While reading through the AP (aquaponics) forums this morning I came across this from Vlad. It made me laugh. Vlad has a way of hitting the nail right on the head. This was in response to a questionable ad -
"...Well, OK maybe it's even a bit less hokey...somebody please
just shoot me in the fucking head if I ever start rambling about how
some overly priced, energy intensive AP system is going to feed some
poor backwater village in the middle of the African desert...I mean it's
nice for middle class white folks to have a 'feel good' hobby and all,
but when folks use the very real and legitimate suffering and misfortune
to tug at the heart-strings of Mr. and Mrs. Jones of Lakewood in order
to sell them something...it kinda gets my goat. Sorry for the rant..."
Vlad and I are on the same page concerning AP. Quoting Vlad again (sic) "Aquaponics is a romantic attraction".
You may wonder where my allegiance lies. This is of course a blog about aquaponics. I do like aquaponics, but it's not the only way to garden (Bioponics or Wicking beds may better suit your needs), and by no means is it cheap or as easy as some would have you believe.
A well managed AP system can out perform a soil based garden, but well managed is the crux of the matter and the term that requires definition.
In any case don't let the lure of technology lead you into grand ideas of easy profits and abundant crops of fish and vegetables. It may not be rocket science, but it is a science that requires a fair amount of attention.
I get these 40"x47"x36" plywood boxes from a juice factory for $5.00 each. I cut the shipping boxes into thirds or in half, and add bottoms to the sections as needed. I look for discounted irregular plywood to save money (generally 1/2 price).
To build the basic plywood box would cost about $60 if you used 3/4" plywood at about $25 per sheet. These come banded with heavy metal corners.on a pallet. It's hard to beat these juice boxes built with high grade 3/4" - 5 ply plywood. It takes about 2300 ml of resin per tank at $50/3.5 liters
Fiberglass makes these tanks durable and clean. Cost was about $60 per 40"x47" tank.
I'm filling this tank with water to test for leaks
The deeper tanks on top will be wicking beds. The shallow 12" tanks underneath will be bioponic grow beds.
I'm not concerned about toxins from the fiberglass resin. If you are then use LG-730 Mono Epoxy Pool Paint or Pond Shield. for the finish coat It will add $10-$20 per tank
These same tanks would cost only $20.00 each if pond liner were used. Box - 5/2 = 2.50 Liner - 100/9 = 11.00 Bottom - 12/2 = 6.00
After one year of use I found that the bulkheads needed to be tightened. I expect the wood expands and contracts with changes in humidity which eventually caused them to loosen.
Today I purchased a Sure To Grow pad and seeds for a salad mix.
I will follow the instructions as detailed in the videos at Growing Microgreens.com.
This is the first of seven. They also sell seeds at a very fair price.
Below is a commercial farm.
At this point (4 days) these radish sprouts in the Bio-Char taste pretty good. Two days later they began to loose their bite.
2013-01-04
2013-01-04
The Sure to Grow sprouts above have been growing for 3 days and have been exposed to light for just 2 hours
Here they are two days later.
2013-01-06
2013-01-06
They are not ready but they taste good. I'm keeping them covered with a
clear plastic dome and continuing to spray twice daily with clean
water. The sprouts in the Bio-Char are past their prime as sprouts.
I'll thin them out and let them grow into radishes.
I like the way these guys grow without the mat in the bottom. This produces a product that does not require trimming and there is no added cost of the mat.
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
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.
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)
Aquaponics "SECRETS" DVD available HERE My Website Visit My Blog
"The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land." Abraham Lincoln
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 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.
