Basement Aquaponics

[stucco]

Nice! We are giving out pesto for Christmas this year.

[Big Al]

very nice look's great. Big Al

[jackalope]

Looks good, thanx for the pix!

[pniedzwiecki]

Hello,

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Yesterday we added 22 more fish to the system (total of 40). The fish farm really couldn’t say how much longer they would have the remaining fish so I decided to go ahead and get some while I could. So far, after just over 24 hours, the ammonia and nitrites have not gone up much, if at all. The nitrates are still high but I only have just over one third of the grow bed planted with vegetables. Although we have many flowers still in the system, I don’t think they require as many nutrients as vegetables (I may be wrong about that).

Most of the fish we just added are considerably larger than the 18 that we had already in the tank. At the fish farm they feed them twice a day and they are feeding larger pellets. Right now I am only feeding once a day with smaller pellets. Once I use up the little bit I have left of the smaller pellet food I will get a bag of the larger food. By then I should be on a twice a day feed schedule with the help of some kind of automatic fish feeder.

The lettuce seems to be growing better lately. Maybe the system is maturing somewhat. I also noticed that the plants are responding rapidly after cuttings. Several months ago, it was taking two to three days (sometimes longer) before the cut lettuce plants showed any signs of re-growth. But lately it has only taken one day to see a noticeable difference. Either the system is performing better or we just happen to have a group of plants that are genetically superior to the earlier plants.

I purchased an air pump for the grow bed that I need to find time to install. Hopefully that will help some. I also need to do some plumbing from the filter outlet to the grow bed. The hose is just kind of hanging there and is an accident waiting to happen. Also some kind of shaded cover for the fish tank may be in order.

Anyway, here is a video of the system to date:

[video:22ye8uz2]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXxZ8d6DkQc[/video:22ye8uz2]

[pniedzwiecki]

Hello everyone,

It’s been a while since I’ve posted last, but I have a little story to tell.

Last night I came home from work only to find that the power had been knocked out by the very high winds. Apparently it had been out for several hours prior. Needless to say I was very surprised when I saw this:

[video:18xzkn3l]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAGD_lw_1QE[/video:18xzkn3l]

Almost all the water (all but 1”) siphoned back through the filter, and in the process, flushed all the debris in the filter back into the fish tank, over the top of the fish tank and on to the floor. Approximately 200 gallons of water. The water in the fish tank was really dirty at that point.

It took about 6 frantic hours to get everything back to as close to normal as possible. After that I made sure that the filter outlet hose was secured in a way that would prevent the siphoning action from ever happening again. The hose end is about 1 inch above the surface of the water in the grow bed. I still do not have any battery backup for the water pump or the air pump, but at least the above disaster will not happen again.

The fish seem to be ok after one day. They seemed to be as hungry as ever when I fed them today. I’m not too worried about the plants as it probably will not even have any noticeable effect on them. The ammonia level currently reads somewhere between .5 and 1. I have not tested the nitrite level yet but the nitrate level has not changed (somewhere between 10 and 30 for several weeks now).

I’m a little worried right now but everything should be back to normal in a day or two.

We’ve had all the fresh lettuce we could eat for about 2 months now. We have even given quite a bit of it away. Our production peaked a couple of weeks ago and then slowed dramatically. I’d say that 80% of the seeds that I have been planting lately will not sprout. Of those that do sprout, most die after a week or two of slow growth. The problem, I think, is that sometimes the seeds are too deep and stay too wet, and sometimes I put them too shallow and they never even get moist. I have to come up with a different approach for seed starting, I think.

Anyway, a couple more pics that I took last night after the timer turned the grow lights off:





That one lettuce plant is 23” tall! That’s a first for us. I am wondering if this is fairly common or not. The overall health and growth rate of the plants has increased noticeably over the past 4 or 5 days. Prior to that, everything seemed to be in some king of slump for several weeks. Plenty of lettuce though, even during the slump.

A video I made a few days ago before the storm:

[video:18xzkn3l]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42BT5vx4TnI[/video:18xzkn3l]

Thanks,

[davidstcldfl]

Hey pniedzwiecki, Sorry to hear about your miss-hap. Sounds like it was a real mess...

Just wondering.....Are you starting the seeds right in the net pots while they are in the floating rafts ? How thick are your rafts ?

