Aquaponics 2.0

The second version of the aquaponics system was fantastic. There were alterations and certainly improvements. But first, the news...

Well, there's good news and bad news.

Good news: Elliot successfully built a filter from a rubbish bin and scourer pads and the system ran brilliantly with filtered water, and the tank looked clear and clean and great.

Good news: We bought four new fish three weeks ago and they are still alive.

Bad news: We have to move.

Bad news: The new house has no area for an aquaponics system so yesterday it got dismantled and the fish have been relegated to a life of living in a tank and having people stare at them.

They do seem rather happy though

We did have a good chance to get the filter up and running for a while and the new fish in the system before we had to start the packing and moving process. We don't know how long it will be until we get to set it up again but the filter certainly improved it and we will be well on track to having a flawless system when that time comes. The water levels were all really good and the fish seemed happy and well, didn't die.

The filter came as a result of there being quite a bit of sediment at the bottom of the tubes where the plants sit. Some Youtube research was done and a trip to the Warehouse and some plumbing place later, one filter was built.

Elliot made the filter from a rubbish bin, taped the top of it up, cut a circle from a peg basket for a mesh/net type effect which sat 10 cm or so off the bottom of the bin and then 30 or so scourer pads were placed on top of that. He put a 25mm tank fitting in the top which is where the water from the tank comes in and goes down a pipe which takes the water to the bottom of the filter, it then leaves the pipe in two directions which creates a swirl and that takes all the yucky sediment stuff to the bottom. The water then fills up to the top, travelling through the scourer pads which catch any other nasties. The water then exits the filter from the outflow fitting into the tubes where the plants are. Elliot also made a overflow which was another fitting higher than the outflow pipe just in case that got blocked the water would exit the overflow as a last resort.

I was amazed at the difference it made. The tank was so much cleaner and the water so much clearer. We thought the water before was pretty good, but this was amazing. I could actually see the fish. The ornamental vase that was in there became completely clean and the fish look happy (as happy as fish can look I guess).

Elliot also added a new pump to the sump tank to pump the water out faster as the water level in the fish tank was getting to low. This was also a great improvement and did the job perfectly.

We had one survivor from the first lot of fish and he had a few lonely weeks but was stellar. We cycled the system for a while and the water tests were all good and stable so we made a trip back to Hollywood Fish Farm, got four medium comets and introduced them to their new home.

They and the aquaponics system were going great (after the two very minor floods) and we were hoping to grow some new chilli plants in there but then got the unfortunate news that we had to move. We sadly leave behind our beautiful garden and conservatory that has served us so well.

The fish will come to our new home at Tern Place (doesn't quite have the same ring does it?) and we will have a nice big new deck for some planting which I am sure we will make the most of. There will still be chillies and hot food and we still have 10 bags of dried chillies to get through!

Herbs and veges will still be grown and it's all just another chapter in the life of a renter I guess.

Sunset Road has served us well - not only the garden and conservatory, but has been the perfect place for our first chilli growing season and our first home together (awwwww). It also gave me the inspiration for "Sunset Chillies" - a name which will stick and some memories that will last a lifetime.

Aquaponics: week 3

The aquaponics system by all accounts is going great guns. The fish are getting bigger, as are the lettuces. The tank looks rather nasty as is getting scum buildup (technical term biofilm) and smells a bit pondy, but this is because the water in the tank doesn't get changed and therefore the tank doesn't get cleaned. Despite this, the water is clean and clear which is how it should be - the plants take all the waste out of water (in a process explained below) and so what is being pumped back into the fish is effectively clean (hence no need to change the water or have a filter).

The big boy Pumpkin and two of the triplets havin a chat

I tasted a leaf of the lettuce yesterday and it was good (whilst at the same time ignoring Elliot cracking himself up by saying I just ate fish poo - mature as always).

With growing lettuce leaves comes growing lettuce roots. And they have got massive since we set this all up almost three weeks ago. At that time it was bloody tricky to get the roots down through the bottom because they were so tiny and delicate; now they are huge. These of course hang down out of the bottom of the net pots and sit in the water that goes through the tubes.

