Bio-Char

Jon Parr recently wrote that he was replacing his grow media with Bio-Char.  This has really caught my attention.

UPDATE:
Justin sent me a link to yet ONE MORE method of creating Bio-Char.

This method may produce something different than the charcoal I used in my experiment.    In the video above at 7:15   Dr. Hugh McLaughlin shows the super fragile nature of the Bio-Char made using his method.  The difference I see between his system and others is the insulation from an outer barrel creates a higher temperature burn.  The other videos below don't appear to show the end product as being this fragile, and Dr. McLaughlin seems to make the point about only the mere wisp of the wood remaining.   I can tell you this is much different than the Lazzari Charcoal I bought.  But I don't know which is better as a grow media.  This looks like it would turn to dust if you tryed to plant in it.

Ditectly below is a presentation by Peter Hirst of New England Biochar,  I'm willing to believe he knows what he's talking about, but still wonder if this process might be too fragile for aquaponic grow media

Today (12/28/2012) I purchased 40# of 100% Natural Mesquite Charcoal, and built a small system
Below is my experiment.  In the video I refer to a post on my blog.  This is the post I refereed to.

5 days later

The water's pH went from 6.8 to 8.0 when I added the charcoal.  I'll leave the pH alone until this little system is cycled.  24 hours after adding the first dose of humonia the ammonia remains unchanged at 1.0 ppm.

After some research I found several posts and sites I would like to share with you about this ancient soil-building method .

This first video is less than 3 minutes long and describes the benefits and history 

Here is a quotes from a forum on AquaponicsNet

DaveOponic

I have been using charcoal in my grow beds since I started doing AP about 4 years ago. I have posted on the old forum about it. I buy cheap bags of charcoal sold for barbecue fuel. It is natural charcoal, no additives. In various sized lumps.

I decided to try it after seeing a Chinese aquarium shop using lumps of charcoal in their fish tanks and claiming it was very beneficial beyond its known role as a filter medium.

I used about half and half, charcoal and gravel (the stuff sold here to make concrete) and have also mixed it with Hydroton ( a bit scarce here )

The results have been very good. Water quality has always been good and after two years, excavated a grow bed to find everything fairly clean. There has been very little breakdown of the charcoal. I imagine that some black fine particles have made their way through to the bottom of the GB but I notice there is more sediment from the clay balls and from fish food or solid waste than there ever is from the charcoal.

So, from my experience, I would say go ahead and try charcoal. It is light and easier to clean than gravel and should be cheaper if you can find a source. Easy to find here as all the Chinese supermarkets sell huge bags of it.

Lastly, I have found that charcoal placed around the base of plants helps to keep away slugs and snails. I guess they don't like the surface, a bit like in a dirt garden you can use ash around plants to keep snails off.

I haven't tried 100% charcoal as a medium, simply because the charcoal I get is very irregular in size and shape so I usually throw it into the GB first and put gravel or clay on top. Some of the charcoal tends to find its way to the surface eventually though.

I will be trying a charcoal trickle filter soon as I have a couple of spare 100 litre barrels that contained pool chlorine. I think charcoal should make an excellent filter.

PS I'm not an expert on this so if anyone has good reasons why charcoal shouldn't be used or bad experiences, please post.


Dave

Murray Hallum also made this reply

Way back when I first started into AP I made up a charcoal filter by filling a 20 ltr plastic drum with charcoal from the hardware store.
After a few months it became really blocked with solids.
It did a super job of filtering.

I have often intended to make a very large one to add into the loop just before the water enters back into the fish tank, a kind of trickling charcoal filter, but have not got around to doing it.
Adding it to the GB's as Dave and Ian have done is something I had not considered.
I believe it would be an excellent thing to do.
Dave has clocked up a few years of operational experience using it in his beds so it a reasonable proposition that it can be used with confidence.

(soon there will be biochar manufacturing plants in backyards across the globe)

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To begin you may wish to watch this very simple demonstration before watching the next videos which take the production of Bio-Char to a higher level.  Bryan McGrath  offers some good advice at the end of video about adding microbes. 

