davidstcldfl
01-31-2011, 05:57 AM
About a month ago, I visited a church in Orlando. They have a farm started on the property. Of course, they have some nice raised dirt beds going, and are adding various citrus and fruit trees. They have 60 or so verti-grow towers up and running. And a handfull of chickens too.
They are pretty serious about raising some fish. They had already gotten their aquaculture licennses and had bought some tilapia.
At that time I visited, they had a large above ground swimming pool set up as a fish tank. They were pumping water from it, into a DIY bio-filter and then spraying back into the fish tank. They were doing partial water change outs, to keep the fish happy.
As for heating, they did have a small solar heater hooked to the pipe on the pump. They also had a solar blanket. During the recent cold snaps we've had, their tilapias were slowly dying off. I know they weren't blues....they had bought some other type in Orlando.
The Pastor and the gentleman running the farm, came by my place to see my system the same day. I just went back to their 'farm' yesterday to see what they had gotten done. They've been busy.......
http://i931.photobucket.com/albums/ad157/davidstcldfl/Church13011.jpg
The tank is aprox 4' x 4' x 10 feet. The boards on the side are 2 x 6's. There is insulation between the boards and liner. They are planning on building 2 more.
It's hard to see ,but, In the background, you can see the verti-grows.
( I'm standing in ankle deep water...boy, that was cold.... :lol:
http://i931.photobucket.com/albums/ad157/davidstcldfl/Churchwetfeet13011.jpg
We are brain storming about re-vamping them for aquaponics. Of course, we'd really have to do some serious water filtering. Even then, I'm concerned about the bio-slime build up. Maybe make the holes larger, where it goes into the towers ?
We'd have to collect the water at the base of each tower. Maybe some type of a trough system, were it flows to a sump and is
pumped back to the fish tank. (?)
I know a gentlemen that did convert some towers, I'll have to check and see what he's doing and how they are working.
We talked about building some flood and drain beds. We'll have to see where that goes.....
They are pretty serious about raising some fish. They had already gotten their aquaculture licennses and had bought some tilapia.
At that time I visited, they had a large above ground swimming pool set up as a fish tank. They were pumping water from it, into a DIY bio-filter and then spraying back into the fish tank. They were doing partial water change outs, to keep the fish happy.
As for heating, they did have a small solar heater hooked to the pipe on the pump. They also had a solar blanket. During the recent cold snaps we've had, their tilapias were slowly dying off. I know they weren't blues....they had bought some other type in Orlando.
The Pastor and the gentleman running the farm, came by my place to see my system the same day. I just went back to their 'farm' yesterday to see what they had gotten done. They've been busy.......
http://i931.photobucket.com/albums/ad157/davidstcldfl/Church13011.jpg
The tank is aprox 4' x 4' x 10 feet. The boards on the side are 2 x 6's. There is insulation between the boards and liner. They are planning on building 2 more.
It's hard to see ,but, In the background, you can see the verti-grows.
( I'm standing in ankle deep water...boy, that was cold.... :lol:
http://i931.photobucket.com/albums/ad157/davidstcldfl/Churchwetfeet13011.jpg
We are brain storming about re-vamping them for aquaponics. Of course, we'd really have to do some serious water filtering. Even then, I'm concerned about the bio-slime build up. Maybe make the holes larger, where it goes into the towers ?
We'd have to collect the water at the base of each tower. Maybe some type of a trough system, were it flows to a sump and is
pumped back to the fish tank. (?)
I know a gentlemen that did convert some towers, I'll have to check and see what he's doing and how they are working.
We talked about building some flood and drain beds. We'll have to see where that goes.....