Hi.
What is the best way of cooling down the water coming out of the fish tank ( tilapia ) before it's reach the plants ?

Hey everyone, I hope a blog post on here is a good way to get this out. As I'm stillnew to this community, most of you don't know that I am a personal chef in Seattle. I am in a campaign with HP & Palm (and got a free phone and service for awhile from Palm) that is not only highlighting my food & services, but also my experience with aquaponics and trying to spread the word about its benefits in Seattle, WA (where I live) They have a FB page set up for me (seperate from my own)…

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Crazy right, I don't really like writing and never thought I was very good at it being dyslexic and spelling challenged but luckily the dyslexia (what a terrible work to expect some one who is to write) I have is very mild and I've been able to cope and work around it (only thing I've never been able to cope with is flash cards,) especially with the advent of spell checking. I do like sharing and this is why I write things, to help teach those who are interested.



Actually, this isn't… Continue

So I got some more questions about these indexing valve things so I figured I should go ahead and write a bit more about them. They may not be appropriate for every situation but they do have their place.

Want to sequence the flow of water into your grow beds to only flood one at a time? Want to avoid extra wiring and control electronics? Then consider an aquaponics indexing valve. All that…

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Raft Bed Saga Part 5

So Friday Afternoon I went down and picked up the new liner for the bed.



Yesterday, I spent the day installing that new liner.



First I drained the existing liner (involved setting all the grow beds to constant flood to hold the extra water so I didn't waste it all. I also filled up some other tubs with water to try and conserve. Even so, I of course lost some.…



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Raft bed saga part 4

Got up this morning to check on the new bed, still leaking but the bowing problem seems solved.



I used the time while that part of the garden was sunny this morning to add the rest of the arches over the bed for holding netting or frost blanket to keep the leave out.



I fear the leaks are not going to be slime healed and the used billboard liner is just so brittle and easy to abrade that I'm either gonna have to… Continue

Earlier in October I had the opportunity to do the tour at Growing Power's facility in Milwaukee. While everything together is very cool, I naturally left with more questions than when I arrived. The big question is what the recirc system they use is most like? Besides the biofilt from the plant beds; which is gravel, supplemented with compost, an primarily monoculture watercress, and strong aeration, the water goes up and comes down.



The raceways work out to 1 fish per… Continue

Everything is definitely taking longer than I expected, but then I guess that's one of the things I should expect. I have an overly full calendar already and neither the tools nor the physical strength to do some of the things myself. Nor the know-how to completely plan things out. Some a lot of stuff is being done, and adjusted, on the fly instead of being completely planned in advance the way I'd prefer.



Last weekend the water tested too high in nitrites, and my growbed was clearly… Continue

Raft Bed Saga Part 3



Grrrr, Here is what I found this morning when I cam out to see how the raft bed did filled over night. The Stays didn't, stay that is, they sprung off. I must admit I didn't secured them very well.



The bed was bowing out even wider than before. So I set the pump to draining it to the sump tank. I set the main grow beds to hold water so hopefully I wouldn't loose too much to the sump tank overflowing and I headed to… Continue

My first two years doing Aquaponics, I had my structure over my main Aquaponic system which provided handy support for plastic to turn it essentially into a greenhouse.



However, as many know, last spring code enforcement came around and said I had to take it down unless I got a building permeit for it (to get a building permit requires drawings stamped by an architect or engineer.) I could have made drawings but I never figured out how to get the proper stamps. So, the "greenhouse"… Continue

Raft Bed Saga Part 2

This day in November, to be plumbing wet liner and splashing in water.

But once a project thus started, it must be completed, unless paying work is what is competing.



I'm sorry my poetry may not be compelling but here are some pictures to quell your misgivings.

Last night I did fill the liner with water to see what would happen.

Come morning I found that… Continue

Today the Magician team of Tonya and Gina come to help me close in the greenhouse. I was anticipating getting to work with carpenters again and it was all that I was hoping for. I bought a vinyl door at that hardware crack house Lowes. All went great. The dynamic duo installed the door in the greenhouse. You can see for yourself that it I now have a building. When there is a door it is called a building. Continue

Raft Bed Saga Part 1



On my Visit to Cosmo Back in October to witness the install of the indexing valve in the Man Cave, Michael bestowed upon me one of his used billboard liners.



I'm often not good at leaving useful items just sit by taking up space, I tend to try and make use of them when I can. Anyway, we will see how it does for me.



The liner is folded in half in the picture below. …



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Progress report:



I'm still fighting with the rainbarrels. This time I invited a friend over to help me, and we removed the fittings, put rubber gaskets in on *both* sides of the rainbarrel wall so it was sandwiched in, reinstalled the fittings, and one of them *still* leaks. The other one sealed fine on the fitting, but it leaks around the actual PVC pipe. Sigh. So I'm going to pull them apart and put silicone into the sandwich on both sides, and some PVC glue, and if that doesn't… Continue

Greetings!

It is the time of year when all of us realize that the earth is alive! This is my favorite season, for in it we recieve the harvest of our work, and understand the benefit of preparation. As president of Synergy Farms International it is also the time of year that we begin development and revenue drives for the upcoming year. Unlike any time in history, more and more people are realizing the impact of auqaponics and self preservation. Many of you have visited our website…

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