Byran's other videos also appear to be very interesting and worthy of the time it takes to watch them

Each of these methods differ slightly.  Each video below is is just a little more complex than the last.

This video shows in good detail a more sophisticated method which uses a retort process to produce even more Bio-Char using the heat from the TLUD (Top Lift Up Draft). .

This site offers an excellent video about making Bio-Char using a rocket stove. It's called Hornito, and it has the ability to continuously make batches of Bio-Char without stoping.
Unfortunately he offers no plans and has failed to reply to many requests for more information.  But putting together our knowledge of Rocket Mass Stoves I believe we have enough information to duplicate this highly efficient process.

Rob Bob

Rob Bob has quite a nice YouTube channel devoted to gardening.   He offers good descriptions, and smart ideas.  Above is 10 minute video about his Wicking Bed design.   Take a look at the other interesting videos.

Scarecrows Clear View Wicking Bed

 Scarecrow built this demonstration to show the water wicking up into the soil.

Green house pest management

Green house pest management can be an overwhelming problem; especially in an aquaponic system.   But these fungi are not limited to soil less gardens or greenhouses.



5427594
I'd like to thank Forestry Images for thier wonderfully helpful site.
With great photos to help identify various problems,  microscopic slides and petri dish samples they have made identification much simpler.

Pythium diseases
brown spot
Phytophthora blight Fusarium wilt
blue mold   powdery mildew leaf scorch sour rot
white ear rot and seedling blight of maize bitter rot and anthracnose

Jon Parr and Vlad are some of the best contributors to the aquaponic  forums.
Here's a little advice they have pasted on that I appreciate.

Link to discussion

GH (Green House) pest management has three strategies, and which is best is really open for debate.
1- intentionally low pest security, meaning wide open large screens for honey bees, pests, and pest predators. This works pretty good for lazy folks like myself, especially if you are planting beneficial plants to attract the predators. No fuss about pollination, and no big concern about sterilizing everything.
2- moderate pest security. This one is fine for new greenhouses, and light traffic GH's with cleanly guests. Once a pest gets inside, though, trouble trouble.
3- high security, meaning positive pressure and HEPA filters, thrips screening, humidity and temp control, haz-mat suits and dissinfect routines. Just the thought of all that work spoils my mood, but is probably the smartest long term plan for commercial use.

I'm a low security type guy. Address the pest directly. Mold? Increase airflow and temp, decrease humidity. Spider mites, fungus gnats, white flies, aphids? Allow predators, spray with tea, nuke them with CO2. Nasturtiums are awesome for the garden by the way; trap crop or aphids, pest predator magnets, repel white fly and spider mites. Yep. And borage, and multicropping.

 Vlad Jovanovic
Link to discussion.

You can use the 'ol 3-5% oil + 0.5% dish washing detergent remedy...works well but you have to be real careful to get as little of the concoction into your system and take measure to cover up your FT to protect from overspray. And even this low % of oil will burn pepper plants if you have any...won't damage them beyond repair or anything, just don't be freaked out by the necrotic lesions that will be left on their leaves. peppers seem especially sensitive to this type of treatment.
A better/easier/more fish safe bet might be a naturally occurring fungus called Beauvaria bassiana that will take care of a whole host of common garden pests...spider mites included (and then some). B. bassiana can be purchased under the trade names Botaniguard, Naturalis-L or Mycotrol-O the later two being ok'd by OMRI...and more importantly it is fish safe (unlike any kind of oils or most soaps).
Whatever you spray with make sure to repeat after 3 or 4 days...then again after 3 or 4 days...and then once more...since most of these sprays wont kill the eggs that they've laid...so make sure you get the bastards that have hatched...and spray the under-sides of the leaves...Good luck. Spider mites are a royal PITA.

