Well, it's been almost a week since I posted the picture of the 'finished' towers - at least there were little seedlings in them and it looked like this:
This was the size of the seedlings last Sunday:
This is what the same seedlings look like today - 6 days later:
They are growing really well, I think. Here are some more pictures of the grow towers:
In these shots you can see the two of the towers empty into the mint gravel bowl. The gravel was hopefully going to act as a settling tank for solid waste that gets through the towers. Eventually I plan to introduce red wigglers. In the next picture you can see I'm using the gravel bowl to root cuttings besides mint - see if you can spot the Stevia:
I've also got a floating raft in the top tank with some lettuce and duckweed:
I'm not sure how well the roots will do just hanging in the tank, but It's an experiment right? Here is a picture with the roots in the background of the guppies:
And this is what the top tank looks like now. I had a chance to arrange and plant it more than you saw in the last photos, so it's coming together nicely. So much fun to watch!
Then a shot of the two tanks together:
And finally of the two baby goldfish in the bottom tank:
So that's it for now. I will keep you all posted on the growth of the tower plants. I'm pretty encouraged by the results so far. These tanks were fishless cycled, until mossies took up residence and the fish are so small I'm thinking about adding a tiny bit if hydroponic solution to give the plants a boost. Before fish were added I put in a pretty good dose of seaweed extract fertilizer, so there are more nutrient in the water than just what a handful of guppies, pleco and baby goldfish would produce. Also I got a few cherry shrimp for the top tank, they are hard to find! I was surprised my camera phone could zoom in so well:
I know, the photo quality is terrible, but this was zoomed in a lot!
Cheers all. TTFN.
Replies
Brian, these are the metrics I've been tracking:
I'm wondering if I should add a couple drops of ammonia into the system since there probably aren't enough fish in it to keep the nitrates going for the plants, but I don't want to do anything until I see the nitrates/ites drop lower and see if they stay there. They system did what I hoped in that once the towers were planted the nitrates/ites started dropping out fast. I might add more fish in a week or so - I just have to watch the system longer and find out... and yes when the nitrates/ites were crazy high I actually lost a few guppies. I hated to put the fish in there, but there were mosquitos breeding in the tank and I can't abide mossies!!!
I'm really surprised the pH has been dropping so quickly.
Liz, have you been adding anything to lower the PH?
No, I haven't been using anything to lower pH. The research indicates that AP systems naturally run to acid during the nitrification process, but I didn't expect it to drop so fast and if it drops any lower I'll need to raise it! I've got crushed eggshells on standby in case I need to add some. :)
It's funny to see the changes I've made reflected in the numbers. I added the ammonia for fishless cycling on June 4th. I added fish on the 12th and added pond water on the 15th. After the pond water bacteria get to work you can see the Nitrates rise and the ammonia drop. Then we added the grow towers on the 23rd and the nitrates start falling. It's been fun to watch.
I have been topping off the system with RO water only and that is probably helping the water quality.
Yes, RO is much lower in PH than tap water. But our tap water went through a sudden drop from about 8.4 down to 7.4 not long ago. I guess they switched us to well water or something. They totally messed up our routine & we found our system water way down in the 6's because we were adding too much acid to our top-off water! :)
Nice!!
This is very cool.
Hmmmm... without going through all the receipts I'll guesstimate:
Hydroponics store: +/- $250 includes the pump, clay balls, black piping, valves, assorted clamps and other stuff. I knew this would be the most expensive stop and put it off for a long while. I also only used half the bag of clay balls, but knew I would have other projects for them!
Lighting: $120 (about $20 each fixture + 10 pack bulbs)
PVC pipes & fittings: $40
Tanks & stand: $20 - this was all second hand of course
So that makes the basic structure $430, if my math is right...
Then there would be what you want to put in the tank for fish, aquarium plants, gravel decorations and such. I've probably spent another $100 on all of it max (and that's a really high guess). I already had a couple good air pumps and stones, so that isn't included. You wouldn't have to do any decorations really, just toss in your goldfish and call it done once it's cycled.
Additionally, there is the seed and baby plants for the system. I had a lot of the seeds already, some were saved from my winter garden and maybe a few bucks more for the seed starting medium.
So probably not more than $550 for everything (I'm padding the total a bit assuming I missed something in my guestimating and for bolts, screws and such) - hopefully you already have or can borrow miter saws, heat guns and other tools necessary... because that would really add up.
PS - I did forget the water quality kit!! You've got to have one of those, but the cost of it can vary I think mine was around $20.
As long as you use grow lights, you can add tomatoes, peppers, greens, and even squash to your greens, if you have room.
There is a lot of cross-knowledge between hydroponics and aquaponics. But the hydroponics mindset focuses on the nutrient base, which Tds impacts. In Aquaponics, our nutrient base is fish waste, so our focus is more on fish health. The primary measurements in aquaponics are nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, PH and temperature. Other things can be measured, but often aren't much of a concern until there's a problem.
To your fruiting plants question, you can grow almost anything in an aquaponics system. I am growing only greens under the artificial lighting because fruiting plants need more light than what I have installed. Tomatoes and peppers are in the wicking bed outside where I don't have to pay for electricity!
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next