Aquaponics

Ok, so most of us have seen the aquaponics project at Epcot.  Everytime I see it, I commit to starting a small tank of my own when I return home, but then I never get around to it.  Guess what?  I'm finally going to do it.

Aquaponics is an integrated system with fish and plants.  The fish provide nutrients for the plants.  The plants return the favor by filtering the water for the fish.  Shouldn't all life be so in sync?

Ok, so the system is slightly more complicated than this, but is certainly do-able for home gardeners & fish lovers.

This blog will be short on details because I'm still learning.  I'll get more specific in later blogs.

We're going to start with four 55 gallon food grade plastic barrels.  (Stay away from chemical laden black barrels.  The red and blue barrels are usually food grade.) 

Basically, we'll cut out the sides of two barrels and lay them horizontally on my plant stand.  I'll fill these with gravel and plant lettuce starts in these planters.  On the patio next to my plant stand, I'll set up a barrel, vertically, for the tilapia.  We chose tilapia because they withstand our Florida weather conditions nicely.  The tilapia barrel will contain an aquarium pump and aerator. 

Water from the tilapia barrel will pump into a barrel of gravel and red worms.  The gravel will filter out large sediment from the fish waste and the worms will feed on this waste.  Once again, WORMS RULE!!   During this stage, nitrites from the fish are converted by bacteria to nitrogen (plant food!)

From the worm/gravel barrel, the nitrogen rich water will flow into the planters.  The plants will filter the water before it flows back into the fish tank.

If any of my readers have an aquaponics system, I hope you'll answer the following questions for me:

-How is the composted material from the red worms harvested? Or does this just flow into the planters?  If so, wouldn't the worm castings clog the tubing as much as the fish waste?

-What is the most humane method of harvesting the fish?  Call me a weenie, but I just don't like killing animals.

So that's my big project for August.  I bet I'm not the only person who likes working on new projects...keeps life interesting!

For more information on growing vegetables in containers, consider purchasing my book:  Container Gardening for Health: The 12 Most Important Fruits & Vegetables for Your Organic Garden