Aquaponics in Nova Scotia

[barbhines2010]

My second season has not been as successful as my 1st.....for several reasons:

I placed a second fish tank into the ground which set the growbeds back as they were late being planted.

There was 6 weeks of hot weather from mid July & throughout Aug. Speckled trout like it below 60 F. For that period, the water temp baselined around 70 F. Therefore, the trout fed poorly during that time which proved to slow growth.

There was also a great size variation when my trout were purchased in the spring. This created a problem in an enclosed area whereby the larger trout stressed out the smaller....& I lost several to this. In turn, the growbed in this system did not get the fertilizer necessary for abundance.

There were only a few red worms in the systems this year.

Hopefully my initial tank will also be placed in the ground before the snow flies this year so that I won't be taken up with that chore in the spring. I want to be able to get the beds planted as soon as ground temp reaches 55 F.

I was able to experiment with a few other things this year tho'....beets & carrots will grow in the systems too.....I didn't think root veggies would do well. Also, cold weather crops such as kale, are great for getting started in the spring... & go late into the fall to use up nitrates...

I call this 'seasonal aquaponics' because I shut the systems down in the early winter, & harvest the trout, then start the systems circulating again about 30 days or so before fish delivery in May.

This year, I'm hoping to keep the systems running until the end of October or mid Nov. to give the trout time to reach about 1 lb. each. There is also kale, carrot, beet, & habenero peppers growing in the beds still to be harvested, so we'll see how late we can keep them going.

At any rate, planning for next year has already begun!!....[attachment=0:17ejf8ib]2012 243.jpg[/attachment:17ejf8ib][attachment=0:17ejf8ib]2012 243.jpg[/attachment:17ejf8ib]

[davidstcldfl]

What kind of media were you using for beets and carrots ?

[barbhines2010]

The media base was approx 5 inches of clay pellets with approx 5 inches of gravel below it.....

[runolorun]

Hallo,

I´m just a newbie in Aquaponics, totally fond of the idea and planing to make a AP system as well. At the moment I´m only gathering ideas and planing. The biggest problem for me, was the fact, that the aquaponic system is a all year round system, which would not really work for me - I live in central Europe and weather for growing anything outside (no space inside) is only cca. april-october. During the winter we have temperatures below 0°C and quite a lot of snow. I have seen many posts speaking of a heated greenhouse, but this would be a too big project for me at the moment. As I have a spring in my garden, which has floating water all year around, I am not affraid of what to do with the fish during the winter - I think, if I use fish which are common here in central Europe, they have to survive in my pond during winter (as their colleagues in the "wilderness") - I would only re-open the pond for this spring water and close it in march and make it a closed cirquit with the growbeats (is that a good idea? Then I would probably have to circle the system with fish, which is not really recommended). The only thing I was affraid of, was the short time remaining for growing anything - the system needs a long period of cycling, before new bacteria appear 4-8 weeks. Now I have found your post and would like to ask: What is your experience with reopening the system? And aren´t there any "shortcuts", to boost bacteria growth? How big fish are you getting in May for your system and how much do they grow in the few months?

Looking forward your answers, suggestions...

[urbanfarmer]

Well, without controlling the climate you will have to work with the climate. There are crops you can grow below 0 C, but you would have to research it in more detail. There are some crops that are bred to tolerate -10 C, but these are grown in soil.

You can grow during those first few weeks when you begin to cycle your system. Depending on how you store the system during the winter, the bacteria may remain on the medium in a dormant state. This will speed up the process considerably. I just opened about 25 gallons of clay pebbles that were in an AP system many years ago and has been unused since. The little system I put them in began to cycle in less than a week, for example. There are many other ways such as purchasing some bacteria or preparing the medium months in advance before you plan to fill the system (if that's feasible for you).

Welcome!