Mini-greenhouses or coldframes - not sure what to call them

First post in a while. I've been so busy with work and travel that I haven't had any time to spend in the garden. Maybe that's why it's been so sucky lately??

Anyway...

Dedicated readers (if there are any) may remember that last year, I put together a makeshift, greenhouse-like structure out of old fencing, some fenceposts, and some plastic tarps. Rather than go down that same path this year, I decided to build a mini-greenhouse for each of my grow tubs.

 First, I built a wooden frame around the grow bed. Not as easy as it sounds, even though all the grow beds are the same product. They each seem to sag in a different way, so each of the frames had slightly different dimensions and different heights.

 

Next, I created a PVC greenhouse using mostly existing 1/2" PVC that I had from other experiments uses. I bought special 45 degree elbows and special 3-way fittings for the bottom corners from a greenhouse supply store.

  

Once the PVC frames were done, I used my old plastic that I used last year. I basically rolled the frame in the plastic, then used plastic clips to hold the clear/opaque plastic to the PVC frame. Each greenhouse has 2 little chimneys that I'm hoping will help it from getting too hot in there. Though the plastic drapes down the sides, it's certainly not air tight, so there should be some air flow, even when the sides are fully down.

 

 Here's a view through all 3 greenhouses. I rolled up the sides to keep air moving through there. I probably will keep it rolled up until it gets closer to 25 degrees at night. 

The cilantro, arugula, and spinach that I've planted, along with the tub full of strawberry plants, proved last year that they can handle the cold. The greenhouses should help warm things up during the day nicely, and they'll keep the frost off of the plants at night. Another side benefit is that they keep the leaves from landing on the grow beds! This time of year, it's a daily chore picking the leaves out.

I put in another order for rainbow trout this year. It went so well last year, I figured we'd do it again this year!

Snow Camp Aquaponics Has Gone Flood/Drain

I purchased a timer relay, and after some consultation with my electrical engineer of an uncle, managed to set everything up nicely. As we speak, I've got my pond pump running for 60 minutes, which runs the waterfall and floods the grow beds, and as that switches off, an aerator switches on for 30 minutes, allowing the grow beds to drain fully while still providing the fishies with oxygen. As a bonus, the aerator only uses 15W of electricity, which is a fraction of what the pond pump uses. So, for 8 hours a day, my electricity meter will be spinning a little more slowly.

The garden this year will feature heirloom tomatoes. We've been enjoying the spinach, arugula, and cilantro. And with such a warm start to spring, it looks like it won't be long before the first fruits of summer!

Rainbow Trout and a Snow Camp Greenhouse

30 rainbow trout arrived on Friday all in the 6-9" range. A couple of them seemed pretty frazzled from the delivery and introduction into the pond, and I found one dead Sunday morning (tasted delicious!). Other than that, they seem to be doing very well. They haven't been eating all that much, though this morning, they seemed to be quite active, despite the sub-30 degree outside temperatures. I think the timing of feeding may be important with them. On Sunday, I tried feeding them around 9 AM, and there wasn't much interest. This morning, I fed before work at around 6:30, just as the sun was coming up. It's generally a good time to fish, so I guess it makes sense.

In addition, I created what I'm calling a Snow Camp greenhouse (because it is so ghetto!). I just used some extra fencing to create a tunnel shell over the two buckets with taller plants and then draped some 6 mil plastic over the top, tied it all down so it wouldn't blow away, and called it a day. Is it any warmer in there that the outside? Probably not! But, at least it'll keep the hard frost off of the plants (spinach, bok choi, broccoli, cilantro, and arugula). I found some nice tutorials about making a greenhouse on the cheap with a PVC-based tunnel shell and 6 mil plastic, but the 20X100' roll of 6 mil plastic is $90+ just by itself! If I'm gonna spend more than $150 on a greenhouse, I might as well do it right. And since we're hoping to move soon, it just made sense to use what I had around and make the best out of it. Hopefully it's good enough!

Back in business

I'm back in business. So, the rubber containers ("buckets") that I've been using had this pre-installed metal-threaded bulkhead fitting/outlet that I used as my drain. Problem was that they were only about 1/2" diameter, so thin, that a single piece of gravel could get stuck inside it and clog it up. That was the cause of the disaster.

