Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-29T04:50:50ZShaun Mavronicolashttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/ShaunMavhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2796920174?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topic/listForContributor?groupUrl=fish-less-systems&user=07vnbfd1tbta9&feed=yes&xn_auth=noTemporarily Fishlesstag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2015-09-06:4778851:Topic:6147022015-09-06T19:21:58.405ZShaun Mavronicolashttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/ShaunMav
<p>Just wondering if anyone has some recommendations on how one might supplement a temporarily (Backup failure during HOT HOT stormy summer night) fishless system used for commercial production?</p>
<p>I want to be careful not to use anything that would be harmful to fish that will go into the system in the future and because it is growing produce for sale, I can't go running it as pee ponics. </p>
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<p>Currently I'm just dumping the regular amount of feed into the mineralization tank to…</p>
<p>Just wondering if anyone has some recommendations on how one might supplement a temporarily (Backup failure during HOT HOT stormy summer night) fishless system used for commercial production?</p>
<p>I want to be careful not to use anything that would be harmful to fish that will go into the system in the future and because it is growing produce for sale, I can't go running it as pee ponics. </p>
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<p>Currently I'm just dumping the regular amount of feed into the mineralization tank to be digested by microbes and then I'll start siphoning off the clear water (until I can set something up like Rob Torcellini's mineralization tank trickle over.) Is this the best use of resources? Can I be better fine tuning my nutrient profile during this time another way while we are sans fish in that system?</p> Bioponictag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2015-05-22:4778851:Topic:6059852015-05-22T00:56:40.863ZShaun Mavronicolashttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/ShaunMav
<p>Brand new here. Got the link from Meir Lazar to join here. I am in the process of building my first system. For the past almost year I am looking, reading, watching just about every video and article and company that is out there for Aquaponics and Hydroponics. Anyway... to make a long story short I would like a Bioponic system. Finally I found the Pee-Method or the same company is also showing off something else that will convert "greens" and 'kitchen discard" into plant food. …</p>
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<p>Brand new here. Got the link from Meir Lazar to join here. I am in the process of building my first system. For the past almost year I am looking, reading, watching just about every video and article and company that is out there for Aquaponics and Hydroponics. Anyway... to make a long story short I would like a Bioponic system. Finally I found the Pee-Method or the same company is also showing off something else that will convert "greens" and 'kitchen discard" into plant food. </p>
<p><a href="http://bioponica.net/product/bucket-fertilizer-kit/">http://bioponica.net/product/bucket-fertilizer-kit/</a></p>
<p>Anybody on here ever tried this? Know about this? Good? Bad? don't bother? </p>
<p>any help and input would be fantastic..... :-)</p>
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<p>the picture below is my first vertical tower I build last Sunday afternoon. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656384028?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="450" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656384028?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="450" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p></p> Some plants grow better in my raft, others in my flood and drain?tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2015-03-24:4778851:Topic:6009112015-03-24T04:11:20.985ZShaun Mavronicolashttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/ShaunMav
<p>I'm running a humonia system. I have a system of 6 half barrels, at the first end are two raft barrels, the other four barrels are flood and drain. The pump runs to flood the beds 20 times per day, 32 minutes pump and 40 minutes drain.<br></br><br></br>Now after some time to get to know it, I have determined the following:<br></br><strong>Beetroot</strong> lacks phosphorus in the flood and drain and will not grow at all. It grows well in the raft. (of course this is not especially useful for a root crop…</p>