Here is a link to another in depth discussion about Botrytis cineria and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum
Botrytis blight 
Sclerotinia rot

Toxic

There are several areas where toxicity should be considered.  Here are some questions to ask about the materials we use in our systems.
   Is our personal health compromised while working with a material?
   Will toxins pollute our food?
   Is it toxic to our fish?
   Is it detrimental to the plants?

Working with epoxy, or cutting, and heating OSB, Polystyrene, ABS, PVC all pose some degree of toxins so some precautions should be used during fabrication.  Most of the time our nose will let us know right away.  For example melting ABS is so toxic that it becomes nearly impossible without the proper precautions. Other materials like OSB or pressure treated wood may not trigger an acute response, but long term exposure to sawdust can cause injury.

Epoxy and silicon caulking and PVC solvent fumes are detrimental to our health, so precautions should also be used while working with them. After these materials cure the danger to us, our fish and plants diminishes to a level most would consider safe.   Silicone caulk comes in Type 1 and Type 2.   For our purposes Type 1 should be used because it is considered fish safe after it cures and is allowed to out gas.

Pond liners such as EPDM rubber, polyethylene, fiberglass, and polypropylene are safe for both fish and humans. Some people have used vinyl billboard material, but even when purchased new, this material can leach toxins.   Here is a link to more information about pond liners

"Pliable Vinyl was a bad choice for the water treatment industry, and water delivery systems (there's a reason it was banned for use in those applications... leaching of tetrachloroethylene, a really fun chemical) and it hardly seems like such a great choice for a re-circulating food production system.
Sure, mechanically it will work for a while (as long as you get a good one...btw, fun fact: calcium levels in your water can and does apparently affect vinyls pliability), but why someone would want to use even a 'virgin' vinyl liner in AP, let alone one rubbed down with things like ethyl ketone, silk screened, and set out to bake in the sun for a while, is beyond me.
IMO (as well as the International Agency for Research on Cancer) pliable vinyl in all its forms, seems like a really poor choice for such an application. There is a reason vinyl is called "the poor mans plastic". Both mechanically, as well as chemically it is an inferior product. There are not many plasticizers commonly used that will form a co-valent bond with vinyl, which is why they will leach over time. And is why vinyl is slowly being either outright banned, or voluntarily dropped from use (by industry) in many products/applications. "- Vlad Jovanovic
LINK to Forum

EPDM (Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer): EPDM rubber performs well in colder climates. This highly flexible liner also resists air pollution and has a lifespan of 20 years. EPDM is also non-toxic to plants and fish and is stable when exposed to UV rays.

PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride): These liners are highly flexible, easy to work with and are UV stable if they are not exposed to direct sunlight. PVC liners last for about 10 years or more but are less resistant to freezing temperatures. But the safety off flexible PVC is suspect.  As Vlad has explained to me; (let me directly quote) plasticizers can and do leech out over time and make their way into our blood streams. Some of them are particularly nasty type of toxins. (Of coarse, those are the cheapest and most often used...again, particularly in the US). Here is a generic introductory wiki link on the topic that touches on some of the many health and safety aspects of pthalate plasticizers... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthalate

HDPE (High Density Polyethylene): HDPE liners are made from a tough thermoplastic substance that is safe for fish and plants. These liners are inexpensive and can last for up to 15 years. HDPE liners are the least flexible and do not work as well in colder climates. HDPE liners are generally less expensive than PVC liners.

Butyl Rubber: Butyl rubber liners are UV-resistant and last approximately 20 years. Some butyl liners can be toxic so do your research if you plan to have fish in your pond. Although somewhat flexible, these liners are thick and tough to fold at corners and curves.

Fiberglass: Fiberglass liners cost much more than flexible liners and are not as natural looking. Before setting a fiberglass pond in the ground, it is critical to use a thick layer of brick sand to pack under and around the pond. This information came from Home Depot

EPDM comes in different forms,  Some is intended for construction industry and then there is EPDM for ponds.  The difference as far as I can tell is that pond liner has been allowed to out gas by laying it out in the sun, but I may be wrong.  Use THIS LINK for more information on the wide variety of liners

Copper and galvanized pipe may not be toxic to us, but it should be avoided when fish water recirculates in your system.   Even your choice of heater element should be stainless steel in order to avoid poisoning your fish. I questioned this at first because our water supply often travels through metal pipe.  The difference is that we are recirculating our water and the pH of this water is generally lower than the supply.