So, what I had to do was to try and push all my hydroton/gravel to the other side of the bucket while attempting to not kill any plants, remove the metal-threaded bulkhead fitting, drill out a larger hole, and then install. I used 1" pipe this time, probably still not wide enough, but a major improvement. I've heard the occassional piece of hydroton getting sucked clean through, so I think the risk of clogging is lessened.

I also followed the recommendation of every single other aquaponics person in the universe and put in a standpipe with the cut out "V" at the top. I don't understand why that makes such a difference, but trust me, it does! The suction is now pretty impressive. I drilled plenty of holes through the standpipe to allow the water to fill in and drain out before it even gets to the top "V", and given that my water is running constantly, I found that the more holes I had, the more flow I could give the bucket without overtopping the standpipe and flooding the plants.

From everything I've read, people use the flood/drain system to ensure that the roots have enough oxygen to avoid root rot. Given that my pump is also operating the waterfall for my pond (more of an aesthetic purpose), I choose to let my pump run all the time. I find that the plants seem to do well enough that I don't notice the difference. Maybe they'd be even bigger if they had some time to breathe fresh air! Given that the water doesn't stay all the way at the surface, part of the root system is always getting some oxygen, so that should help.

My next system will likely be aquaponics only, so I'll try out a timer and do a flood/drain type of thing. I'm looking forward to not having to run the pump 24/7 from an electricity-use standpoint, as well.

Inauguration/Snow Day Update

Well, it's been a long time since I updated this. I actually had done a bunch of work on the hydroponic buckets a while ago, but never got around to taking pictures and getting up a post. Since we had a rare snow day, it seemed like a good opportunity to post some photos. The new work was to create a level platform for the buckets, plumb three separately controlled input lines, as well as tie three new output lines into the existing return line into the pond. I also tied in an output that just dumps into the garden, just in case I want to flush the buckets without sending that water back into the pond. I'm excited about the ability to control the flow to each individual bucket, and I'm also excited about having 3 buckets instead of 2. That means more veggies, more flowers, and the capability for hosting more fish. Fingers crossed that I'll actually be able to get the tilapia this year!

The buckets are not quite done. They are about 2/3 full with gravel, but I'm hoping to get those clay pellets to fill up the rest of the space. I've constructed a PVC pipe grid to deliver the water. I just need to drill holes into them to allow the water to come out. The only thing I'm worried about is the drain. I'm using an existing drain that is installed on the buckets. It's a little small, so I'm worried that roots or leaves or something else may end up clogging the drain. And, I'm worried that if the drain clogs, that it will be difficult to free the clog. We shall see...

I'm also thinking about constructing a bamboo roof to keep out the leaves in the fall, to filter some of the intense summer sun, and maybe act as structure for climbing vines to attach to. I haven't made up my mind how I like it so far, though.

You can see all the fish at the bottom. None have died yet, despite the freezing cold!

Bucket platform and a couple of bamboo posts installed for potential roof system

3 Important Lessons Learned & Documenting a Mid-Season Major Fix

Now that summer is in full swing, I have a pond full of fish (if only they were tilapia...), and the pond has had a few months to carve out its own little environmental niche in my backyard, I can share 3 important lessons that I've learned.

Lesson 1: Don't buy a pump with "pre-filters" or a "clean-water" pump. Buy a pump that can handle solids.

So, I started off with the Dynatec 1350 Pond Pump, because I wasn't really sure how many gallons my pond had, and I didn't want to get too much pump. After about a month, it became clear that I needed a stronger pump, so I got the Dynatec 1500 Pond Pump. It was the same size, which made swapping out the old for the new very easy, but had a little more power. Though I was impressed at first, I started having the problems with flow, and it turned out that the little sponge "pre-filter" was getting covered in algae and basically choking the pump. I could fix it easily by putting on a clean filter or cleaning the filter that was on there, but it started to become a hassle. I also noticed that if I just tried to clean the filter, sometimes I'd only get a day or two before it got clogged again.

So, I decided to upgrade the pump, and I went with a Little Giant K-3000 pump. It's bigger and a lot more powerful, but the nice thing is that it can handle solids up to 3/4" or so. Plus, the water in the pond is moving like crazy now, and I think that it finally might actually be turning the water over 1-2 times per hour like it's supposed to.
Here is the Little Giant. It was bigger, and ended up taking up a bunch more space. I took out the big green filter that comes with the skimmer and just put the leaf netting right in front of the pump. It's basically the first thing that anything coming into the skimmer sees. One benefit I've noticed with the increased flow is that the algae is getting sucked into the skimmer and is collecting on the leaf netting. Simple - pull the netting out, shake it a bit, and algae is gone!