<p>I'm running a humonia system. I have a system of 6 half barrels, at the first end are two raft barrels, the other four barrels are flood and drain. The pump runs to flood the beds 20 times per day, 32 minutes pump and 40 minutes drain.<br/><br/>Now after some time to get to know it, I have determined the following:<br/><strong>Beetroot</strong> lacks phosphorus in the flood and drain and will not grow at all. It grows well in the raft. (of course this is not especially useful for a root crop so I grow it in soil instead)</p>
<p><strong>Lettuce</strong> grows slightly better in the flood and drain than in the raft.</p>
<p><strong>Peas</strong> grow just fine in the flood and drain. Have not grown it in rafts so far, so no comparison.</p>
<p><strong>Carrots</strong> grow equally well in both flood and drain and raft areas. Better than in soil.</p>
<p><strong>Silverbeet</strong> does not grow in the flood and drain. Have not tried it in rafts yet.</p>
<p><strong>Celery</strong> grows very well in the flood and drain. Better than in soil. Lovely roots too. Have not tried it in rafts yet, but will this week.</p>
<p><strong>Peppers</strong> grow well in the raft, but not at all in the flood and drain, although their roots do very well indeed.<br/><br/>Root health in the flood and drain is excellent. If anything, slightly better than in the raft area.</p>
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<p>Now why the difference? I thought initially that my flood and drain was not good for growing, but that has been disproved. Several crops grow just fine in it.</p>
<p>Some I have compared and they grow equally well in either area. One oddity (lettuce) actually grows better. Fractionally better, but still better. Why?? I'm confused ...</p> Can nitrate water be stored?tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2015-02-01:4778851:Topic:5950802015-02-01T15:32:49.047ZShaun Mavronicolashttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/ShaunMav
<p>I started a 25 gallon fishless startup 12 days ago and the nitrates are coming up very nice. When the ammonia and nitrite drop to 0ppm the nitrogen cycle will be complete. After the nitrogen cycle is complete, I'll start exchanging the nitrate water with well water plus ammonia to see how quickly the nitrates come back up. I'll be doing this for the next 5-6 weeks and was wondering it the nitrate water can be stored and used to start the hydroponic garden later this Spring? </p>
<p>I started a 25 gallon fishless startup 12 days ago and the nitrates are coming up very nice. When the ammonia and nitrite drop to 0ppm the nitrogen cycle will be complete. After the nitrogen cycle is complete, I'll start exchanging the nitrate water with well water plus ammonia to see how quickly the nitrates come back up. I'll be doing this for the next 5-6 weeks and was wondering it the nitrate water can be stored and used to start the hydroponic garden later this Spring? </p> conclusions of adding milled soy flour (urease enzyme) to humoniatag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2015-01-30:4778851:Topic:5948732015-01-30T16:22:21.650ZShaun Mavronicolashttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/ShaunMav
<p>Day 6 urease aged humonia: Today there is no change in the ammonia produced from urease aged humonia. It tested the same as day 5: 16 drops in 64oz of water got 4ppm ammonia. </p>
<p>3x urease aged humonia Day 1: I started a 2nd 32oz test batch of urease aged humonia using 1.5 teaspoons of soy flour thinking that 3x the urease enzyme would produce ammonia even faster. Not true! It tested the same as the first batch on day one. 40 drops in 64oz of water tested 4ppm…</p>
<p>Day 6 urease aged humonia: Today there is no change in the ammonia produced from urease aged humonia. It tested the same as day 5: 16 drops in 64oz of water got 4ppm ammonia. </p>
<p>3x urease aged humonia Day 1: I started a 2nd 32oz test batch of urease aged humonia using 1.5 teaspoons of soy flour thinking that 3x the urease enzyme would produce ammonia even faster. Not true! It tested the same as the first batch on day one. 40 drops in 64oz of water tested 4ppm ammonia. </p>
<p>Conclusions: It takes 5 days to fully hydrolyze human urine by adding urease enzyme found in fresh milled soy flour. 1/2 teaspoon of soy flour in 32oz of fresh urine produced 4ppm ammonia in 64oz of well water after aging the humonia 5 day. Adding 3 times the soy flour produced the same result after one day of aging the humonia. </p> after aged humonia reaches 9+ ph does it continue to produce ammonia?tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2015-01-25:4778851:Topic:5941782015-01-25T17:49:49.197ZShaun Mavronicolashttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/ShaunMav
<p>The results of adding 1/2 tsp of some old home milled soybean flour containing urease enzymes to 32 oz of fresh urine are pretty amazing:</p>
<p>after one day the urease aged humonia tested ph 9+ and ammonia tested 4ppm from 2ml in 64oz of 85F well water!</p>
