The Fish are Trained

The main purpose of an aquaponics system is growing plants.

The fun part of aquaponics is feeding the fish.

When I first got my fish, they ignored chow time. Id toss pellets in the tank, and thered be no sign anyone was in there.

Now that Ive got a cover on the tank, I only ever lift the cover when Im about to feed the fish. When I lift up the lid, I find them waiting for me near the surface. Once the pellets hit the water, the water comes alive. In seconds, the fish have snatched all the pellets from the waters surface.

Sweet!

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Aquaponics Digest A journal Diary

Living in Aquaponics.
Yes, I guess thats me and I wonder how many others might put their hand up.
Sure I do all the other things needed around this place, but it only takes a thought or a comment that could remotely have its roots somewhere near water, fish or plants and Im back in my happy place.

Ive had a thought and decided to attempt to scribble something about it, just to see where it takes me I guess. It goes something like this (dont forget these are only ramblings of a senile mind):

I can divide in my thinking, gardeners into two groups.

• Those who, when they started, found they could grow certain plants successfully and so  they became addicted to that group possibly expanding it as they developed their expertise.
• Those who, because they had trouble with their earliest attempts at growing certain plants, became adicted to experimentation and improvement in that area.

Now Im sure you can think of many other divisions and sub divisions that could replace or be added to the above but I felt within myself that I could have sliped into one or the other of those two at a very early point in my gardening life.

Of course we are all capable of walking in both of those camps and need to do just that. But there are those who can go to the nursery and buy two thousand dollars worth of plants in or almost in flower, poke them in the ground, wet their heads and sit back and be proud of them.

Likewise there are some who would get no personal gratification from that what-so-ever. Of course there is no right or wrong here, only differences.

This is where gardening, sustainability, aquaculture and all the other variations are so perfect at filling the needs of man. We just simply grow into and eventually produce the fruits of our gardening interest. We send out roots to gain nutrients in  the form of knowledge, understanding and expertise. Then we take these nutrients and apply them where they are needed so that not only does our garden flourish but we are bigger, better, brighter and more worthy to ourselves and to others. (Well thats what I hope for each of us)


O.K. the rants and raves are out of my system again, so back to work:

First up is a pdf guidebook covering A/P or at least an introduction to Aquaponics

Recipes for Success; What’s in the Water? Pond Pollution Investigation; Expanding a Small Business With Hydroponics/Aquaponics;

So home-schooling and A/P. Is this a viable combination?

I love forums. This is where we can all Learn

Have you met Mike Nicholls? You really should And here he is...Dr Mike Nichols is a horticultural research scientist at the College of Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand, and a regular contributor to PH&G.

This one article should keep you occupied for a month or two. In fact there are enough lin ks to keep you in QUALITY reading matter for ever and beyond.


So.........Have a great weekend
See you soon
Ozzie

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Water cooler style auto top up

Heres a couple of short videos showing my water cooler-style auto top up


Bottle Empty


Inserting Full Bottle

I didnt think to pull out the base to show you, but it is just one of the bottles I used to use for my window farm. I cut off the top of a standard 5-gallon water bottle (I drilled a 1-inch hole near the top, then used tin snips, finishing the edge with some 1/4-inch tubing sliced so it could fit over the raw edge of the plastic). Since I need water to flow in and out of the base, I drilled additional 1-inch holes near the bottom. If you drill too fast, the plastic can rip (why would I know this...).

Heres a picture showing what the 5-gallon bottle looks like with the lid snipped off (I originally did this to create a fish tank for my aquaponics window farm system):

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