Thursday, August 22, 2013
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Fish vs Liter vs Growbed aquaponics
How much space is required for an Aquaponics System?
Well that depends on how big a
system you want to build and what you make the system out of.
We are always being asked how big a system do I need to feed a
family of four - the answer is how much does a family of four eat!
Consider, how many fish do you want and how many plants do you want
to grow. A 1,000 litre (264 US Gallons) tank in your aquaponics
system will support between 50 and 80 fish. That will support
between 1,200 (317 US Gallons) and 1,800 litres (475 US Gallons) of
grow beds taken that the grow beds are about 300 millimeter (12
inches) deep.
Fish vs Liter vs Growbed aquaponics |
Day to day Aquaponics
Day to day handling of fish and plants in the aquaponic system
Introduction
This experiment focuses on the day to day handling of fish and plants in your already established aquaponic system (please carry out experiments 1-3 of this teaching unit first). It gives you useful hints about monitoring the plants, the fish and the system as a whole.Learning goals
- Know what are the daily, weekly and monthly tasks when maintaining an aquaponic system
- Know what is causing stress to fish and what to do about it
- Be able to make a fish health check up by observing different body characteristics
- Know what can make your plants ill and what to do about it
Day to day Aquaponics |
Yellow leaves in my Aquaponics
Iron deficiency is one of the most common deficiencies in an
aquaponics garden, it is responsible for the yellowing of plant leaves.
Furtunately, this Iron deficiency is also one of the easiest problems to
fix: simply adding a small amount of Chelated Iron fertilizer at
regular intervals is all that is needed.
Iron deficiency in an aquaponics garden is quite common. In aquaponics, unless you add additional sources for the nutrients, all nutrients that come into the system will come through the fish food. Not all trace elements are introduced in the fish food.
Iron deficiency in an aquaponics garden is quite common. In aquaponics, unless you add additional sources for the nutrients, all nutrients that come into the system will come through the fish food. Not all trace elements are introduced in the fish food.
Aquaponics and iron magnesium calcium
One of the shortcomings for all aquaponics systems has been the ability
to provide the systems with the right combination of trace elements to
grow blooming plants. This is not to say that the nutrients in fish
waste aren’t ample to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, beans,
zucchini, etc. because we have been able to grow them. However . . .
fish waste alone doesn’t produce ENOUGH iron, magnesium, calcium and potassium to continually
grow large amounts of these blooming plants. This is one of the key
reasons that aquaponics has been slow to commercialize. It’s a fact that
greens (lettuce, basil, kale, etc.) can be grown in almost any
aquaponics system very successfully in almost any climate. But the trick
is to consistently
grow blooming plants that produce multiple crops of (example) tomatoes,
peppers, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and beans on fish waste alone
because the required blossoming-supportive nutrients are quickly
stripped out of the water and blooming plants cannot continually blossom
and grow plants that produce fruit/vegetables without adding chemicals
because of nutrient deficiencies; fish waste alone does NOT
produce ENOUGH iron, magnesium, calcium and potassium to continually
grow blooming plants that produce food in aquaponics.
more info we can porvide in our daily newsletter
Aquaponics, ækwəˈpɒnɨks, pisciponics http://aquaponics-commercial-backyard.blogspot.com.es/
Aquaponics iron, aquaponics magnesium, aquaponics calcium |
more info we can porvide in our daily newsletter
Aquaponics, ækwəˈpɒnɨks, pisciponics http://aquaponics-commercial-backyard.blogspot.com.es/
Aquaponics Worms
How do worms survive in an aquaponic grow bed? Don’t they drown?
We have all seen worms crawling out onto the sidewalk after a soaking rain, seemly gasping for air. That they choose exposure to the sun and hungry birds to the water logged soil seems to tell us that worms don’t like soaking wet environments. And what is an aquaponics grow bed if not a soaking wet environment?The difference with aquaponics worms is that they do not remain constantly full of water, but rather flood, and then drain. This allows for a “drying out” period between soakings that also encourages air circulation within the grow media.
This brings me to the most important reason why worms thrive within aquaponics: oxygen. The reason why those worms crawl from the soil to their death on the sidewalk is not because of the water, but because the water has forced the oxygen out of the soil. In aquaponics, however, not only does the flood and drain action pull oxygen into the grow bed media, but the water that is circulating throughout the system is highly oxygenated. In fact, I’ve found aquaponics worms thriving within my sump tanks!
Water Hardness and ph in aquaponics
Most of us aquapons know that the health of all the creatures in our
systems (fish, plants, worms, and bacteria) depends on proper pH. We
also know that we are targeting pH in the 6.8 to 7.0 range but that we
don’t have to worry about adjusting it until it goes down to 6.4 or up
to 7.8. We also know that the best way to lower pH is with an acid, and
that the best way to raise it is with carbonates or hydroxides. We know
that rapid changes in pH can be very stressful to fish. And we know that
the pH will probably decrease over time because the nitrogen cycle
produces an acid (nitric).
But often, knowing all of this and applying it to our systems are two different things. At The Aquaponic Source, we handle questions and concerns each and every day about pH. Generally, the questions fall into one of two categories:
But often, knowing all of this and applying it to our systems are two different things. At The Aquaponic Source, we handle questions and concerns each and every day about pH. Generally, the questions fall into one of two categories:
Pollination in an Aquaponics system
One of the challenges of growing in an indoor
aquaponics environment is that we don’t have nature’s pollinators
available to us. But is this a big problem for most aquaponic gardeners?
It depends entirely on what you are growing. The only time that you
need to worry about pollination is when you are growing a plant to
harvest its fruit (e.g. tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, etc.) or if you are
saving seeds and you need the non-fruiting plants to produce seeds.
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