I recently received the AquaFarm that I had ordered from Back To the Roots. It took quite a long time for this to be shipped out, but it finally arrived. I set it up almost immediately, and then remembered that I wanted to do a "how to" video for setting it up. I was too eager, and forgot!
Anyway, here's a quick review. I've had it set up for 4 days. The first beta fish that I put in the tank died after 2 days, so I got a second beta for the tank. I can't say whether the first beta fish died because of the AquaFarm design, or if it was just an unhealthy fish. We'll see how this fishy does.
AquaFarm Review
AquaFarm Packaging
Sorry about the dark photo, but here's the AquaFarm!
You can see where the airline tubing for the air lift goes down into the fish tank.
It came with Lettuce, Basil, and Wheat Grass
It also came with de-chlorinating chemicals, beneficial bacteria, a fish-cleaning solution, and a tank cleaning supplement called Tidy Tank.
Overall, I think this is a pretty cool system, and I can't wait to see what it grows!
I've been waiting to receive a replacement color chart for measuring pH, Ammonia, Nitrate, and Nitrite levels. I sent API $2 for a replacement, but it's taking forever. So, I ordered a new test kit from amazon. They're marked down to ~$16 dollars from ~$20. I can use this at home, since my other test kit is at Pogo's apartment with his 105 gallon system.
Also, I just received my pre-ordered AquaFarm from BacktotheRoots.com. This is the most hyped aquaponic kit that was on Kickstarter recently. I'm excited to get a Betta fish tonight and get it set up. I'll have an unboxing video, and a review of the system in the coming weeks.
I also recently read an article about Aqua Vita farms in upstate New York. They're one of the only commercial Aquaponic farms on the east coast. They're looking for a buyer or investor, otherwise they'll have to close up shop in about a week. It's a shame to see that they couldn't see profitable margins in their venture. The owner, Mark Doherty, claimed that they had to redesign their system to make it more efficient and profitable. However, they ran out of capital because of the redesign, and now they don't have enough money to stay afloat. I hope them all the best, and I hope that I can someday meet Mark and learn from their experiences. Here's a link to the article: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/06/aqua_vita_farms_owner_we_need.html.
I've been slowly working on my friend's 105 gallon system. We have the canister filter installed and pumping water. We have our media in the grow bed. We have the bell siphon installed and working.
Unfortunately, we lost the color code chart for testing pH and other chemical levels, so we're waiting on a replacement chart to balance our water chemistry before starting fishless cycling. Hopefully in the next week, or less, we'll receive our replacement color chart, and we'll be cycling.
On a side note, I received an Arduino as a gift from a Reddit gift exchange. I'm learning to use it, and will ideally be able to set it up to monitor the system. I know it can monitor water temperature. I'm hoping I can also set up sensors to trigger supplemental lighting when it is a gloomy day. I'm also wondering whether I can use pH sensors and other chemical sensors to monitor everything about my system. I'd love to also build an automatic fish feeder, but that's down the line a bit.
Anyway, keep a look out in the next week or two for an update with pictures and video.
Recently, I spoke with a hydroponics expert, Dan Sypolt from Garden Indoors, a hydroponics store in Bristol, PA. I had come to the store to buy 190 liters of expanded clay grow medium for the 105 gallon aquaponic system for my friend's apartment. Instead of just selling me their product, Dan really helped me decide upon the best way to approach the system that I'm working on (I ended up not buying anything at that time). He brought up some great points that I don't hear being discussed very often in aquaponic forums that I read. His advice has led me to re-planning the system I'm building, and I think it will be a more robust system with this new design.
First, Dan suggested that typically, hydroponic systems are only flooded with water around 4 times during daylight hours. My windowfarm had been trickling water 24/7 which over-watered my strawberries. I have read many suggestions for a 15 minute flood, every hour. Dan suggested that this was probably too much (at least from a conventional hydroponics perspective). I'm going to start the new system with a 15 minute flood every 3 hours, and see how it works out. The less pumping, the more energy saved on electricity.
