Comment

Comment by Jim Troyer on August 27, 2013 at 1:18pm

it IS a slippery slope Mark, stay back from the edge!  

Comment by Mark Bogart on August 27, 2013 at 8:01am

Thanks guys, it's been a challenge but has been a lot of fun too. As for the cost it would be hard to say. I had most of the stuff already. We have 2 each  1000 gallon stock tanks I built from block and grouted solid with rebar and concrete we used these to raise Koi in to sell before the economy fell so bad. We are only using one so far. We plastered the block smooth on the inside, let it cure and painted with epoxy paint. That means I already had  all the pumps, filtration, the white tent and most of the lumber from used concrete forms. I think I spent a couple of thousand on plumbing, liner material, a little lumber that I didn't have and gravel for the grow beds. Because the fish tanks were existing we did some of the plumbing a little different than I would do if I was starting from scratch, but works well all the same. I have posted more stuff on our Facebook page , you can check it out @ Valley Aquaponics. Still have some changes to make, but are these things ever really done?

Comment by Jim Troyer on August 26, 2013 at 8:22pm

very nice Mark!

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on August 26, 2013 at 6:52pm

@Mark, beautiful setup, definitely not on the cheap for sure!  If you don't mind me asking, how much was it? - I would love to make something similar if I ever get to own my on home (renting kind of limits what I can do).

Comment by Mark Bogart on August 26, 2013 at 4:03pm

Late night Basil harvest for pesto.

Comment by Mark Bogart on August 26, 2013 at 4:02pm

Here's a couple of pics of Valley Aquaponics set up we built in late March.

Comment by Mark Bogart on August 26, 2013 at 3:57pm

Meant to say a week ago not 21 weeks ago

Comment by John Malone on August 26, 2013 at 3:55pm

@ Mark Bogart

Very neat, Mark.  I like it.

Comment by John Malone on August 26, 2013 at 3:52pm

@Aaron Brooks

Like all answers, it all depends.

I much prefer to use seeds, but for a different reason than Matt:  they're cheaper and often easier.  

Lettuce, in particular, is just so stupid easy to do it's ridiculous.  Sprinkle the seeds over the gravel grow bed.  Don't be too fussy and use plenty.  There's lot of seeds in a pack, and they're cheap.   Then get the hose (yes, the one from the city water supply with all the chlorine in it; the small volume of water isn't going to matter) and spray down the growbed so that the top is nice and wet.   This washes the seeds in to the cracks between the rocks.  Wait 4 days and observe the wonder of new growth.

Do the same with any small seed.  It worked for me with some tomatoes, radishes and coriander.

Larger seeds I poke down in the rocks, but not too deep.  Just deep enough so that they're not sitting on top.  Remember that the shoot has to find a way out and having a rock sitting on your head isn't conducive to success.

Having said that, I've had very limited success with herbs from seed.  Don't know why.  With herbs I've had better luck with transplants, and even cuttings.  I've got a habit of stealing the cooking herbs from the kitchen fridge and sticking them under the water flow going in to the growbed.   Works more often than you'd think.  I've got some dill doing that right at the moment.  In fact, the good wife brings them out to me now.  "Got some left over dill.  How about we plant it!"

Actually, you can grow almost anything from a cutting in that location under the water flow.  It borders on magic.  

I've got a bunch of self-sown (volunteer) tomatoes from when I was away on vacation.  Some of the fruit dropped off the plants and rotted on top of the growbed.  There's at least half a dozen new tomato plants in there now.  They can stay.

When I started I was all worried about how to plant seeds in rocks.  Didn't make sense to me.  Don't worry, toss in the seeds, and see if it works.

Comment by Mark Bogart on August 26, 2013 at 3:50pm

System we built 21 week ago in Phoenix. Gravel bed above raft below.

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