Easy anf Fun Make an Aquaponics

Today "my book," the Complete Idiots Guide to Aquaponic Gardening, was officially launched. Around 4 pm today I finally got a hard copy to look at.

A year ago I got a random e-mail, which read:

"I am a literary agent scouting on behalf of a major publisher for an expert to write an introductory book on aquaponics. I found your site and wonder if you have interest?"

I responded, saying something to the effect of "Heck yes!" and began a whirlwind journey creating the book I wish I could have bought, back when I started into aquaponics in the spring of 2010.

The Complete Idiots Guide to Aquaponic Gardening (CIG to AG as I came to know it) was a labor of love. I did get paid, but this was a work for hire deal, which means I dont get royalties on book sales. Given the way my head works, thats actually really great for my sanity. The book pulls heavily from the collective wisdom currently available via online forums, innumerable scholarly articles, conferences, and endless youtube videos. So I would have felt guilty getting royalties for this book. However, I did put many, many hours into crafting the book, and that labor deserved some payment.

Its been interesting today, reading the book. I havent seen it for four months, so its kind of fresh. I find several instances where I wish I could edit the English just one more time to make it read more smoothly. And the glossary includes one problematic typo - nitrite misspelled as nitrate in the definition of cycling (p. 306), but the definition in the body of the text on page 126 is correct.

It will be interesting to see what folks say. I read this book knowing the hours I spent gaining the knowledge contained in each paragraph, not to mention the additional hours it took to distill that knowledge into comprehensible prose. Only I and a few others know how many authorial "darlings" were killed during the creation of this book. If you were one who read an early draft, I think youll agree the final product is far superior to what you saw.

I hope the book helps people make the transition from hearing about aquaponics to confidently embracing aquaponics as part of their lifestyle. In the mean time, Im thrilled to have the book itself, with an index! What I would have given for such an index three years ago! Its fascinating knowing how much of that information was unknown to me in March 2010 when I first tumbled across the word "aquaponics."

Lastly, I have to acknowledge again the amazing generosity of this community, and how willing people were to share their experiences and photos. I am humbled to know such wonderful, innovative people!

Now back to enjoying my own garden, and actually getting to tend it, unlike the neglect that writing the book necessitated last year. Beets, bok choy, spinach, radishes, and turnips are thriving, as are most of the plants that wintered over. All the fish are alive, and despite the cold, ammonia levels are nearly zero (a great thing). Its great to merely have to do the simply daily visit I mention in the book, to check water temperature and level, feed the fish, and notice what plants need nutrients or organic pest control. Its my happy place, where the world is simple, life abounds, and the speed of "information" is the rate at which spinach seedlings put forth their first true leaves.

If you have been thinking about aquaponics but havent yet set up a system, I invite you to take the plunge. Its well worth it!

Creating An Aquaponics System

We constructed two aquaponics systems over the course of three days. Building an aquaponics system required a lot of experimentation and trial-and-error in order to determine how to best assemble the systems so that they would operate efficiently. A lot of the materials that we used were common and reusable items, such as the buckets, tubs, and tubing. Using these materials makes the system more cost efficient and easier to repair for the residents that will be using it, and it also saves money to build.

Clay Bed System:

A group of students was in charge of the task of crushing large pieces of red clay for the Clay Bed System. Once we crushed the clay into smaller pieces, we washed them in buckets of water to rid the clay of the dust that had accumulated on them. This is so that the dust will not clog the system. We then placed the clay into a large rectangular container at a downhill slope. The reason we sloped the clay downwards is so that when the water enters the clay bed from the sedimentator and the collector, it will easily trickle down and exit on the other side. We also placed plants into the clay so that they will receive nourishment from the water. The fish-rearing tank, sedimentator, collector, and clay bed were all connected to each other with tubes to allow the water to flow through all of the parts in the system. The water continually flows out of the fish-rearing tank and into the clay bed where it is filtered. The water is then recycled back into the tank.

Nutrient Film Technique System:

The Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) system involved more experimentation than the clay bed system in determining how to best connect the various parts together. The first step in building this system involved assembling the smaller parts together. In one of the filtration buckets, we filled the bottom with large rocks and put a large sheet of cotton over it, then layered smaller gravel on top of the cotton, put another sheet of cotton on top of it, and so on, until the bucket was filled to the top. This allows the water to filter through the bucket. We also altered many of the materials in order to fit the various parts of the system together. We cut holes into the tall white tubes with scissors, which was a difficult task, so that we could fit and connect the pipes through it. We also had to cut the pipes with a saw so that they would fit with each other.

Once the NFT system was assembled, we experimented with how to best arrange all of the parts together, similar to putting together the pieces of a puzzle. When we turned the system on and the water began flowing through, we discovered some leaks in the system, but were able to fix them by raising or lowering the buckets or by patching up faulty holes in the pipes. In the final step, we placed the clay pieces that we crushed earlier into plastic cups and put seedlings on top of it. We then placed these cups into the holes in the large pipe. The water flows through this pipe and the clay cleans and filters the water, while the water sustains the small seedlings. Similar to the clay bed system, the water flows out of the fish-rearing tank and through the various parts of the system, where the water is filtered and goes back into the tank.

Finally, and most importantly, the aquaponics system involves raising fish! The tilapia was kept in a large tank indoors. We used a large net to catch them in order to weigh them and calculate the starting weight of the fish. The younger tilapia was kept in tanks outdoors with netting over the top to prevent them from jumping out of their tanks. They are fed about once every two to three hours, except during the night, to ensure continued growth. Once the systems were completed, the tilapia was brought over and put into the large tanks, where they will be reared to provide food for families.

Clay from old water filters is used as the media inside of the clay bed system.

Lisie, Allie, June, and Amanda hard at work breaking apart fibers to be used as media in half of the cups of the NFT system.

Easy anf Fun Make an Aquaponics

Kamis, 28 April 2016

Complete Idiots Guide to Aquaponic Gardening it lives!

Rabu, 16 Maret 2016

Creating an Aquaponics System

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