Hello ... soon will be doing aquaponic gardening

[Ray McCormack]

I have read the book and done some investigation.  A mechanical engineer with a seat of solidworks.  Spent the last 4 years building up WVO capabilites on my sprinter van and biodiesel on my wifes passat.  Have 17 restaurants I collect from and I sold 11,000 gallons last year at $2/gallon.

Planning on building the barrel setup in my back yard here in Vancouver.  What I learn from that will be implemented in a more large scale fashion in the basement of this:

Container home up on Mt. Hood on our property.

This container home will have a eco roof and solar panels, and a water collection system.  The basement will have a large aquaponic garden.  Main heat will be with wood stoves and ceiling fans.  My WVO efforts will continue.

When we do this container home I will also have a 43 foot sailboat that we will spend part of the winter on.  I am wondering how long one can leave a aquaponic garden setup (established of course).  I am good with automation so creating a feeding system for the fish would be pretty easy.  Would be pretty cool to come back after two months to see full vegetables.  I am sure I could get a neighbor to come over and get the fruits that are there during the time we are away ....

[Keith Barkwood]

Sorry totally off topic.......what make is your boat?  I ask because I'm looking myself.  Torn between Roberts and Westsails.

[Ray McCormack]

Looking at three different boats; cacasde 36, cal 40, and columbia 43

My marine resume is longer than my corporate resume and I used to be a commercial fisherman up in dutch .....

[Daniel]

Hi Ray -

Sounds like some cool projects you have going. I thought I would share this video in regards to the automation, in case you haven't seen it yet: http://youtu.be/VBspR2p0YYM?t=5m47s (This link should start the video where he talks about automation, but if you have time, the whole thing is interesting.)

 

I don't have much experience yet, but the little I have would suggest that the real concern about leaving the system for a long period of time would only be that something would go wrong, and not be caught/corrected quickly. Though a system should run itself quite well if the fish get fed, a small issue can quickly become a large issue if not caught and corrected. In the video above, the guy seems to have automated not only the basic functions of the A/P system, but also automated the monitoring of the system. I think this would be key to going a long period of time - if you have automated monitoring, you know when to send in reinforcements to correct any issue before it gets out of control.

[Ray McCormack]

Thanks for the post.  I am some what of a controls expert myself.  Good at sensors, PLC's, circuitry and pumps/plumbing.

Of course everything I do will be documented ..... because that is the way I do things.

[Ray McCormack]

So I found a 55 gallon acrylic tank in a foreclosed rat infested house.  Was able to clean up the tank and most of the contents, sand and stained the base.  Bought a heater for it and some filtering elements and its up and running in the living room.  Looks really good actually and the kids are excited as I moved my three chiclids from the old 20 gallon tank over.

Next is to build a hood with LED lighting, and then eventually a herb aquaponic system on top.  I am drawing everything up in solidworks and documenting my build.  Will post pictures and video soon.

One question.  What type of media should I use for the plants?  The plants will mainly be herbs and spices, any suggestions on what herbs and spices I should try to grow?

If I am successful with this build, next I would build a tapilla/vegetable setup larger scale out in my yard in a green house with 55 gallon plastic barrels.