David Schwinghamer

Hi David, the cord for the heater was from Home Depot. it is 14 gauge replacement cord.

did you see the latest submersible one i did?

How is your duckweed going?

when is your visit going to happen?  Thanksgiving week very busy!!!! maybe the following week, or after???

thx

spencer

Hi David, sure - I am also a member of the aquaponics group on the Valley Permaculture Alliance.  I have made the decision not to grow fish for food, but am still looking to eventually put in a koi pond so any info I can glean as I need it will be helpful. Thank you.

Hi David,

Yes, I would be interested in joining your group. I actually live off grid on 40 acres NE of St. Johns, Az.

I love what you are doing with the Arizona group!  Nice job.  With Friend requests you should be able to hit Friends in the box with the blue print under your name.  Once you are in there just select the middle of the three tabs...I forget what it says, and I don't have any friend requests right now so I can't tell you specifically  but you will figure it out.

This is what we recommend - http://www.theaquaponicstore.com/API-Freshwater-Aquarium-Test-Kit-p...

These are Nile Tilapia, David. They're about 2 months old. Well, 2 months after leaving their mother's care, so maybe 2.5 months since they hatched. :)

Organic fish food, Patrick Mckee is working on options for that.

Does anybody know if RhibaFarms in Chandler are doing a tour some time this week-end?

Sure! Feel free to ask me anything. I'll try to respond as quickly as possible, but writing my dissertation is really monopolizing my time of late.  I always enjoy talking vertical production with folks though, so it would be a welcome diversion.

Hi David.  What I posted was the jist of my meeting with Dave Phelan.  As I said, we talked about algae, and herbs and just basically had a conversation that hit on a million different things...there wasn't really a 'class' perse, more of a back and forth conversation.

HI David,

Chi Ma is giving me two tilapia next weekend.  This means I have to get my butt in gear and get my tank ready, even if I have to use a filter at first.  I'm going to set something up with a small (50 gal) tank and one grow bed.  I thought I would start with swiss chard because I hate growing it in dirt.  I get these nasty little worms called leaf miners which apparently come from flies that live in soil.  Hopefully I can raise chard with no worms.  I also want to hook everything up to a solar panel (plus charge controller, battery, and inverter) so I don't run my electricity bill through the roof.  I'll let everyone now how it goes.  Wish me luck. 

Hi David, No, I've never used (or even seen) any of their products (looks like they have at least a couple of different Kelp based products for sale). 

Hi David,

Thanks for the comment. The system about 1 month old so it hasn't seen the middle of summer yet. Here in Tx it is starting to get warm and my temps are ranging from 72 to 80 degrees. This tank is in the ground, so I hope that helps when August comes.....If not, I may be sticking ice blocks in for the Talapia!

learning what works and what doesn't before going bigger .. been an interesting ride ..

I've been using a mixture of coco coir and vermiculite, and I tried to keep the same ratio but sometimes I wound up with more vermiculite than coco coir.

LOL Have not played in 10 months. Our team in Surprise went to nationals where we got our butts beat bad. I think we were the only true 2.5 there. When I get back up to speed I'd love to play.

i started out with bell siphons,   i didnt like the water level  always changing,  so i pulled it out and i change the length of the stand pipe according to the age of vegetable.   high water level for seeding,  and lower it as the plants grow,  kinda make them chase the water more..  seems to be working out great

@ David - I use 6 inch, 10 inch and 12 inch PVC Pipe and UV protect with overspray

Low head or sewer pipe is much much cheaper, especially end caps and elbows

Media is equivalentl to Mel Barthalomew's Mel's Mix

Hi David ,  Thank  you  for  your  friendship,  my  wife Dawn Marie and I  welcome  you with open arms. We are new to aqua farming we have been doing research on this project for about a year. We like to spend our time before we spend our money ha ha. We live at the crossroads of Show Low and Vernon ,we have two and a half acres and we have been here since 2004. I belong to a few farming co-ops and I will start a business class at the Small business administration in Show Low in the fall. I expect to be growing late this year and selling next year . We have a small shed 15 ft. by 30 ft. We will start small and grow from there.We are both retired ... Time on our hands ...We are just beginning,..We pray for guidance, We are pleased to be a part of this new way of life for all, Thanks, Danny & Dawn Lopez

hi david sorry i missed you my life has been all over the place and no Internet

Hey David, Thanks for the add. Glad to connect with someone local to AZ. You mentioned you have a connection with someone for all size Tilapia. What breed and do you know what their asking price is?

What are your thoughts regarding the different species of Tilapia?

Thanks again

David,  I will need a lot of assistance.  I will be attending two SCORE workshops, one related to all aspects of putting together a business plan and the other for managing your cash flow.  I will get Will's book today. Glad to hear first hand that it was helpful.  I'm going to try to plan a drive out to Arizona hopefully before winter, say late October and I would love to include a tour of your aquaponics set up and of anyone else's if possible.  I would eventually like to do this on a large scale so I will contact Dr. Brooks. Thanks again.

Hey David, I just have two aquariums ornamental fish: Angels, Zebras, Cats and fin tails (algae eaters).  One tank is 10 gal and the other is 30.  I've had organic gardens my entire life until this year.  I recently had to sell my house and move to an apartment.  No outside room to experiment.  Not many jobs for administrative assistance these days.  I'm still diligently looking for temporary so I can stash away $$ for the move.  I too want to get totally involved in setting up aquaponics at schools and helping to educate students about it.  Show Low will be within 30-60 minute drive of where we probably will be so I think it would be cool to work help each other launch.  If everything happens how I want, May will be when we can start building and installing everything.  Keep me posted and I'll do the same.

Well if you are getting a heavy accumulation of fish poop in your raft beds, then you probably need better filtration before your raft beds or less fish.

I'm not sure if there are any detritivores that would eat huge enough ammounts of fish poop from a raft bed.

However, gammarus might be able to help you some http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gammarus

David, Thanks again for your offer to come by while in Columbia. I regret that I won't be available. Please congratulate your son and thank him for his sacrifice and commitment to our country. Steve