<p>Comparing this to Vlad's figures last Fri for aged humonia "<em>It should only take about 250ml (less than 8.45oz) to get 300 gallons of water to an ammonia level of 2ppm</em>" the equivalent for 4ppm in 64oz of water would be 0.83…</p>
<p>The results of adding 1/2 tsp of some old home milled soybean flour containing urease enzymes to 32 oz of fresh urine are pretty amazing:</p>
<p>after one day the urease aged humonia tested ph 9+ and ammonia tested 4ppm from 2ml in 64oz of 85F well water!</p>
<p>Comparing this to Vlad's figures last Fri for aged humonia "<em>It should only take about 250ml (less than 8.45oz) to get 300 gallons of water to an ammonia level of 2ppm</em>" the equivalent for 4ppm in 64oz of water would be 0.83 ml or 2.4x stronger than the ammonia of the one day urease aged humonia.</p>
<p>After humonia reaches over 9ph does it continue to produce ammonia? I hope so and will continue testing the urease aged humonia.</p>
<p>The rest of the story: This morning I was surprised to smell noticeable ammonia on the urease aged humonia I started yesterday. I found <a href="http://theaquaponicsource.com/2011/05/02/aquaponics-cycling-and-the-case-of-the-missing-ammonia/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #339966;">Sylvia's 64oz test proceedure</span><span style="text-decoration: underline; color: #ffffff;"> </span></a>as a good way to determine the ppm ammonia. First I tested 10% ammonia hydroxide as a base test. It takes 0.1ml or 2 drops in 64oz of water to produce 4ppm ammonia. Then I tested the urease aged humonia adding more drops until it tested 4ppm. It was 40 drops or 2ml to test 4ppm. </p>
<p>The urease enzyme in milled raw soy beans (not store bought soy flour) really does speed up the hydrolizing of urea. But does it also lower the finished ammonia ppm? Time will tell <a style="cursor: pointer;"><img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif"/>.</a></p>
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<p></p> can urease enzyme be added to urine to speed up the hydrolysis of urea in urine?tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2015-01-24:4778851:Topic:5941492015-01-24T13:36:28.554ZShaun Mavronicolashttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/ShaunMav
<p>I started collecting my urine yesterday to age into ammonia. Did some research on the microbe that does the hydrolysis of urea and found the urease enzyme is the predominate enzyme. Found urease enzyme is commercially made from Jack Bean meal extract and can be purchased from <a href="http://www.worthington-biochem.com/urc/cat.html" target="_blank">Worthington Biochemical Corp</a>, but it has be shipped in ice pack to preserve it. Also found urease enzyme can be extracted fresh from soya…</p>
<p>I started collecting my urine yesterday to age into ammonia. Did some research on the microbe that does the hydrolysis of urea and found the urease enzyme is the predominate enzyme. Found urease enzyme is commercially made from Jack Bean meal extract and can be purchased from <a href="http://www.worthington-biochem.com/urc/cat.html" target="_blank">Worthington Biochemical Corp</a>, but it has be shipped in ice pack to preserve it. Also found urease enzyme can be extracted fresh from soya beans. See the bottom of this very informative article on urease enzyme at <a href="http://www.scienceinschool.org/print/607" target="_blank">Science in Schools</a></p>
<p>I use to make soy milk from soybeans and now I know why the raw soy milk must be heated to 140F for 20 mins. This deactivates the urease enzyme and is done in all commercially made soy foods. In making home made soy milk I found a short cut for soaking the soybeans to make a puree in a blender. I do my own fresh milled flour and soybean flour is the same as the soybean puree. Very easy to mill soybeans into flour and make soy milk, it tastes as good or better than store bought! I'd be happy to share my recipe with anyone interested.</p>
<p>Ok, so the question is.... can the urease enzyme speed up making ammonia from urine? Well of course I'll have to mill some soybeans and add to a sample of my urine to see what happens. If anyone has any info on this please share. </p> Planning PP system, what size source tank?tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2015-01-23:4778851:Topic:5942322015-01-23T13:19:31.094ZShaun Mavronicolashttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/ShaunMav
<p>Up north (Michigan) the winter is a good time to make plans with 6-8 weeks before the earliest growing starts. I'm planning my first PP system and need help sizing the source tank to supply nitrate water to an 80 - 5 gallon bucket soil vegetable garden in a greenhouse. I'll be using heated well water to replace the nitrate water that goes to the garden. I'll keep the source tank heated to 85F for max nitrogen production. I'm estimating the garden when it gets growing good will need an…</p>