The water is tested for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. The ammonia (from the fish waste) shows up first. When significant quantities of this are present in the system there is a bacteria in nature that will start to grow and feeds on ammonia and converts this to nitrIte. Once nitrIte is present, there is another bacteria in nature that converts nitrIte to nitrAte.  The nitrAte is the good stuff that becomes the fertiliser for the plants. When you get a "fully cycled" system the levels of these three should all be zero - this means that the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrIte is established and the bacteria that converts the nitrIte to nitrAte is established. This means that the nitrogen cycle is complete and the plants are now supported by the fish.

The ammonia started to show a week or so into the project and the nitrIte showed soon after. We have just started to get nitrAte showing up in the tests as the ammonia and nitrIte are starting to drop (all consistent with the science of aquaponics).

Ammonia, while from the fish's own waste, is not good for them, which is why when keeping fish as pets in a bowl the water needs to be changed regularly. You don't have the same need to do that with aquaponics as the plants and growing media become a filter - all quite clever really.

Testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate
(measured in parts per million)

We feed the fish twice a day and test the water every day and the ammonia is now down back towards zero and the nitrite is heading down too. These are all good signs. So, so far, so good. No system breakdowns, no flooded conservatory and no floating fish (rather pleased as am becoming a tad fond of them).

It's basically a mini ecosystem we have here. Because no chemicals are added, this, put simply, is nature. The biofilm, the bacteria, the nitrogen, the fish, their poo, the plants - the whole "circle of life" (well, not really, but I felt an Elton John moment coming on). It's pretty darn cool really.

Oh, and Elliot is heading away for the long weekend doing something silly like camping so it is all in my capable hands!!! I'm sure there will be instructions given, phone calls, texts and photo updates insisted upon.

We have fish

Five little comets have been added to our Sunset Road abode. They of course have their own little house - being the 140L tank that feeds our aquaponics system. They do not have names (mainly because three of them are the same size and we can't tell them apart) but I am attached already. One day in and I had to buy them an ornamental sunken vase so they had "something to play in". Once they had sussed out the vase by checking it out from a distance, swimming around it, going up to it and backing off, sniffing if (?? no idea if fish can smell??), one finally ventured in and now they love it. It is fun and somewhat therapeutic to watch them swim around, but they are there for a reason...

The aquaponics system is up and running and is currently housing some cos lettuces just to get it going but it is really in place to grow the chilli plants of the seeds we are currently germinating (update on that - five days in and one jalapeno has germinated).

The system (when explained by me) sounds fairly simple but Elliot has done an amazing job programming the PLC (programmable logic controller) to control the pump cycles, the float switches, the lights and the fan.

The large white tank hosts the fish, one of the pumps and an air pump to give the fish oxygen and of course their little vase.

The water from this tank pumps up to the tubes with the plants and fills them every 15 minutes for 15 minutes. Then they drain back into the sump tank (smaller black tank with yellow lid). This tank also has a pump which pumps the water back into the fish tank.

The sump tank has two float switches - one high and one low so that the water never gets too high to flood and too low to make the pump run dry and crap out. Once the water hits the high switch the pump comes on and pumps the water back into the fish tank.

The water from the fish tank is tested for pH and ammonia. Ammonia is what comes from the fish's waste and there is a bacteria in nature which turns this into nitrogen which is what the plants need to grow. We made sure we got decent fish food with lots of good fruit and vege sources in it - with the notion that the better the nutrients going in, the better the nutrients coming out.

Our conservatory gets really hot so Elliot has set up a thermostat so that when the temperature of the conservatory reaches 25°C a pedestal fan comes on and goes off again when the temperature drops below 25. We are trying to keep the water temperature at about 20-22°C so are monitoring that but at the moment it's getting up to about 24 during the day.

Four days in and so far so good. A couple of leakages and an overflow due to a clay ball in the drain meant a couple of saturated towels but apart from that it has been pretty drama free. The week we have had off work to do this has been great to be able to monitor the system and deal with problems straight away. Fingers crossed for next week as well as a check that all contents insurance is up to date.

