kodacakes
02-07-2013, 01:42 PM
Hello everyone, I'm 23 years old living near Chicago, IL. It is currently freezing here and covered in snow... it's also raining... :cry: I've always felt like an old soul. I definitely don't "fit" with people my age but I found my other half who is just like me! He's soon to be 26, an army veteran, we have the same interests and ambitions for what we want out of life. I'm always interested in learning new things... okay more like using every moment of down time and in between to research anything and everything of interest. My major passion is animals, I was going to school for veterinary medicine but that is put on hold because it's just not practical with today's economy. :| Enough about me, let's get to the good stuff!
I ended up at aquaponics because of my interest in one day having a more self sustaining life. Not to the extent of no electricity mind you (although the idea of solar panels is quite intriguing to me)! More to the extent of I'd rather grow and raise my food than buy things I'm not sure of at the grocery store. My ultimate goal is to move out of Illinois (the boyfriend and I have been looking at East Texas or maybe a close-by state near the South since we hate the Chicago wind and extreme snows) once the move happens (we're aiming for April 2014) we'd like to look around for a house with some acres and slowly incorporate more things to be more efficient (start with chickens and move our way on up). I've even gone to the extent of learning butchering and things like that. I wasn't joking when I said I research extensively haha anyways I ended up stumbling upon aquaponics and it sounds rather ideal since it is almost essentially a complete little (or big!) ecosystem where each thing is beneficial to the next. I really love the concept and so I figured my best bet would be to start small since we're currently in an apartment and then go bigger once moved and established in a house.
I've already read a ton on aquaponics and am still getting any and all information, tips, tricks, etc. that I can. I stumbled upon this site from... I believe a blog. I figured instead of laying low I'd put myself out there and see what information I can soak up from all of you veterans and even the new guys :P (and gals). My ultimate goal is to end up making an in depth... I suppose blog of sorts with the steps I end up taking from the apartment to a bigger system. Pictures, the parts and steps for assembly... I'm pretty sure you all get it haha I want to have it all laid out so other people like myself can glean what they want out of it or even not make whatever mistakes I might make and/or see solutions to overcome them.
Once we're moved and go for a bigger system, I will probably go the tilapia route. I happen to love eating fish, mainly white meat fish. My boyfriend however does not eat it (I'm pretty sure he'd eat white fish fried and smothered in ketchup though! :roll: ), although he will eat other sea food... so I've been looking around at possibly some sort of compromise or maybe two FT's so that he can get something out of it as well. :D
So I will just jump on in to what I've been looking at and what I've decided or need more insight in order to decide! Any and all feed back, criticism, information, tips, etc. are welcome!
Since I'm in an apartment until our big move... space is obviously a big factor and of course this also means it would be indoors (then again I don't think anything could survive Chicago seasons haha!). I haven't quite decided how big of a FT I want to go. I am aware that smaller ones tend to have more issues in terms of levels, etc. which is why I've been wondering just how big I can go. I guess space isn't a huge issue since the boyfriend and I are quite simplistic in our living. Neither of us care for crazy expensive/elaborate things. We'd much rather enjoy time together and then of course there's our pets. I swear we've spent more money on them than us! I'm positive they eat better than us as well :lol: Right now we currently have a whole room vacant... although there has been some talk of starting a family in the near future so I don't know if that means the room will be taken up or not (odds are that'll happen in Texas so let's ignore that factor for now)! I know that I don't want to go as big as 100 gallons, I think that would be far too extreme for an apartment. But I'm also not sure that I want to start as small as 30 gallons. I know we'll be doing an ebb & flow system. Instead of writing a million paragraphs (which I'm quite good at) I will just write bullet questions/thoughts for anyone to comment on:
-If I want to start out by growing things like lettuce, spinach, some herbs, and maybe a cherry tomato plant or 2... how much space do you think I would roughly need for something like that (grow bed size)? I like all of those things listed whereas my boyfriend would only eat the spinach and some herbs.
-Would 2 beds be more ideal for the things I'm interested in growing?
-I've read that tomatoes do better in a grow bed medium other than gravel... so odds are it would have to be separate then? Or could I still put it with the rest of the bed?
-I know people typically use gold fish or small koi for systems that aren't huge. I doubt I would have a system large enough to grow edible fish... so are there any other fun/useful options?
-Are there options that are not fish? Or perhaps things that can co-exist with the fish and live harmoniously without poorly affecting the plant growth? Or perhaps even aiding in the system?
-I've read that some people start growing directly in the system but have to deal with seeds washing away while other people have their nursery to start out then transfer... I feel like most people I've read about transfer to their grow beds... what is involved in the process of the plants going from a potted setting to the grow bed media?
-I've looked around for people that grow asparagus. I've seen a couple people say they do but they haven't posted anything on how they go about it. I know asparagus in general are a bit different than just growing lettuce and other easy plants so I was wondering if anyone has knowledge of this? Or perhaps I've overlooked a post with explanations/experience?
