AP Construction continues

The AP system construction was interrupted last week as Aidan and I spent his Spring Break in California visiting family and good friends.

Aidan had a blast as Master Fire Poker

and Apprentice Pasta Maker

and Flying Trampoline Man

While I got to hang with the Beautiful People (one of whom is made of wax, I'll let you guess which one)

Meanwhile back home, the AP system is coming along slowly, but surely.

All the IBC's are cut and staged in the patio.  

 

A test fit of the 3 grow bed layout looks like a perfect fit!

The support blocks are painted and glued together (for extra stability, cuz water is heavy!).  I chose a happy green color for the blocks, in part because Aidan informed me that the all white walls were "so boring".  He approves of this color :)

Next is putting it all together using the kit of "special" PVC parts from the local Aquaponics Source store in Longmont.  I should only need to purchase and cut the straight runs of PVC pipe.

I'm really looking forward to the plumbing part, I think it's going to be like adult level Tinker Toys :)

Happy Spring!

Aquaponics baby!

The aquaponics adventure begins.

A couple of years ago I read about a couple who had reworked their backyard pool from a leisure feature to become a nearly self-sustaining food production area.  They converted the pool to grow edible fish in the deep end, the fish water (nutrient rich with fish poop) is then pumped through vegetable growing beds. And they have some chickens in there providing yet more nutrients to the growing system.  From this they can sustainably produce their own vegetables, fish, eggs and the occasional chicken to eat.  You can read more about that here:
http://modernfarmer.com/2014/09/ground-gardening-going-deep-end-arizona/

I was very intrigued by this idea and have since researched Aquaponics (AP) like a mad woman.  Having always liked keeping aquarium fish as a hobby and a growing interest in vegetable gardening (pun intended) this seems like a cool thing to do.  From the moment we first saw our new home, I became obsessed with putting an AP system on our screened patio.

The patio is an ideal place to do this as it gets great morning sun and is fully screened to minimize garden pests (we have lots of rabbits, squirrels and racoons around here as well as the usual multitude of vegetable garden eating bugs).  Additionally, as the patio is big enough to accommodate a nice seating area as well as the AP system, the sound of running water will enhance the whole vibe.  And finally I'm hoping this will help us put a lot more fresh, organic produce on our plates.

The first step was preparing the patio. 

Original:

after much sanding, painting, reworking storm windows and minor electrical upgrades:

I know, it hardly looks different in the picture, but trust me it is much lighter out there now with the dark wood and red brick painted white. Also, we insulated the ceiling area to better hold in whatever little heat there is in winter to help the future fish tank temperature.

Now we are ready for the next step; setting up the hardware.  We have purchased 3 IBC (intermediate bulk containers) previously used to store agave syrup.  Each tank is 275 gallons.

The plan is to cut them up as follows:

IBC1 = 1 grow bed and 1 fish tank
IBC2 = 1 growbed and 1 sump tank
IBC3 = 1 growbed and 1 sump tank

The growbeds will gravity drain into the sump, the water is then pumped from the sump back into the growbeds and fishtank.  The fish tank will have an overflow siphon back into the sump tank.  This keeps the water in the fishtank at a constant height.

Aidan had a fine time rinsing out the tanks yesterday (grow bed and fish tank).

my new favorite tool:

It cuts through metal and plastic like butter!

Stayed tuned for further developments.