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Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on October 6, 2013 at 7:50pm

Phoenix has a 6 foot (72 inches) per year evaporation rate. This means that if you have a pool of water 6 feet deep with no water addition from rainfall, it will be empty after 365 days.  This naturally is an approximation and the daily rate varies with the time of year. For example, summer evaporation rates have been reported to be as high as 5 inches a week.  Naturally evapotranspiration from plants will increase this. Those numbers again are a function of what plants you are growing, under what conditions and what time of year.  

On the other side of the coin, water surface coverage by DWC rafts could tend to reduce evaporation. That is however, an hypothesis that is yet to be tested.

I hope this helps. 

Comment by sunset on October 6, 2013 at 7:42pm

btw: been about a week and my large fish still aren't eating.  Swimming around near the bottom still.  The fish in the adjacent tank are still doing fine and eating normally.  I finally bought a water heater and put it in the tank last night.  Not much change today.  Will watch them over the next couple days but not sure what else I can do. There is a little duckweed floating in the tank that they can eat if they get hungry but it does not seem like they are eating much of that either

Comment by sunset on October 6, 2013 at 7:35pm

Has anyone ever figured out about how much water loss there is here in the PHX area during the summer?  I guess this would be from evaporation as well as plant usage.   I have been trying to guesstimate this but I am not sure if it is more accurate to do it based on total water volume or square foot of exposed surface water.  There is going to be some loss based on grow bed volume also, but this is beyond my ability to figure out.

For example, I have noticed I need to replace about 20-25 gallons per day in the summer.  I have 2 fish tanks, both with about 250 gallons.  I also have 2 sumps. they both probably have about 150 gallons.

So, does that mean the water loss is around 25/800 => 3% per day?

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on October 3, 2013 at 11:51pm

Our first raft of aquaponic fall lettuce ready for harvest (Simpson & Redsails). 3 weeks from starts and no, we did not grow them in that thermos. Display purposes only. 

P.S. They were grown from 2 inch starts we got from Baker's Nursery and no, this is not how we hide the beer in the greenhouse. 

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on October 3, 2013 at 11:47pm

Sunset. If your point is to store them to use as a "prepared" feed next year I believe you are correct on freezing your duckweed. They will not look pretty but I don't think the fish will care. I've done a little research and regrettably have not yet found an acceptable technique so unless another list member has some good advice, you may have to develop one. You have some time for experimentation right now before it gets cold. Good luck my friend. Personally I kinda liked the cube idea.

Comment by Jim Troyer on October 3, 2013 at 10:30pm

It is natural for fish to reduce their feeding with a reduction metabolism rate.  They are cold blooded after all

Comment by sunset on October 3, 2013 at 8:05pm

Mine still aren't eating.  I did another water change.  I am gong to stop feeding them for a while and see if they perk up in a day or so.  I had the tanks heavily shaded all summer and when it got cold, I uncovered the tanks to try and let the sun warm the water.  Not sure if the cold water gets to them overnight or they are freaked by the sun now or both....will give it some time and see.

On another note, how do you "harvest" duckweed?  I hear about making them into cubes but have no idea what that means or how to do it.  I have just been tossing some clumps into the fish tanks occasionally but if there is a way to store it or something, that would be great.   Can someone tell me what to do with my duckweed?

Thanks in advance (yet again!)

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on October 3, 2013 at 7:41pm

Hey Sheri, I don't know why the fish died, sometimes it just happens.  Your class sounds cool!  I do need to pick up some algae eaters, though I've been pretty good covering the tanks so algae hasn't been a big problem.

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on October 3, 2013 at 4:00pm

This Saturday I'll be spending the day at the VPA office at 1122 E Washington St. in Phoenix to teach three classes: an intro to aquaponics from 10 - noon, a class on raising red wigglers from 1 - 2:30, and a class on Square Foot gardening from 3 - 4:30

Go to this site to learn about them and to register: http://www.phoenixpermaculture.org/events. Or, if you're a non-committal kind of person, just show up at the door!  :)

If you're just starting out with your aquaponic system or want to learn more, the aquaponic class is a great class. We always have good discussion and I always learn something, too!

The wiggler class is cool because you can grow them for your AP system and to improve all the plants in & around your home. Wigglers are one of the most valuable assets to any garden. 

Square Foot gardening is one of the easiest soil-based gardens to manage, and it's a great starting point if you want to evolve into French intensive gardening.

See you Saturday!

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on October 3, 2013 at 3:46pm

Loved meeting you, Randy! I'm excited for your young gardeners and what they'll be learning!

Poor Matt, I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. Do you know why they died? Obviously it wasn't from the e-cigarettes.  Do you have a plecostomus in your system? They work wonders on algae. As for heating, we won't be heating until the temps in the water drop below 70.

John, what size are your fish now? I can give you a viable female from our system if you've ruled out everything else & if you'll be keeping your system warm enough.

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