I've been experimenting, trying to get my lettuce seeds to start well. I was drowning my seeds when I put them in the horti-cubes and put them into the floating rafts.
I now have the cubes sitting in plastic tubs....I top water/sprinkle them till they've sprouted.( twice a day seems to be good)
After a several days, I just pour a little water in the tub, so the cubes can soak up the water. After a few weeks (?)...once I can see some roots coming out of the cubes, then I put them in my slit pots and into the floating rafts.

Once they sprout, I add a 'little' maxi-crop w/ iron to the water. The horti-cubes provide no nutes. This seemed to help.

I'm using 2" thick rafts. The bottom of the 2" slit pot 'justs' touches the water. Plus, I'm hoping, the 2" styro will be more durable in the long run.

Keep us posted...

[Big Al]

hi pniedzwiecki, sorry to here about your luck but those winds were pretty strong here
50+ mph gust. you were closer to the storm center they were probably alot worse. did
you get any snow. glad to see all is better now. nice setup you have.good luck Big Al

[pniedzwiecki]

Hello everyone,

I think it’s safe to say we have fully recovered from the “incident”. The fish are doing fine and the few plants that we have growing are doing fine as well.

We also recently started using a slightly larger pellet food (Silver Cup 4.5). Still only feeding once a day but it’s pretty much a feeding frenzy now. I think they like it.

So far so good.

Hey pniedzwiecki, Sorry to hear about your miss-hap. Sounds like it was a real mess...

Just wondering.....Are you starting the seeds right in the net pots while they are in the floating rafts ? How thick are your rafts ?

Thanks man. At first I was having really good luck with dropping the seeds right into the hydroton in the net pots. However, lately the seeds are either too wet or too dry and just not sprouting. The foam board is 2” thick and pretty sturdy. I have a few ideas that I am going to try as soon as I get a chance. I will keep you guys posted.

hi pniedzwiecki, sorry to here about your luck but those winds were pretty strong here
50+ mph gust. you were closer to the storm center they were probably alot worse. did
you get any snow. glad to see all is better now. nice setup you have.good luck Big Al

Yes, the wind here was incredible. Absolutely amazing. I don’t think I have ever experienced wind like that, even during hurricane season while living in Florida for 15 years.

Anyways, a video and some pics:

[video:31oedwv4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uD0tz0aZh4[/video:31oedwv4]









Thanks,

[Big Al]

hi pniedzwiecki, that's a nice big salad you got there. it look's great. very nice. Big Al

[pniedzwiecki]

Hello,

Finally able to find some time to post some updates. Been pretty busy.

The fish are now a little over one week past a 4 to 6 week long hunger strike. Somehow I managed to lower the ph too much (below 5 from a normal 6.5 to 7) without realizing it. It couldn’t of been that low for too long, but when I then realized it was low, I adjusted it back up to normal (and probably too quickly). I am convinced the sudden ph up and down is the cause of the hunger strike. They just would not eat. I would try to feed them every few days but I would end up having to scoop out all the uneaten food. As you can imagine, they did get quite thin. Many times during this period I very nearly scooped them all out and fried them up. Good thing I didn’t.

Anyway, everything is back to normal and they are eating as much as ever and pretty aggressively and they are starting to fatten up again.

I have been experimenting with the horti-cubes and they seem to be performing quite well. We’ve had a group of 9 or so plants from start to finish in the horti-cubes and they did well. I started the seeds in the horti-cubes right in the grow bed. In my system the trick is to place the horti-cubes in the hydroton so that the bottom of the horti-cubes just barely touch the surface of the water in the net pots then I just pour in additional hydroton around the horti-cube for support. The hydroton surrounding the horti-cube also absorbs excess moisture from the horti-cubes. Based on my observations I believe the horti-cubes also promote a healthier root system. The roots seemed to be thicker and just overall looked healthier to me. I think I will stick with the horti-cubes (even with the additional cost) instead of trying to seed right into the hydroton.

Here are a few vids and pics:

[video:208b4ol2]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXp8hieTh64[/video:208b4ol2]

The above video was taken towards the end of the hunger strike. It may be hard to tell but they look quite thin.

[video:208b4ol2]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huQ0P89bLIA[/video:208b4ol2]

This video was taken yesterday. They have been eating good for a little over a week now.


Harvested 12-28-10.


Bagged from 12-28-10 harvest.


Before the 1-3-11 harvest.


After the 1-3-11 harvest.


Harvested 1-3-11.


Bagged from 1-3-11 harvest.

We will most likely have another 3 or 4 bags in the next day or so. Eating salad every day..... and I like it.

Thanks,