So early this year I started reading about the magical concept of aquaponics.
The basic gist being you can raise fish for eating in a reasonably small body of water, they excrete magic grow formulae for plants and the water is continuously cycled through beds of edible plant life.
The diy geek in me started pulling at my shirt and smacking my arm because this pretty much looked like a magical-perfect-system which would be infinitely-awesome-sauce.
So I started watching YouTube videos of some weirdos pulling fish out of kiddie pools in their back yards, learning about bell siphons, grow rafts, sump tanks, and swirl filters. My kind and loving wife looked at me with suspicion (yes I saw that). But at every turn this looked good enough to be true, and so I went shopping for plumbing parts and went to the hydroponics store and got some excellent and cheap labor:
And then I ordered fish. Through the mail. Man, I wish that I had a picture. Whoops.
In they went, and I turned on the pump. I won’t lie, plugging the leaks and getting the flow fast enough has been a challenge, but the growth has been good, we’re able to eat a home grown salad on most days now and the real boon has been starting seeds, in December, when there are occasional frosts overnight. You see the tank is heated and I had taken to leaving my starts on top of the fish container, to help block sunlight to keep the algae in check. But it keeps those baby buds plenty warm overnight and that in turn with our lovely daytime temps keeps them sprouting, even at a ridiculous time of year.
Yes that’s our Christmas tree. I’m sure we’ll find a good use for it.
GrowGrowGadgetGrow 