Sunday, May 30, 2010

Prototype Aquaponics Project (Charity Chapel) Update

We are closing in on 60 days of continuous operation and the system is holding its own. There have been a couple of challenges, mostly with the young neighborhood kids, but overall the system has been resilient.

Are largest challenge, currently seems to be that of plant nutrition. Many of the plant species are exhibiting light green foliage, and some seem stunted- like the tomatoes. I have noticed, however, a lack of consistency in this. For instance the the zucchini squash seems to be slightly stunted but much greener and producing fruit than its sister Yellow squash in another grow bin. Too, the hybrid tomatoes are slightly greener than the heirloom though both are about the same mall size. The peppers to are not consistent with the Bell peppers being dark green and beginning to bloom, but their brother Jalapenos are tall, light green and bearing fruit.

The cucumbers and green beans seem to be preforming the best of all. We have harvested about 100 green beans from 14 plants (not quite half a grow bin) and the plants are still producing well. We also harvested 4- 10" cucumbers from one plant. Interestingly enough the second plant in the same bin is producing an abundance of flowers but no fruit.

Our theory concerning the plant health is that they lack nitrogen due to small amount of fish in the system. We suspect that when we remove the large fish and add the 100+ fingerlings the nitrogen will increase

There has been a slight buildup of solids in the left side grow bins. We have countered this by adding a few worms to the bins. We should add a significant amount to see any real change. Speaking of... we had a bit of trouble with our worm bin in that fire ants found it and began nesting in it. We cleaned out the bin, replaced all the bedding and reinstalled the worms. We treated the area beneath the grow bin where we located the worm bed with ant killer, then set the worm bed container on an overturned container lid, then filled the lid with water to act as a moat. The worms have not returned. As an added bonus the "moat" lid is catching a drip from the grow bin that is keeping water in it!

The five fish seem to be healthy, in fact they were inspected today and much of the white spots seems to have disappeared so perhaps it was not Ick. There are still several small white marks but these could be attributed to fighting or tank scrapes. I am providing a microscope so that we can eventually look at skin and water samples to see if we can make a better determination. As of today they are active and ate well when they were fed. I increased their food today from about 3 cups to about 6 cups after waiting to see their consumption of the first 3 cups. We will soon be replacing them with the fingerling's.

The system is working as designed. Grow bin R-1 was not cycling when I stopped this week. I found a plug in the siphon tube, cleared and reinserted the bell. It worked fine afterwords.

The system should be monitored at least every other day6 to ensure the bins are cycling and to correct these types of situations. We must remember that the bin is not operating outside a system but it affects the results of the whole. If a grow gin is not cycling, or cycling correctly that means that the plants in the bin may not be getting their nutritional needs met but it also means that full colony of bacteria are not being utilized, which means that the water is not being cleaned, nor aerated which means that the fish are not getting their basic needs met.

We will begin on some of our additional projects soon.

Blessings- Tony

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Prototype Aquaponics Project (Charity Chapel) Update

Well kids, here's the latest...

Rob visited the system this afternoon and found that some young neighborhood kids (6-10yrs old) have been playing and vandalizing the system. We found footprints in the grow bin gravel, a drain pulled out, our water chemistry kit had been opened and thrown on the ground (fortunately only two sticks were left so no big loss but the one Rob brought for Chlorine and Bromine were gone), we also found a dead fish in the sump tank however we figure that the fish (the smallest one that we had just added) had probably committed suicide, and a cat had found it, then the kids found it and pushed it into the sump. Most of the water valves were shut off too. Overall it took just a few minutes to correct and realign the system.

We will need to seriously think about a different model for access if this doesn't stop. The addition of a green house around the grow bins and some lattice work/fencing around the pavilion will work.

We also took water chemistry (I had purchased another kit) and they were still in tolerance. pH and AK were higher than last time but that might be due to the system being nearly shut down for several hours. Nitrites are 0 while Nitrates are low, say 5. We are converting and using!!

The fish appear to have something wrong with them. We are guessing that its "ick." This can be treated with a little... copper sulfate I think, but if we are going to pull the big cats out anyway, in prep for the fingerlings we can just do it early and allow the ick to die off. It is a type of protozoa that needs a living host to survive. If we pull the fish out and wait a couple weeks the ick will die out with out spending or adding anything. We could also drain the tank and replace the water but why go to the time and expense if its not needed. Rob has recommended adding some hydroponics food while we are treating the ick to keep the plants healthy. With just a small addition of liquid food it should be used up and out of the water by the time we are ready for the fish.

The plants appear to be getting slightly greener so the addition of the three other catfish (though just two now) seems to be working. We also picked about 30 green beans from about 14 plants. Young cucumbers can also be seen on the vines, and the corn is about 10" tall.

The worm bins seem to be OK. I dug through the cool moist bedding and encountered several VERY active worms. We noticed that Grow bins L-1 and L-2 have begun to accumulate solids ao we took about three medium sized worms from the worm bin and added the to each bin. Literally within 3 seconds they were already partially dug into the gravel and with about 6 seconds they were gone! It will be interesting to see how they acclimate to the bins.

Overall the system is still working as designed, and it seems to be tolerant of small children. I know that the neighbors- especially kids -may be a challenge but we will need to walk a line in this area. Winning the neighbors over, walking the line between access, safety and security are practical lessons that we will need to learn.

Blessings- Tony

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Prototype Aquaponics Project (Charity Chapel) Update

We had two projects on Wednesday; 1) Experiment with a new type siphon modeled after the Affnan siphon, and 2) Create a worm bed.

