Aquaponics System Set Up

Here's my aquaponics system all set up! The system includes a 10 gallon fish tank, an air pump, a grow bed (a storage container with holes melted into the bottom with a glue gun), hydropon clay pellets, a plastic tube to carry the water to the grow bed, 8 gold fish, and several basil plants. We bought the grow bed, the fish, and the plants ourselves. I bought the gold fish at Petco in Union Square for 15 cents each. Sadly two of the goldfish died on the first night but the other eight are doing splendidly.

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Aquaponics is the growing of plants and fish together. It's a symbiotic relationship. The fish produce waste in the water, which is pumped up into the grow bed, where bacteria converts the waste from nitrites to nitrates, and the plants suck up the nutrients, providing clean water for the plants. It requires less water than conventional growing systems because it is cleaned continuously. Some systems even grow duckweed to feed the fish, creating a complete closed loop. Will Allen uses a system that grows duckweed to feed the fish and supplements his grow beds with vermicompost (worm poo!) and grows nile tilapia.

We used a water conditioner to take the chloride and other water treatments out of the water. I was concerned about chloromine in the water, which is toxic to fish. Unlike chlorine, which evaporates after a few days, water with chloromine has to be treated with a water conditioner and let sit for a few days. We had already bought the fish and didn't have a few days so we tossed them in hoping for the best. Luckily I did some research and New York City's water is only treated with chlorine, fluoride, phosphoric acid, and in some cases sodium hydroxide.

Blue Lobsters/Crawfish

For my aquaponics class I've been researching species to grow in our 10 gallon tank. I went to Petco to do some research and came away with 10 goldfish because they are hardy and only cost 15 cents each. One of the most exotic species I saw there were these small crustaceans, which were called blue lobsters and were $21 each! Maybe it would be profitable to start a breeding operation...

(They are even using artificial shelters!)

The blue lobster is a color morph of many different American crayfish species, some that breed in captivity and some that don't (there goes my plan). There are also blue American lobsters (the full-size Maine lobsters that you normally think of as lobster), but only one in a million is blue. They can get to 6 inches long. I decided that redclaw crawfish were a better option...

Window Farm Construction Project

In anticipation of my Life Support class, the planting workshop that we are running at ihouse on December 5th, and the possible NY Sun Works internship I have once again started the process of building a window farm. http://www.windowfarms.org/ This organization was started by New Yorkers to utilize the only space available for most people who want to grow vegetables in the city: window space. The plants are grown hydroponically so more plants can be grown in a small area, no dirt is required and the natural light from the window is used, and the constant room temperature provides the conditions almost equivalent to a greenhouse for all year production. They also have a website devoted to what they call R&D-I-Y (research and develop it yourself), which allows people to provide feedback on the design so that improvements can be made and to share ideas. Currently over 13,000 people have downloaded the instructions worldwide and are building window farms. This is the link to the community site: http://our.windowfarms.org/

I discovered window farms while I was doing research for aquaponics for my thesis (at that point I hadn't narrowed down my thesis and was examining the possibilities of developing projects including aquaponic systems, rice-fish farming, and lobster houses in Miches). I quickly became a member and started constructing my own hydroponic system out of soy milk bottles and yogurt containers, which also helped me use up my dining money at the dining hall because they are some of the most expensive items. I looked into buying an air pump, but they were really expensive and the project got put on hold. Sadly, I had to throw away my hydroponic system because it wouldn't fit in the truck back to NH.

This time around I'm going to follow the directions for the newest model, the V3.o MAMA, which is still in beta testing, but can handle up to four columns of four plants! Here's the V3.0 MAMA pictured below in all her glory.

You can download instructions from: http://our.windowfarms.org/instructions/. The price for air pumps has also declined significantly from last year and I can buy a two way air pump, which would support 8 plants and is as much plants as my small window could handle, for $10 at PetCo. Tomorrow I am heading home to NH and will hopefully raid my dad's workshop for some items that might be handy for this project. Cutting holes in the bottom of the bottles has been particularly difficult. I didn't know that plastic bottles could be so strong. The instructions recommend using a drill for that part, but all I have is a pocket knife... We'll see what my dad suggests. : )

Surprisingly there is a hydroponics store on 9th Avenue, where I can buy the hydroton clay pellets, nutrient solution, and net cups. It's amazing what is available in this city. That is why I love it!