-What if I were interested in growing onions? Garlic?
I'll stop here for now since I've already written a lot and I'd rather have the questions I currently have get answered instead of overlooked. If there are already posts that I haven't had the chance to read that explain any of my questions feel free to post the link or web-site instead of writing it all out! Or you can write a ton like I do :)
I ended up at aquaponics because of my interest in one day having a more self sustaining life. Not to the extent of no electricity mind you (although the idea of solar panels is quite intriguing to me)! More to the extent of I'd rather grow and raise my food than buy things I'm not sure of at the grocery store. My ultimate goal is to move out of Illinois (the boyfriend and I have been looking at East Texas or maybe a close-by state near the South since we hate the Chicago wind and extreme snows) once the move happens (we're aiming for April 2014) we'd like to look around for a house with some acres and slowly incorporate more things to be more efficient (start with chickens and move our way on up). I've even gone to the extent of learning butchering and things like that. I wasn't joking when I said I research extensively haha anyways I ended up stumbling upon aquaponics and it sounds rather ideal since it is almost essentially a complete little (or big!) ecosystem where each thing is beneficial to the next. I really love the concept and so I figured my best bet would be to start small since we're currently in an apartment and then go bigger once moved and established in a house.
I've already read a ton on aquaponics and am still getting any and all information, tips, tricks, etc. that I can. I stumbled upon this site from... I believe a blog. I figured instead of laying low I'd put myself out there and see what information I can soak up from all of you veterans and even the new guys :P (and gals). My ultimate goal is to end up making an in depth... I suppose blog of sorts with the steps I end up taking from the apartment to a bigger system. Pictures, the parts and steps for assembly... I'm pretty sure you all get it haha I want to have it all laid out so other people like myself can glean what they want out of it or even not make whatever mistakes I might make and/or see solutions to overcome them.
Once we're moved and go for a bigger system, I will probably go the tilapia route. I happen to love eating fish, mainly white meat fish. My boyfriend however does not eat it (I'm pretty sure he'd eat white fish fried and smothered in ketchup though! :roll: ), although he will eat other sea food... so I've been looking around at possibly some sort of compromise or maybe two FT's so that he can get something out of it as well. :D
So I will just jump on in to what I've been looking at and what I've decided or need more insight in order to decide! Any and all feed back, criticism, information, tips, etc. are welcome!
Since I'm in an apartment until our big move... space is obviously a big factor and of course this also means it would be indoors (then again I don't think anything could survive Chicago seasons haha!). I haven't quite decided how big of a FT I want to go. I am aware that smaller ones tend to have more issues in terms of levels, etc. which is why I've been wondering just how big I can go. I guess space isn't a huge issue since the boyfriend and I are quite simplistic in our living. Neither of us care for crazy expensive/elaborate things. We'd much rather enjoy time together and then of course there's our pets. I swear we've spent more money on them than us! I'm positive they eat better than us as well :lol: Right now we currently have a whole room vacant... although there has been some talk of starting a family in the near future so I don't know if that means the room will be taken up or not (odds are that'll happen in Texas so let's ignore that factor for now)! I know that I don't want to go as big as 100 gallons, I think that would be far too extreme for an apartment. But I'm also not sure that I want to start as small as 30 gallons. I know we'll be doing an ebb & flow system. Instead of writing a million paragraphs (which I'm quite good at) I will just write bullet questions/thoughts for anyone to comment on:
-If I want to start out by growing things like lettuce, spinach, some herbs, and maybe a cherry tomato plant or 2... how much space do you think I would roughly need for something like that (grow bed size)? I like all of those things listed whereas my boyfriend would only eat the spinach and some herbs.
-Would 2 beds be more ideal for the things I'm interested in growing?
-I've read that tomatoes do better in a grow bed medium other than gravel... so odds are it would have to be separate then? Or could I still put it with the rest of the bed?
-I know people typically use gold fish or small koi for systems that aren't huge. I doubt I would have a system large enough to grow edible fish... so are there any other fun/useful options?
-Are there options that are not fish? Or perhaps things that can co-exist with the fish and live harmoniously without poorly affecting the plant growth? Or perhaps even aiding in the system?
-I've read that some people start growing directly in the system but have to deal with seeds washing away while other people have their nursery to start out then transfer... I feel like most people I've read about transfer to their grow beds... what is involved in the process of the plants going from a potted setting to the grow bed media?
-I've looked around for people that grow asparagus. I've seen a couple people say they do but they haven't posted anything on how they go about it. I know asparagus in general are a bit different than just growing lettuce and other easy plants so I was wondering if anyone has knowledge of this? Or perhaps I've overlooked a post with explanations/experience?
-What if I were interested in growing onions? Garlic?
I'll stop here for now since I've already written a lot and I'd rather have the questions I currently have get answered instead of overlooked. If there are already posts that I haven't had the chance to read that explain any of my questions feel free to post the link or web-site instead of writing it all out! Or you can write a ton like I do :)