That brings me to ...

Lesson 2: Gravel slows the water down a lot, so you need more outflow capacity than inflow capacity, because the water will be moving slower going out than it is going in.

Sure, this is something that makes sense and that I thought about before I put the system together, but I definitely underestimated how it all would work. The upshot is that when I attached the new, more powerful pump, all of my buckets were overflowing! I tried for a while to find the right setting for the ball valves, but I just couldn't find the sweet spot. In the end, I settled on extra drainage from one of the buckets using garden hose siphons. This brings me to...

Lesson 3: Make sure your buckets are level! And even if they start off level, they may settle. They may settle a lot!

Sometimes in the morning, I'd go out and check on things, and I'd notice that the water level was way down in the pond. Sure enough, I'd see some water trickling over one side of a bucket. Since those things weigh around a ton with gravel and water, there's no way of jacking it up to fix that, so the only thing you can do is turn down the in-flow to lower the water level. This only works so long until you don't have enough flow to keep the plants happy.

This happened to one of my garden buckets, but it also happened to the wetland plant bucket quite frequently. There was nothing else for me to do but redo the wetland bucket, and that's what I worked on this weekend.
Here you can see all the hose siphons coming in. Due to the settling of the wetland bucket (just out of the picture at the top and the settling of one of the garden buckets (off to the left but not in the picture), siphons were the only way to keep the water from flowing over the sides of the buckets.

And now on to the weekend's project - empty the wetland bucket (while trying to ensure the survival of all the plants in it), add in extra drainage, level it, reposition, add back all the gravel, rebuild the waterfall to accommodate the extra drainage, and then enjoy!

First, I removed all the plants and put them in this big cooler. I put some gravel in the bottom and filled it with water, just like how it was in the bucket. Only difference is that the water wasn't moving. I put the cooler under a tree so that it would have good shade during the heat of the day.

Then, I removed all the gravel from the bucket. If you've ever wondered how much gravel a 110 gallon plastic tub from Tractor Supply holds, well, there it is! If I remember correctly, it's about 8-9 wheelbarrow loads.

After taking apart the waterfall and a good bit of the rock wall surrounding the bucket (needed to do that to get the bucket out), I added sand and gravel to the bit of ground that the bucket sits on to help get it level. I also had to redo the waterfall to accommodate a new, low drain pipe. Pictured below are all three drain pipes (looking down). The top one is not necessary, but that was where the old drainage was, and I already had a hole, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to put an emergency drainage pipe there just to plug the hole. Also, all of my pipe is 1.5" pipe, but I added in a 2" pipe (PVC white in the photo) to ensure that the darn bucket wouldn't overflow ever again, even if it went off-kilter.
So, after the fish-safe, aquarium epoxy set for 24 hours, I filled up the bucket to test for leaks and see how things looked. Everything seemed to be working well, so I added the gravel back. After the gravel went back in, the water level wouldn't get any higher than the top of the bottom drain pipe! WHAT?! Before, it was overflowing - that was the whole point of this exercise - if I add in more drainage, then it won't overflow. But now, all of a sudden, it didn't need it! Frustrating. The waterfall is supposed to have water flowing down it!
So, after much pondering, I took a hose clamp and tightened it down on the end of the outflow pictured above. It got pretty tight, but it definitely worked, and the water level came up high enough to start to flow out the PVC tube and then down the waterfall! Sure, most of the flow comes out of the bottom pipe, but there's good water coming down from above, and it all blends in nicely. The sound is stronger than ever, and the fish really seem to like it.
With the water flowing well, I added the wetland plants back in, and the project was finished!

Pond costs

I thought I would share just how much this pond cost, not including time and labor or electricity for running the pond pump (~100 watts/24 hours a day), just so you can get an idea of the amount of effort and money required for set up. I'll also estimate yearly operating costs.