You might be thinking that flooding the system every 3 hours will not provide a moist environment for the bacteria to grow in my media beds. This leads me to Dan's second suggestion. In the store, there were several hydroponic setups that were similar to my aquaponic setup, except that instead of having one large grow bed filled with media, the grow beds were holding potted plants, and the grow pots were filled with media. This used a lot less media than filling the entire grow bed, which will save you money. The grow bed is essentially acting like a flood table. This allows you to move the plants around easily without disturbing the roots. You can also remove plants easily, and it also makes the grow bed much easier to clean. All the solid waste that builds up in the bottom of a grow bed can be a smelly pain in the butt to clean. This isn't a problem with this setup. You don't have to worry about media guards for your plumbing, because the grow media never touches the plumbing. The flood table would look something like this:
Now, you may be thinking, "What about filtering the water? What about the bacteria?" The grow bed in a flood and drain system typically acts as a filter for solid waste, as well as the location for bacteria growth, essential to aquaponics. If the water is not being pumped into the grow media, than where is the bacteria growing, and how is the solid waste filtered. For this, Dan suggested using a typical aquarium filter. There are several filter types available. If you're using an aquarium, a hang-on-back filter is fairly inexpensive, but may be less reliable than other filters.
A canister filter is usually a little more expensive, but more durable. I've chosen to use a Canister Filter for the 105 gallon system that I'm building (pictured below).
Another filter type that Dan mentioned was a Wet/Dry Trickle Filter. This is like having a separate, smaller media bed specifically for growing bacteria. It can be attached to an aquarium, but they seem very bulky.
The filter that Dan suggested would work best is a Fluidized Bed Filter. These are highly efficient biological filters that have enormous bio-load capacities and take up very little space. They are similar to a wet/dry trickle filter with extremely small media (typically sand), but air is pumped into the media causing it to flow around. This flow causes the bacteria to be "bumped off" the sand grains, and more bacteria grows in its place. Bacteria can adapt very rapidly to increases or decreases in bio-load. With such a small media, the surface area is huge, allowing for an enormous amount of beneficial bacteria. Here's a cool video to demonstrate how it works.
So, with all this in mind, I think this is a better way of designing a flood and drain aquaponic system. The canister filter cost me about $100, but I'm saving at least $80 that I would have spent on expanded clay pellets. I haven't researched the other options extensively to write about all the pros/cons of different filters, but the canister filter seemed durable and efficient. As for the system design change overall, I think that the pros outweigh the cons. What do you think?
So the windowfarm was not looking too great this morning. My air tubing got clogged with solid waste, and stopped pumping water. The parsley looks sad.
The garlic is hanging in there.
On the bright side, the mushroom farm that I ordered from Back to the Roots has started to show mushroom pins. I've grown edible mushrooms before, but I had some problems with the first kit from Back to the Roots, it just didn't grow. The replacement, however, has started to grow, and we should have some full-size mushrooms in a few days. I'm still a bit skeptical about their aquaponic kit. I'm worried that the 3 gallon tank is not enough for a betta fish (recommendations are for a 5 gallon tank minimum for happy fish). It is a nice concept, though. I'm expecting to receive mine sometime in the upcoming months.
Our windowfarm is having some ups and downs. The strawberries are growing and starting to turn red.
I planted some garlic and its sprouting.
The rosemary is great.
The parsley is great.
The basil isn't growing. Any suggestions on what I should try to replace it with?
I'm going to finally finish the plumbing for Pogo's 105 gallon system this week. By next weekend we should have it filled with media and water. We'll start fishless cycling, and hopefully be growing soon!
I've cut the rosemary a few times for tasty recipes. It's still growing strong.
The strawberries are coming along, and we even have a few small berries.
Berries!
However, I'm afraid that I may be overwatering the strawberry plant. The leaves are turning yellow and brown, which may be a sign of overwatering. I'm planning on getting a timer to stagger the water flow.
I planted some spare garlic that I didn't use for dinner! It's sprouted and is doing well.
