Friday, 20 March 2015
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
What type of growmedia not to use
A lot of people have been asking me if we can use smaller pebbles, sane or cocopete for the grow media in an aquaponics system.
So i decided to give it a try.
I used small pebbles in this experiment, the pebbles were about 5 mm in size. easy to handle and the system started to grow well.
Well as a lot of experts from various online forums did mention that this will not work.
And after a few months, tomatoes were happily growing until one day i noticed that the water flow was not the way i would have liked it to be.
This is precisely 5 months after i started the system and the problem started.
Root clogging, had caused the problem .. the roots were really big and used up all the space between the small pebbles and there was no space for the water to flow. Also the flood and drain did stop working and this adds to the supply of oxygen the to roots to be cut off.
So what i have learned from this experiment is that, for a media based Aquaponics system to work well, the grow media have to be atleast 20 mm. The ideal material is LECA - Light Expanded Clay Aggregate also known as Hydroton.
This is a little expensive material and one ca use 20 - 25 mm gravel or river pebbles as well.
Gravel or river pebbles are a lot heavier compared to the LECA, so having a large system on your roof top with gravel or river pebbles will be a bit challenging.
So i decided to give it a try.
I used small pebbles in this experiment, the pebbles were about 5 mm in size. easy to handle and the system started to grow well.
Well as a lot of experts from various online forums did mention that this will not work.
And after a few months, tomatoes were happily growing until one day i noticed that the water flow was not the way i would have liked it to be.
This is precisely 5 months after i started the system and the problem started.
Root clogging, had caused the problem .. the roots were really big and used up all the space between the small pebbles and there was no space for the water to flow. Also the flood and drain did stop working and this adds to the supply of oxygen the to roots to be cut off.
This is a little expensive material and one ca use 20 - 25 mm gravel or river pebbles as well.
Gravel or river pebbles are a lot heavier compared to the LECA, so having a large system on your roof top with gravel or river pebbles will be a bit challenging.
Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Monday, 5 January 2015
Tuesday, 9 December 2014
Shifting tilapias
So the last weekend was filled with action as i noticed the solidwaste in my 500 liter system is creating a problem. This system now has around 48 tilapias and some of them have become bigger than the others. So i decided to move 10 of the big ones to my second system.
Catching them in the small fishing net was a little tricky, since the fish had become bigger then the net i had with me. So i had to get a bigger net. In the aquarium store i noticed lots of big fishing nets like the size of an A3 poster. I always wondered who would buy such big nets .... well ... i am well on the way to getting one soon :)
Some of my tilapias have become 8 inch long, another eight months they should be plate size or at least 0.75Kg to 1Kg each.
Here is a short video of how i moved the tilapias.
Catching them in the small fishing net was a little tricky, since the fish had become bigger then the net i had with me. So i had to get a bigger net. In the aquarium store i noticed lots of big fishing nets like the size of an A3 poster. I always wondered who would buy such big nets .... well ... i am well on the way to getting one soon :)
Some of my tilapias have become 8 inch long, another eight months they should be plate size or at least 0.75Kg to 1Kg each.
Here is a short video of how i moved the tilapias.
Tuesday, 2 December 2014
Miniponics - The Art Series -
This weekend i just decided to make more miniponics and give it an art treatment.
First i painted the growbed and portion of the fish tank white.
Using permanent marker pens, i started drawing interesting fish directly on to the white base coat.
The bottom of the fish tank was given a wave treatment and a few stylized creepers on the vertical pipes held the whole design together.
First i painted the growbed and portion of the fish tank white.
Using permanent marker pens, i started drawing interesting fish directly on to the white base coat.
The bottom of the fish tank was given a wave treatment and a few stylized creepers on the vertical pipes held the whole design together.
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