Plants depend on minerals for their growth and iron deficiency is a common problem in aquaponics. The use of Portland cement in a fish pond or limestone in your grow bed will cause your water to maintain a high pH and thus deprive the plants of bio available iron.  Not all iron products are the same. Look for an Fe-EDDHA or Fe-DTPA product (chelated iron that is bioavalable to plants).   For more about this topic refer to this discussion

v

Starting From Seeds

I've had a lot of trouble with my seed starts.  But today I read a forum discussion that made some very good points which I will begin to follow.  The following is a list of do's and dont's.

Starting from seed requires moist, but not wet conditions.  Starting your seeds in the Deep Water Culture (DWC) may keep your small seedling too wet.  It would be better to water as needed; maybe two or three times per day depending on the heat and humidity.  Green House humidity may keep the seedlings too moist.  Using a fan to move air over the seedlings can be helpful, but you may also need to open the enclosure and let dry air in to bring the humidity down.

My seeds do well when started outside in open air, but I'd like to be able to start seeds in the cold Winter months too.  I'm thinking I will get a small heating pad and start my seeds in the garage.  The humidity will be lower so Pythium will be less likely to affect the small seedlings.  Once they harden off I will be able to move them into the garden room.


Starting seeds directly in the net pot, or media that the plant will live it's life in saves a lot of time.  Let me directly quote  Vlad Jovanovic 

           Link to Comment

"All the stuff you see in my rafts were germinated directly in net pots filled with hydroton. I just don't put them in the DWC trough until about 10-15 days after they germinate, but they all seeds start off directly in hydroton. This has a number of advantages.
1). There is no transplant shock for the seedlings Since the seed is started in the same place it will live out it's life, so no waiting days and days for them to get over transplant shock and start growing again. So better for them.
2) It's a HUGE time and energy saver. Transplanting seedlings sucks IMO and is a totally un-necessary waste of your time/labor in most AP scenarios. So better for you.
3) It's also cheaper that way, since there is no coco-coir, vermiculite, perlite etc...to buy.
4) No soil born pests or pathogens (even in bagged and bought products I've often come across various larva and who knows what else that you can't see...fungal/bacterial).
Starting seeds off in soil, or any other medium, seems pointlessly time consuming, counterproductive, more expensive, and doesn't give germination results that are any better than starting them off in a LECA media, and can be the source of many a pathogenic headache."

Old seeds don't germinate. 
Get your seeds fresh from a reputable source.  Your local hardware store or grocer may not turn over enough stock to ensure that  the seeds are new.

Begin with a sterile media.   Here is a tip from Jon Parr

 Link to Comment

 I would personally mist the plants and surrounding area lightly with hydrogen peroxide to kill spores while handling, and to help prevent any spores from going airborne. No big deal, but H2O2 is a relatively safe disinfectant, and leaves nothing behind but water and oxygen.

I have tried this and ran into problems when my H2O2 solution was too strong.   A 3% solution is a common topical strength found at drug stores and would not need to be diluted.

After many of my seedling failed due to Damping Off and more specifically Pythium – a genus of parasitic oomycete I have taken to is boiling the media I plant in.  Starting with a sterile media, and avoiding contaminates from sources such your dirt garden will help to ward off these parasites. Nursery transplants are generally pretty sterile, but since you don't really know it does not hurt to be cautious.  

