilapia, perch, trout, carp, shrimp … basically anything you can think of if it would live in freshwater.  Even that is becoming less of an issue as some aquaponic research centers are beginning to work with salmon and seaweeds to create a similar ecosystem for saltwater seafood.  Exceptionally important in these times where our ocean waters are become more soiled by our bad behaviors.

Almost anyone can grow top quality produce with ease in a simple aquaponic garden.  Look at what I've managed to do!

I started off with a kiddie pool for the fish, some coffee cans for my plants and an old Tupperware juice jug that I would water the plants with.  Granted, I've bought and made some rather huge improvements since then but the point is I started off with little more than desire and a bit of unused backyard.  From that moment on, I've been hooked on aquaponics.  Start small and go steady, while your system is developing grow things like kitchen herbs or leafy greens.  As you get more comfortable with the process, add some more garden space or a few more fish, take it slowly at first and you will be very happy with your new aquaponic garden.  After a year or so, once the bacteria have set up solid colonies and your school of fish has some nice numbers, try growing some fruiting plants like peppers or delicious fresh strawberries.

With all of the books and videos available, it never been easier to get involved with aquaponic gardening.  To see how my garden has changed and grown over the years, check out my YouTube channel JT Bear and feel free to ask any questions you may have.  I try to help when I can!  Until next time, happy harvests to you!

Spring Time Aquaponic Maintenance

Ah, spring.  Easily one of the best times of the year for any garden lover.  The birds are singing, the sun is shining, the soil is warming ... what's not to love.

For those of us who are gardening with aquaponics, spring is an excellent time to look into some basic maintenance so we can prevent HUGE problems down the road while everything is blooming or in fruit.

If your water temperature has dropped down to, or below, freezing then the odds are pretty good that your bacterial colonies are gone.  Sadly I am speaking from some painful learning experiences here.  There are a couple of easy ways to assist in re-establishing those helpful, in fact essential, bacteria in your aquaponic garden.  The simplest method would be to just let nature take it's course and they will develop on their own over time but this can be somewhat dangerous for your fish.  A large enough colony of bacteria can take quite some time to develop and a reasonable school of fish may produce too much waste for it to handle, leading to water issues and unwanted stress on the fish.  A different option, and the one I choose, is to add some form of bio-seeding product to your filtration media.  I use a product called OneFix for this.  You can get it on Amazon.com by following this link - OneFix Liquid Size: 32 oz.  The results have been quite consistent for me and I have lost very few fish since adding it to my aquaponic med kit.

Spring is also a great time to wash out your grow beds before replanting for the new season.  This could be considered an optional step in an amazingly well set up garden, but for the rest of us it's a good time to get out any 'extra' waste that's found it's way into the grow beds.  Old roots, bits of food and even small pieces of solid fish waste can slowly form blockages that will deprive some plants of a steady supply of fresh nutrients as water is diverted.  Many aquaponic gardeners skip this step for fear of harming those beneficial bacteria but with something such as OneFix that becomes less of a concern.  Don't let all that wonderful waste go to waste though, collect it in a bucket with some water and save it as a booster shot for your soil gardens.  Watch those plants grow! 
One of my favorite things about aquaponic gardening would have to be just how easy it is to rearrange and transplant.  Now would be a great time to pull up any plants that have wintered in the beds and quickly wash out their root systems.  This will help to get rid of any dead roots or other debris that have built up over time and allows you the opportunity to relocate them to a better position for the new gardening year!

If you find a great deal of fish solids or leftover fish foods in your garden bed it may be time to take a look at what you feed your aquaponic fish.  If you are growing fish for decorative purposes or for the dinner plate you still want to be sure that they are getting the healthiest food you can provide them with.  As was pointed out to me by a good friend, "If you feed your fish a garbage food, that's what they feed your plants.  Don't you eat those?"  Good point.  Once I started looking into a few different foods available for my fish, remember I raise goldfish and koi, I found a company called MicrobeLift.  These guys have a whole host of helpful products including what I feel to be my best choice for a food safe fish feed.  You can check them out on YouTube  or just pick some up on Amazon.com by clicking here - Microbe-Lift Legacy Koi Goldfish Summer Staple Food: 10 oz.  My fish are more active at meal time for this than any other dry food I've offered them and I saw a rapid improvement in their overall color and health.  As an added bonus I noticed that after I switched foods they consumed less and produced less solid waste, making it easier for a waste filter to catch it all!

One final thing I feel every aquaponic gardener should do in the spring is a quick bit of pump maintenance.  Since most of us have different pumps there is no point in going into any real detail but make sure that you clean out as much of it as you can so that it's ready to give you another year of steady performance.


May your fields be green and your crops be plentiful!
JT Bear