- Landscaping (plants, dirt, etc.): $1756 (48% of the cost)
*$1366 of that was for rocks/gravel - all delivered
- Pond/bog construction (liner, skimmer, plumbing, electrical, bog tubs, caulk, etc.): $1353 (37% of the cost)
- Pumps/filters: $276 (7% of the cost)
*I bought a backup pump and replacement filters, in addition to current one)
- Fish, fish food, meters, nutrient additives: $307 (8% of the cost)

Grand total: $3692

Annually, you'll need to buy new fish, fish food, nutrients, some plumbing/caulk for leak fixes, filters. I imagine that will be no more than $500, but I'll keep track and document after one year has passed.

Aquaponics Happening!

Well, everything is finally done! The only thing that remains is to pick up my tilapia the first week of May. The pond is running, the bogs are running, the native plant section is planted and mulched, and the plants in the pond seem to be getting used to their new home. The two garden bogs are already showing signs of seedlings, less than one week after putting the seeds in! The native plant bog is looking great, and one of the dwarf crested irises is blooming! The only species that I'd like to add are some pitcher plants, but the only ones that I can find so far (Lowe's) aren't the native varieties found in NC.

Species List:
In the pond:
- iris versicolor (blue water iris)
- pellandra virginica (bog arum)
- lubellia syphilitica (great blue lobellia)
- sauronus sp. (lizard's tail)
- pontederia cordata (pickerel rush)
- acorus calamus (sweet flag)
- alisma subcordata (water plantain)

In the pond bog:
- chamaelirium luterm (fairywand)
- lobellia cardinalis (cardinal flower)
- hydrophyllum virginiaum (eastern waterleaf)
- iris cristata (dwarf crested iris)
- iris bericaulis (zigzag iris)

In the native perennial garden surrounding the pond:
- oenothera fruticosa (southern sundrops)
- callicarpa americana (american beauty berry)
- peristemon smalli (small's beardstongue)
- symphotichum oblongifolium (eastern aromatic aster)
- muhlenbergia capillaris (hairgrass)
- coreopsis triptens (tall tickseed)
- silene virginica (fire-pink)
- helianthus augustifolius (swamp sunflower)
- rudbeckia fulgida (orange coneflower)
- stokesia laevis (stokes'-aster)
- heuchera americana (american alumroot)

Waterfall and First Bog Rough Draft

So, as you can see, it's starting to take shape! We had some nice slabs of slate lying around the yard, so I gathered up what wasn't being used, and am now using it for the waterfall. It makes a nice path for the water, since it's so smooth and natural looking. After I finish up this web design gig that I'm doing, I'll have enough money to get another load of rocks to finish up the landscaping and pretty it up. Note that the pond is only about half full at this point. Still need a couple of big rain events to finish it up. I've attached the garden hose to my rain barrel on the porch, so I'm using the water from my roof to fill the pond.

Here's a side profile of the design. You can see the 110-gallon bucket "bog" on the right. There's a PVC inlet on the right. This is where the pond water will come in. The PVC pipe has a bunch of holes drilled in it starting about half way down. The theory is that the water will fill in the PVC pipe (which keeps out the gravel), then pour out through the holes to fill up the rest of the bog. The outlet for the bog is contained in the PVC pipe on the left, which also has holes drilled in the bottom half. The water rises up to a point just below the surface, where it exits via another pipe, that is drilled through the bog wall.

If you look carefully, you can see the mistake hole on the right side of the PVC. My first try, the pipe was tilted up so that it almost came to the top of the PVC. This turned out to be too high to drain the water out before the water reached the surface of the bog and spilled over the side. No harm done - redrill - and recaulk (using aquarium-safe silicone).

Next step will be to install a two-way switch (ball valves and a T), so that I can direct the water flow through the supplemental 2 grow beds during the summer when there are more fish in the pond. Then, I'll probably try and set up the other two grow beds, fill in with gravel, and connect to the bog pictured above. Then, I'll need a little dirt to fill around the bog above. The plan is to put dirt all the way around, then carve in some steps for some above-ground planters. Then, when the rocks are in, rock all around and tidy up.

Pond Installed!!

Well, the pond itself is installed! A lot of things came together last weekend (1/11-1/13): the underlay/liner was delivered, rocks were delivered the previous Wednesday, and I found a guy who could get me a load of gravel to suit that day. So, Friday, after everything arrived, I figured I had all the ingredients, so I might as well cook!