Jon also offered this tip!
Link to Conversation

Indeed, be careful about using H2O2 or any dissinfectant in AP, of course. But in order to harm your bio filter, it must reach your biofilter as active H2O2. If you dump a whole bottle of hardware store 3% in your grow bed, the H2O2 will kill single celled organisms indiscriminately as it disperses through the system, leaving in it's wake a sterile pathway. Big deal. If it doesn't wipe out the whole system, the system will recover, probably without hiccup. That can't be said of any other disinfectant. The truth is that H2O2 is very short lived in an abundance of bacteria, as the bacteria it kills robs the extra O, and leaves behind H2O. Of course you can do damage, but it is a very mild risk for the benefit it carries. If your media is dry for 2" like it's supposed to be, then you can fog the plants and surface liberally (use your noggin), and the H2O2 won't make it to the fish or the biofilter. I do it all the time.
The fact is that spore carry the problem to other areas, and stick around to cause problems again, and H2O2 kills spore. It doesn't kill the fungus, it doesn't kill the plants, it doesn't kill insects, but it does kill spore and bacteria. If you really want to impress your friends, use a cap-full of H2O2 for the first watering after you plant seeds. It will kill any spore and bacteria immediately surrounding the seed, and rapidly quicken the softening of the hull, cut germination times in half, and increase germination rate. It may even fix your infected seeds, IDK. 
Yes Bob, 1 1/2 to 3% can be put straight in a spray bottle, and is a good disinfectant to use for your garden tools, cleaning pumps and hoses, test equipment, fish nets, etc.
Don't let any go straight to the fish tank, as there are far fewer bacteria to sacrifice before it hits the fish's gills, which could be lethal.

In Summary:
 Keep it dry
  Water only as needed
 Keep it sterile 
  Spray with Hydrogen Peroxide
  Boil the media
 Use fresh seeds
  

Annoying Abusive Scam

This is a recent comment to one of my blog posts.  I expect this 'person' will quickly delete his comment so I'm re-posting it, and my response here for all to see.  There are some people who are making money off aquaponics that I truly respect.  This guy 'Gaurav Joshi' is not one of them.  I advise you not to even click on anything that sends you to Aquaponics4You.com.

Aquaponics4You.com appears to me as a malicious site that traps your browser.  The company has now stooped to posting ads on blog sites related to aquaponics.  Is trapping browsers, and spamming blog sites a practice of any reputable company?   I believe Gauray Joshi's business 'Aquaponics4You.com'  is an Annoying Abusive Scam.

 

 

2 comments:

Gaurav JoshiDecember 17, 2012 7:44 AM

After reading the last post here, you already know that Aquaponics is very profitable in the sense of time space and expense.
Now, today I am gonna tell you about all the benefits of Aquaponics

Replies

Bob CampbellDecember 17, 2012 5:38 PM
I want to take this opportunity to tell my readers to stay away from you. I find your advertising techniques obnoxious, and I expect the products you push are worthless. Take your get rich schemes elsewhere. People like you disgust me.

Do us all a favor and take down your "Aquaponics 4 You.COM" site and go away. 

Some of us are spreading GOOD advice and guess what - we do it for free.

DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!

Rocket Mass Stove

I've mentioned this before, but this is such a neat way to heat that I wanted to make an entry just for Rocket Mass Stoves and include the best videos and links I have found.  

Paul Wheaton from Permies.com demonstrates in this first 2 minute video just how efficient the Rocket Mass Stove is.  You see this video frame here where this lady has her face over the flue pipe.  The heat and fumes from the flue are warm not hot and very clean.  I hope you will explore the videos at  Permies.com.  It is one of my favorite sites!

 

Efficiency is the key to heating a green house.

This simple low tech stove with exceptionally high efficiency is something anybody could build.

Why do we continue the spend thousands on air tight stoves that pollute and burn more wood?

http://tinygreenlove.blogspot.com/2012/02/amazing-rocket-mass-heater.html

Below is another favorite video educator.  Rob Torcellini shows the details of how he built a Rocket Mass Stove to heat his greenhouse.  The same stove could heat your house.

Add a self feed bin for pellets!  This is how Rob did it.

Rob has taken the Rocket Mass Stove to a very sophisticated level. His excellent engineering skills and preparations while building his green house have payed off well.

Hear are some more ideas

I've included this video because it demonstrates the effectiveness of a rocket mass stove