A new Alaskan newbie

[WurlyBird]

Hello to all. First, I would like to thank you all for having such a knowledgable and active community for me to join and to learn from. I learned more reading Aquaponics 101 than I did reading 6 books from Amazon. I have not yet set up an aquaponics system but will soon and I hope to one day be the one sharing lessons learned.

So how about a quick introduction. My name is James and I am a OH-58D instructor pilot in the US Army. I have a wife and two kids that were fortunate enough to get moved to North Pole, AK with me by the army, there is no sarcasm in that statement they actually tried to send us to Hawai'i. We are a weird, green, hippyish/granola, prepper kind of family. The type that fits in real well in the interior of AK. I am currently finishing up a rotation to S. Korea and if you have never been in a position which keeps you away from your family for a long period of time then you might not know that there is little more to do than get in trouble or self improve. So after coming to the conclusion that I am not equipped to write code to make an arduino powered digital instrument panel for an airplane I started reading about aquaponics. I am now completely hooked on the concept and am overflowing with ideas, concepts, and questions. The only actual experience that I have is tending to my parents salt water tanks as a kid, being a half decent gardener, and talking my wife through setting up a 3 gallon aquaponics aquarium that she got me for Christmas, probably in an attempt to shut me up, over Skype because the boys were to anxious to have fish to bother waiting for dad to come home.

My biggest questions involve information from anyone who has gone down this road in a colder climate. -50f during winter means that the fish must be housed indoors at least most of the year or an outdoor setup started annually. Another place a lot of questions keep popping up is the legality of it in AK. The short story behind that is that AK does not allow farming of finned fish except for a few stocking farms. So verbiage becomes important when you need to start distinguishing between a fish tank and a farm (I want to grow edible fish if possible). So I am here to hopefully jump on the coat tails of people who have already done this and figured out what can vs. can't be done in AK and then what results in healthy fish and plants.

I look forward to a lot of long threads here.

James

[davidstcldfl]

Hi James, welcome to the forum...
It's too late to warn you about the addiction... :P

My biggest questions involve information from anyone who has gone down this road in a colder climate. -50f during winter means that the fish must be housed indoors at least most of the year or an outdoor setup started annually.

...sorry, I get cold at 75 F. No help here.

[Apollo]

Welcome, glad that you have joined us. May your journey bring you the knowledge that you seek, put a smile up on your face, create hours of pleasure to stimulate your mind, an a healthier life style for your heart...from Apollo__Phoenix, Arizona.

No help here...we're in a cold snap right now with our low in the 30's, but nothing like your temps.

If you want to view my set up from start to now, check out “Fire Pit … AP” then “Pipe Siphon by Apollo” and ending with "Got Vertigrow?".

____________________________________
I HAVE NOT FAILED. I'VE JUST FOUND 10,000 WAYS THAT WON'T WORK. Thomas A Edison

[jvision]

Hi James, here's a link to my basement set-up Getting Ready for the basement
While not quite as far north as you are, Edmonton, AB manages to be the coldest place on Earth for at least one day every year! The hope is to have a thriving aquaponics production year round in the basement, but also have plants at a decent size to move outside for our short growing season - thankfully, Edmonton is the sunniest city in Canada!!

[JCO]

The only thing I can say is, there is no cure for Aquaponics Addiction so pull up an easy chair and enjoy the ride. Welcome and stay safe. I know about being gone for extended lengths of time...2 tours in Viet Nam. I'm sure you are much safer in South Korea but keep your head down anyway.

[WurlyBird]

Thanks for all the greetings. I am still in the figuring it out stage so I don't yet have specific questions. The biggest hurdle I have right now is basic geometry of the system. I have a five and seven year old so the fish tank will be an actual display tank, probably in the 40 to 60 gallon range. The biggest problem I see is getting water out of the tank reliably. Having a sump tank underneath it with a constant pump seems simple enough, and I want to let gravity take the water from fish tank to grow bed to sump tank. I think drilling holes in the tank at two heights, grow bed and overflow to sump, and using bulkhead fittings might be simplest. But I worry about any loads applied by weight to the fittings breaking the glass. Then there is a myriad of siphons and water bridges that can be used without drilling holes but if they ever lose siphon then the grow beds go dry. Ponder, ponder, ponder.

JCO, you are correct about S Korea, it's no Nam. All the guys that have never deployed think it is, and those of us that have wish it were. While bordom is certainly the most dangerous thing in my job I do hope Lil' Kim waits until I'm home before he goes completely nuts.

[Aloha Don]

Welcome to the addiction.
I am retired army and in Hawaii now..been to Alaska…beautiful place to visit (in the summer)
Been to Korea and know what you mean..lol..I should have started AP back then…
Looking forward to your new adventure…and to see the pics that you WILL post

[topz]

Welcome former military so I feel your pain on the long periods of separation. Glad to see your taking the self betterment over the alternative

Monday we reached -9 and wind chill was somewhere close to -30. Next year I will spend much more time on insulation and heat.

[WurlyBird]

One of the great things about the interior of AK is there is very little wind and just about zero humidity. 0f feels more like 32f. Snow machining at -15f will find me wearing probably less clothes then someone in Ohio this time of year. That being said, -40 is -40 and it's damn cold no matter what you do and all of a sudden the weirdest things can all of a sudden kill you and stuff just breaks. At -60 you just stay inside and talk about how if it warmed up 100 degrees the snow might melt. But we love it.