Rocks (rounded river, large flat) and gravel for pond

After putting in the underlay, Liz helped me stretch out the liner and stuff it into all the cracks. I think we probably could have done a better job of smoothing out all the wrinkles, but given that this was our first real attempt at this, I think we did OK. Also complicating the installation was the fact that the water table was up above the bottom of the pond, so the pond bottom at its deepest part was actually more like quicksand. Once rocks were put in, the bottom sort of bulged out, but I figure it won't make too much of a difference once the water is in and pushing down on everything.

Liner in place (EPDM, Firestone Pond Guard, fish safe)

Rounded river rocks in place to hold in/hide liner

After some work getting everything into the skimmer and running the plug through some makeshift conduit to the outlet, I covered everything up and put out the big flat rock on the top level of the pond. It was at this point that I realized that we vastly UNDER estimated our need for rock. We ended up using 2 tons of rocks just for inside the pond and the pond lip. We easily need another ton around the top outside, and then at least a ton for the water. It's a bummer, as we'll have to pay for shipping twice. The lesson here is BUY MORE ROCK THAN YOU THINK YOU COULD CONCEIVABLY USE!! We actually did that, but since we had nothing to compare it to, we did a poor job of estimating.

After the rocks were up, I cut away the excess liner. By the way, it looks like we ordered way too big of a liner, but as it turns out, you can only order it in multiples of 5. We ordered 25' X 25'. But after cutting around the pond, there were many sections that we less than 5' wide, so we did not over order. It's definitely better to over order than to not have enough to go all the way up.

After some rain and snow this weekend, the pond is filling up nicely! I resolved to not use any groundwater to fill it, given North Carolina's drought situation, so I hooked up one end of a hose to our overflow for our rain barrel, so the pond gets filled with rainwater/melt-water from half the roof of our house.

Unfortunately, I must have put a little too much on my back, and it gave out unexpectedly last week without notice. As soon as it gets better, I have to set up the grow bed/bog and waterfall, as the pond will soon be full enough to begin running the pump.

Done with Digging!

Well, since my last post, we moved from design phase into digging. Lots of digging! I have a series of photos to show the progress...

Modest Beginnings

Thanks to a group of friends, real progress!

Building on the group work and digging deeper (~4' deep)

Laying in the pipe that will carry the water from the pump (will be inside the black skimmer box on the bottom) to the hydroponic beds inside the garden fence. Note that I partially filled in the opening in the top step. Since we originally had intended that end to be a "deep end" and have the pump situated there, we left that open. Given the new arrangement with the skimmer (the pump sits inside the skimmer), I had to backfill the step back in. I wasn't able to get it as high as the other steps, but we should be able to stack rocks there to get it up to height once the liner is in.

Pipe's covered up, and a rough outline of a waterfall is in place. Note the large plastic tub. That will be a bog and will also serve as a grow bed, but for more typical pond-oriented vegetation

So, the idea is simple. Water flows into the skimmer box where the skimmer takes out leaves and other surface-floaties. Water is then pumped through the black pipe, which will be completely covered, into the garden area and into some sort of hydroponic grow box. We'll probably get a couple more of those 110 gallon plastic tubs, as they look to be about the right size. The water will fill up each plastic tub, which, in turn, will flow into the next plastic tub, and eventually out of the last plastic tub (pictured above) and out through a waterfall (base construction will be out of cinder blocks) and back into the pond.

Still left to do...
- Get underlayment and liner installed. This will require a 25' X 25' liner, just for the pond, which weighs about 200 pounds. So, I'll need to get some help! I'll also need a small liner for the waterfall (size yet to be determined).
- To secure the liner, I'm going to have to get some rocks delivered. These don't have to be fancy rocks, as any rocks that will be inside the pond will end up getting covered in algae. You want rocks and gravel inside your pond to serve as a place for the beneficial ammonia-converting bacteria to attach to and also to hide the liner.
- Get power to the area. I've already purchased an outdoor outlet set and outdoor wire, but I need to dig a trench (>12") from the pond to the shed, where I plan on installing a mini-breaker box to provide power. Having a double out let pond-side will be nice, in case we need to plug anything else in. The pump itself will run 24 hours a day.
- After the liner is in place, I can work on constructing the waterfall, as it will sit on top of the pond liner.
- Get dirt, gravel, and rocks delivered. Dirt to build up the bog and waterfall area and any parts of the berm that need work. Gravel to fill up the grow beds and disperse inside the pond to conceal the liner. And rocks to landscape the pond, hide the waterfall cinderblocks and waterfall bog plastic container.

