Aquaponic Gardening

A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Help!!

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

I am a teacher here in central Florida working with a great group of kids with challenges such as Autism and Down syndrome to mention few. We are constantly talking and researching about healthy life styles and food choices we are making on daily bases. We got interested in organic approach of growing food and got very excited to learn about the hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics. There is lots of information out there especially on you tube but there is always a question or two you have and need to ask. I have heard of few people in Port Orange, Daytona, Ormond Beach and Palm Coast area that are familiar and using the above mentioned systems. Few times I have tried to contact some them trough people they know but never heard from anyone. They are perhaps all busy or maybe they do not want to share their knowledge. My next step would be going to the local college to find out if they teach any classes on the subject. I already got several books and visited you tube many times but it is not the same as talking to a person who can give you his honest opinion and observe a working system.

 

We have a classroom without windows and we would like to start growing some lettuce. I already have a 20-gallon container, 2 eight-inch air stones, air pomp, 2 inch grow cups, PH kit, and a meter to measure the PPM and the water temperature. The floating Raft appeared to be the least intimidating so it may be a good one to start with. My understanding of floating raft was that the Styrofoam platform would float on the water but I was told that there should be about ¼ inch free space between the raft and the water so the roots would not drown. Do I have to build some support for the Styrofoam to keep it above water? Today, I went to the Home Depot to check out the lights. They had some that were bluish on the bottom and were labeled “for plant growth”.  Any ideas or suggestions about what system to use, what plant food to use, schedule how to use it, other sources for equipment such as lights, water pumps…would be greatly appreciated. I am financing this adventure and I am trying to stay on the budget what ever that may be.

 

I am grateful to one of the local organic storeowners who introduced me to this group.   

 

   

 

Views: 204

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Hi Cedomr, there is a farm tour this comming Sat @ Sahib Aquaponics in Orlando (Winter Park)  It would be a little drive for you, but at least you'd see systems running in 'real life'. Yes, some of the systems are raft setups.

 

You can go to Sahib's web site to sign up....

http://sahibaquaponics.com/farm-tours/

 

or, search for Sahib Punjabi....he is a memeber here

 

Hope to see you there...

Thank you very much Mr. Hart,

I have just arranged visit with Mr. Punjabi next Saturday. He was so nice and replied immediately after my email.  Once again sir thank you very much for the information.


David Hart said:

Hi Cedomr, there is a farm tour this comming Sat @ Sahib Aquaponics in Orlando (Winter Park)  It would be a little drive for you, but at least you'd see systems running in 'real life'. Yes, some of the systems are raft setups.

 

You can go to Sahib's web site to sign up....

http://sahibaquaponics.com/farm-tours/

 

or, search for Sahib Punjabi....he is a memeber here

 

Hope to see you there...

Hay Cedomr,

      Welcome to the site and to Aquaponics.

The ppm meter might be useful for measuring regular hydroponic nutrient strength but it will be almost useless for Aquaponics (except to perhaps help guesstimate aprox salt strenght if you had to salt the system but there it is still tricky since you would probably have to dilute the sample by a measured amount to really be able to read it.)

Anyway, you will need a Freshwater master test kit for doing the aquaponics measuring.

here is a link to a page with videos about the test kit

And you can get them through the shop tab at the top of the page here (Sylvia's store The Aquaponics Source) or you can search "That Pet Place" to find them as well and most aquarium shops will sell the kits too.

The farm tour would be a good chance for you to get a look at things.  I personally find the gravel bed (media bed) aquaponics less intimidating since you don't have to worry about separate filtration or all the extra aeration that is usually needed under the rafts to keep the plat roots from being water logged.

I'm usually quite open to giving tours by appointment at my place (up near Mount Dora, FL) but my schedule will be really limited for the next month and a half and after that the farm will hopefully be moved to a new location.

As to some one over closer to your area.  Have you tried contacting Jon and Cat?  Here is their web site http://backwaterprovisions.com/default.aspx

Thanks for the information. I have heard that there are some people around here Daytona, Ormond, Port Orange area but I am not having luck locating anyone.  I would love to come and visit when you set up your new place but I am working full time and my wife is handicapped so I take care of her after work. Leaving town is not doable for now.  Thanks anyway and good luck with the new place.



TCLynx said:

Hay Cedomr,

      Welcome to the site and to Aquaponics.

The ppm meter might be useful for measuring regular hydroponic nutrient strength but it will be almost useless for Aquaponics (except to perhaps help guesstimate aprox salt strenght if you had to salt the system but there it is still tricky since you would probably have to dilute the sample by a measured amount to really be able to read it.)

Anyway, you will need a Freshwater master test kit for doing the aquaponics measuring.

here is a link to a page with videos about the test kit

And you can get them through the shop tab at the top of the page here (Sylvia's store The Aquaponics Source) or you can search "That Pet Place" to find them as well and most aquarium shops will sell the kits too.

The farm tour would be a good chance for you to get a look at things.  I personally find the gravel bed (media bed) aquaponics less intimidating since you don't have to worry about separate filtration or all the extra aeration that is usually needed under the rafts to keep the plat roots from being water logged.

I'm usually quite open to giving tours by appointment at my place (up near Mount Dora, FL) but my schedule will be really limited for the next month and a half and after that the farm will hopefully be moved to a new location.

As to some one over closer to your area.  Have you tried contacting Jon and Cat?  Here is their web site http://backwaterprovisions.com/default.aspx

Reply to Discussion

RSS

© 2024   Created by Sylvia Bernstein.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service