<p>Up north (Michigan) the winter is a good time to make plans with 6-8 weeks before the earliest growing starts. I'm planning my first PP system and need help sizing the source tank to supply nitrate water to an 80 - 5 gallon bucket soil vegetable garden in a greenhouse. I'll be using heated well water to replace the nitrate water that goes to the garden. I'll keep the source tank heated to 85F for max nitrogen production. I'm estimating the garden when it gets growing good will need an average of 1 quart/5 gallon bucket every 3 days. This is 6.66 gallons average per day. I'm thinking 10 gallons a day to allow for thirsty plants like cantaloupes, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash. </p>
<p>What size source tank would I use to produce 10 gallons supply of nitrate water daily? What daily ppm nitrate production would I get in a warm 85F oxygenated tank? I'll be experimenting with a small 25 gallon indoor tote. Once it starts cycling nitrates, I'll try exchanging varies amount of daily well water to see what the nitrate production can keep up with. </p>
<p>Beside heating and oxygenating are there other ways to increase nitrate production in a tank, not circulated through grow beds? I'll be using 1" crushed stone in the tank to provide a place for the microbes to grow. </p>
<p>I'm also planning an unheated, recirculated 500 gallon system through grow beds, but that is another discussion. All questions, comments and criticisms are welcome!</p> Nitrates in fresh Humonnia?tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2015-01-22:4778851:Topic:5940342015-01-22T14:13:09.379ZShaun Mavronicolashttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/ShaunMav
<p>Hello, I'm new to AP/PP and haven't read through all the treads on PP, there is a ton of great info here! </p>
<p>I tested my fresh urine this morning and came up with 0ppm Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrates and 7-8ppm Nitrates. I'm using the single liquid tests from API. The Nitrates turned a darker yellow than the urine, I'm assuming no color change would be 0 ppm. </p>
<p>Does this test sound accurate? I understand human pee can vary greatly by food/liquids consumed, time of day, physical…</p>
<p>Hello, I'm new to AP/PP and haven't read through all the treads on PP, there is a ton of great info here! </p>
<p>I tested my fresh urine this morning and came up with 0ppm Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrates and 7-8ppm Nitrates. I'm using the single liquid tests from API. The Nitrates turned a darker yellow than the urine, I'm assuming no color change would be 0 ppm. </p>
<p>Does this test sound accurate? I understand human pee can vary greatly by food/liquids consumed, time of day, physical activity. Just wondering if anyone else has tested their urine and what the results were? </p>
<p></p> Flood and drain nutrient problems ... suggestions?tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-09-27:4778851:Topic:5803842014-09-27T01:55:11.884ZShaun Mavronicolashttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/ShaunMav
<p>I'm running a humonia system. My flood and drain beds are not doing well, but my raft area is.</p>
<p>As you can see from the photo (taken mid pump cycle), the only portion of the F/D area that is ok is the area directly around the inlet pipe ... which drips most of the day.</p>
<p>I asked this same question over on the main forum, and was told that my flood and drain cycle (at 4x per day then, and none overnight) needed increasing ... some said every 30 minutes, some at least once per…</p>
<p>I'm running a humonia system. My flood and drain beds are not doing well, but my raft area is.</p>
<p>As you can see from the photo (taken mid pump cycle), the only portion of the F/D area that is ok is the area directly around the inlet pipe ... which drips most of the day.</p>
<p>I asked this same question over on the main forum, and was told that my flood and drain cycle (at 4x per day then, and none overnight) needed increasing ... some said every 30 minutes, some at least once per hour.</p>
<p>I have increased it to the maximum I can on this timer and drain system, it is now at 20 cycles per day, and there is some improvement in the plants, but not much.</p>
<p>Some of them are a bit greener, but that is all.</p>
<p>So from a purely 'fishless' perspective, what do you suggest?</p>
<p>I've seen several references on this group to flooding only twice a day, and that in a fishless system you don't need to do it so often.</p>
<p>So ... how often should I really be flooding my system?</p>
<p>And is that likely to be the main problem?</p>
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<p>If I can't get the flood area working I will rebuild and make it all raft, but I don't ultimately want to have to do that ... and I just don't see why it should not be working when everyone else's flood and drain beds work just fine.</p>
<p>(I know I have a black thumb sometimes but really this is ridiculous)</p>