So, that's where we're at for now. Looks like we'll take a short break from pond work for the holidays, but I'm really hoping that we can be pretty much up and running by the end of January!!

Look for another update after the liner's in place.

Phase II - Planning and System Design

Well, I can't say that I've built anything or bought anything, but I can say that this system design phase is turning out to be harder than I thought! I finally received the Backyard Aquaponics book and DVD, and it was very informative and helpful. I recommend buying it, although it is $98. I guess some of that has to cover shipping from Australia. It's well done, and it definitely helps to solidify system designs and the things you need to think about in your mind.

I started off thinking that I wanted to design a small system and run it in a 5' X 5' corner of my shed. I live in North Carolina, so we have a winter. The idea of putting in the shed was attractive, in that I might be able to run the system year round. However, the shed was absolutely non-winterized, so I went out and bought some insulation and insulated it. It's much more comfortable in there now, and it's a bit cleaner and more organized. But, I don't think I can run an aquaponics system in there without having some sort of heating unit during the winter. That, combined with the fact that I would have to buy a grow light has turned me away from that idea.

Furthermore, when I started looking into the components I would need, i.e. a fish tank, grow bed, pump(s), and a light, I realized that building a "small" system costs about the same as building a larger system. In other words, no matter what size system you are thinking about, you're still going to need at least one pump, some sort of water tank, and at least one grow bed. In my crawling across the internet, I found that the fish/water tank was going to be the most expensive piece of equipment. Polypropylene tanks of food grade quality are quite expensive. I found some water troughs for livestock, but they had long, oval shapes and weird looking plastic. The sizes and shapes and cost were making the shed corner look less and less likely.

So, now we're thinking we'll set it up outside. As Mr. Malcolm realized, when you are setting up outside, the look of the components comes more into play. You don't want a bunch of plastic tanks sitting out in your yard, purely for aesthetic reasons! So, now we're leaning towards digging a 6' - 8' round hole, about 3' deep for the fish pond, and building a grow bed up against our existing garden fence. Also, we're leaning towards building a gazebo over the fish pond and trying to turn it into a nice space to sit and eat dinner. One thing that occurred to me that I didn't see mentioned is the notion of rainwater in the system. Like many places, we get some nasty thunderstorms here in the spring and summer that can drop a ton of rain in a very short time. That seems to me to be a potential problem with a closed, recirculating system like what I have in mind. That's one of the reasons for the gazebo over the fish pond (in addition to trying to keep down the amount of algae that will grow from sunlight).

The image at the top is a ridiculous rendition of what we have in mind (or at least the general idea!).

Phase I – Learning and Discovery

It isn’t often anymore that you come across an idea that’s simple, creative, and makes perfect sense, especially one that makes environmental sense. When I first read about aquaponics a couple of weeks ago, the brilliance of the concept took hold of me, and I daresay that it is now rooted with shocking permanence! For those that aren’t familiar with the term aquaponics, it’s a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. Essentially, you feed the fish, the fish poop in the water, the waste water is used to feed the plants, the plants use up the nutrients and return the water clean to the fish, and you make sure the chemistry of the water is good for both fish and plant. And after a few short months, you have fresh fish, veggies, and herbs ready for supper. As someone who enjoys fishing and tending a vegetable garden in the summer, I couldn’t think of a reason not to try my hand at aquaponics.

This was then the beginning of Phase I – Learning and Discovery. After reading all I could on the web, I purchased an e-subscription to the Aquaponics Journal, checked out Stickney’s Aquaculture: An Introductory Text from the library at UNC-Chapel Hill, and ordered the Book and DVD from Mr. Malcolm at Backyard Aquaponics, which should arrive this coming week from Australia. In addition, I’m reading Pearce’s When the Rivers Run Dry: Water – The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century, which is motivating me even further to get into aquaponics, purely from a water-use perspective. I plan on picking up some books on hydroponic gardening from the library or bookstore in the coming weeks.

I decided to keep this online journal of my trials and tribulations for anyone else who wanted to read about what it’s like for someone who knows absolutely nothing about aquaponics, and I thought it also prudent to keep a good, detailed record of my experiences for future reference. This may not be the most exciting blog in the world, but I hope that it at least will be informative.