The lettuces are looking good but we now need to monitor the ammonia hoping it will start getting up to provide the nutrients the plants will need. A couple more fish may be needed (I want some cute Blackmoors) but will see how we go over the next couple of weeks. The comets will eventually get quite big so need to bear that in mind as well. We may also have to add some seaweed concentrate to try and boost nutrient levels but will wait and see what happens. Watch this space...

Gotta say - far more interesting than the hydroponics as am loving having, feeding and watching the fish. Can't wait to show my niece Isla and my nephews Caelan and Ayrton who are up from Dunedin at the mo - am sure they will love it!

NB: after a quick Google search, yes, fish can smell.

We're not growing drugs!

Hydroponics sounds dodgy. You mention hydroponics, you get a sideways glance (or a wink and a nod from certain folk), but sadly it was not that exciting and and we used our hydroponics system to grow chillies and tomatoes.

Hydroponics simply means to grow plants in water using nutrient solutions, as opposed to growing in soil .

We did it really just to see how it worked and it gave Elliot something to do (it really does sound like he's a child who constantly needs entertaining). Elliot watched hours of Youtube clips on what to do and how to do it and we ended up with a pretty impressive system.

The system consisted of two tubes with four net pots in each which housed the tomato and chilli plants. The plants sit in the net pots which are filled with hydroton (clay balls) and the roots grow down through the balls into the stream of water.

The water is pumped from a tank through the tubes and back into the tank. Nutrients are added (we used Growzilla and then Budzilla) as the plants need what nutrients they would normally get from soil (as a side note, if you want to feel like you are a crim without actually doing anything wrong, take a trip to Switched On Gardener - you feel dodgy just walking in but it was also a source of great amusement when you notice the lengths this place goes to say they do not support illegal growing activities - these are of course spelt out on signs mounted next to grinders, bongs and pipes; we also interrupted the guy who worked in the Pakuranga store from what I think was an impressive sleep on his feet with his eyes open and the guy in Henderson from his "smoko" break out the front).

Anyway... above the tubes sit the fluro lights. These are on pully hook things (that's the technical term) that are raised as the plants grow. The tank water and nutrients get changed about once a week.

Elliot is an automation technician by day which means if something can be programmed or timed using gizmos and gadgets, it will be. The pump cycle for the system and the lights were all automated and timed to turn on and off at certain times. Our set up was in our conservatory which gets really hot so we had a fan hooked up which turned on when the temperature reached a certain level and off when it fell again.

We germinated the seeds in a propagator. Once big enough they went to little cups in a light box. When they are big enough the roots get washed, they get put in the net pots and then placed in the tubes. The results were pretty impressive.

The seeds in jiffy pots in the propagator

The seedlings in the light box

The set up

The tomato plants grew out of control and gave us huge tomatoes. We also did the hydroponics as a comparison to growing the old fashioned way and the hydroponic plants certainly grew faster and produced impressive fruit.

We would not grow tomatoes in this particular set up again as there simply was not enough room for these huge plants.

The chilli plants also grew well and we got some great chillies from them.

Today marks the change from a hydroponics to an aquaponics system. We decided the plants needed to come out as they were too out of control. We also needed a full clean out of the system and conservatory as they had been overtaken by aphids and white flies.

We turned the hydroponics system off when we went on holiday so naturally what was there died and we got the last of the tomatoes and chillies off the plants and pulled them all out. It seemed then only natural to upgrade the system, add some more gizmos and gadgets, introduce some fish into the mix and see what happens.

Aquaponics is also organic as nothing is added to the water as the fish's waste provides the nutrients, so this was a plus and something we are keen to try and carry on.

Naturally Elliot has researched aquaponics extensively and as I write is wiring, building and programming ready for the fish to be introduced later today. Water testing is underway and we are as prepared as can be for this new system to take shape.

Updates and photos of our system and new little friends will come later today when we are all set up.

I'll leave you with an image of what our poor neighbours had to look down on from their place one night when the lights had been left on in the conservatory... they must have wondered who on earth had moved in next door...