Monthly Archives: April 2013

Its done! 1 Year later

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It was one year ago when I began a new project. I was going to build a chicken coop and start a little back yard flock. The endeavor quickly grew to much more than just a coop, adding an aquaponics garden and ultimately, re-landscaping the entire back yard.  I really got sucked in by those backyard chickens. I was lucky to have  a friend who helped with the landscape design and more so, the labor!   This is what it looks like now that it is all done The fish have been in the tank for 2 days now. … [CLICK TO READ MORE]

Adding Fish to the Aquaponics System

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Our system has been cycling with seaweed extract for the past few weeks.   Over that time, the pH has come down to 7 which is good.  Today the fish arrived.  I was surprised to find the pH for the bag water at 7.8.   Over the day, I gradually added tank water to the bag, slowly matching the pH. I’ve been cycling my system for 10 days more than what is on the chart below.  I’ve been surprised that it never really cycled — no real rise in Nitrite and Nitrate never increased at all.   Here is what it looked like when I opened the shipping box. It’s hard to tell, but there are 50 or more in that bag.  They are about 1″ long right now. Here is a clearer shot once I removed the outer bag.   Floating the bag in the aquaponics tank Have a look at … [CLICK TO READ MORE]

Tending to the Garden

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It has been a wonderful year weather wise here in the Vegas valley.   Temperatures are still moderate, making it nice when working out in the yard. I got up early to get chores done today; and while I was out I picked up some trellises for my plants which are in the back corner of the yard.   Have a look at how the aquaponics garden is doing 3 weeks after I had to remove all the plants and empty it.   All but 2 Armenian cucumber plants made it, and those two were always in trouble.   I picked up another cucumber plant this morning which I hope will do much better. Fish are on order.  I expect they will arrive next Thursday.  I can’t wait to see how things change once the fish are in the system. All that is left is to add the rock which will give a … [CLICK TO READ MORE]