The principle physical difference in the Affnan siphon vs our original version (straight standpipe) is that the overall standpipe assembly is taller, and that it uses a "funnel" on top of the standpipe. By Affnan specs the ratio of funnel to standpipe is 2:1 however we found that a 1.5" funnel worked better in our system. This could be due to various factors that will need further investigation and experimentation. The biggest positive feature for us is the ability to easily adjust the height of the standpipe so as to better set the height the water rises in the bed. The larger funnel we tried would not reset. We are not saying the problem lies with the design, more towards our use of this design. If you want to know more about the Affnan system please refer to his YouTube videos, he has quite a few.

We also established our first worm bin. The worm bins will be to grow food for the catfish. The materials we used are a plastic container about 2' long x 18" wide x 18" tall. I trilled holes around the top of the container but under the lip in case it was exposed to water from the top the container would not flood. And though many documents said to drill holes in the bottom of the container we decided not to but to monitor the moisture we placed inside. If we wanted to, we could have drilled holes but then we would have needed to add security to the container to keep the worms from wondering off, or other insects from getting in, or from water getting in from the bottom. The worm bin will be stored under a grow bin away from direct sunlight and weather in general. One possible additional safety measure might be to sit the the container on an upturned lid and add water to it creating a small "moat" around the container. We feel this would limit access by fire ants- if we felt there might be a problem, or discover there is a problem with the ants.

We next used shredded office paper and cheap bagged topsoil to build our bed. The soil is for the grit required by the worm's digestive system. We started with shredded paper, wetted it, then added a large handful of top soil and mixed it together ensureing that it was well integrated. We could have used soil from around the site but I wanted to start with somewhat known and stable ingredients. We then added more paper and started again but integrating the previous batch into the new also. We continued this process until the container was a little less than half full. We then added the worms to the top and allowed them to work their way into the bedding.

Just to be clear, the above description only concerns the worm bedding- were the worms live -not their food supply. Though the worms will eat their bedding one must also add "food to the top about once a week, depending on the number of worms to be feed. I believe the proper ratio is one pound of worms to every 1/2 pound of "food" (waste, garbage, etc.). We are starting with about 20+ red wigglers of various sizes that I dug from my composte pile. I will add more later.

According to the documentation we read we will place the food on top of the bedding and monitoring until it is almost gone. The worms should come up through the bedding to feed. Once the food is gone we will place more on the top. If we had started with 50 worms we should be able to harvest in 2 months so I assume it will take longer for us since we added less, or we will need to add more.

One of the biggest concerns is that of moisture. All the documentation said that the bedding should be damp but not wet. The best description I think is that of a wrung-out spounge, though I suppose everyone has their own notion of what "wrung-out" is. Imagine your a worm, living in an environment... you are not an aquatic animal and your want to be comfortable... go from there.

We will be establishing several worm beds over time and to whatever production level is needed. We will use different materials- hopefully all will consist of "waste" materials -and we will try several methods.

We ended out time by taking water chemistry and found it all was still about the same. Because we have a need for more Nitrogen, and because the bacteria seems to be established to some level, we think the following is a good strategy:
  • We will be adding a couple more large catfish.
  • We will monitor the system for 1-2 weeks
  • We will check nitrite/nitrate levels to ensure the system handles the added load; 1-2 weeks
  • Remove the large fish and add our fingerlings.

Once we have established the system and feel comfortable in its operation we will need to develop a maintenance routine and schedule so that all those that want to can help with the plants and fish. This is not to say that anyone who wants to be involved now can't- just let me know if you're interested and will try to ensure that you know when we are meeting at the site.

Currently either Rob Payne or I are dropping by the site to check on it every other day. We have been trying to meet on Wednesday evenings, and sometimes Friday evenings for system work and experimentation.

Hopefully nobody is feeling left out but if so please be proactive and let me know of your interests so I can add you to eMails and schedules.

Blessings- Tony

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Prototype Aquaponics Project (Charity Chapel) Update

I visited the Charity Chapel site tonight and thought I'd give an update.

The water chemistry seemed OK. pH was drifting towards acidic but still OK. Alkaline was OK, Hardness OK, Nitrites were zero, and Nitrates around 10. I added some water to the system because it seemed a little low. Rob measured the chlorine in the water right from the faucet and it registered zero, however I suspect that it could go up at times depending on how often and the amounts added.

The fish appeared to be OK, active however the largest fish seemed to be... faded, slightly whitish. I don't take this to be a good thing since we culled two fish who began to show signs of this., however the fish was still very active. I notice that one of the smaller fish seems to be a companion while the other tends to keep its distance, though sometimes I have seen them grouped together. Also, the water was cloudy. I wondered if this could be because of the rain we had today stirring up the dust in the grow bins.

Overall, the tank was clean though I see some brown algae or dirt build up on the pipes and the bottom of the tank. I have also noticed that we have lots mof suspended particles in our system which I believe is a good thing and creates a better chance that they will be pulled into the supply manifold and work their way to the grow bins.

Grow bins seemed to be working appropriately. We were having issues with the GB L-3 in that the siphon would either not cycle, or it would drain and not refill, usually the latter. We redesigned the Bell to be a 3" with the same height a siphon tube placement as the previous bell but it still was not working. It was very frustrating in that the bin was built more or less identical to the other 5 but was the only one that was not working consistently. On Monday I stood at the end of GB L-3 and looked down the isle between the right and left bins and noticed the p-traps where they connected to the main drain line. I noticed that all connected to the main drain from the top whereas L-3 connected to the drain through the side since there was no room to connect it through the top. I remembered that not only did it connect through the side but that we had propped the end of the drain up even higher meaning that there was even a more severe angle on the p-trap at the connection point. I removed the prop and allowed the grow bin to run through a cycle. To my pleasant surprise the grow bin cycled without issue. I allowed it to cycle several times and it did so without error. When I returned today it was still cycling correctly. Though it will need further analysis I suggest that the angle on the p-trap interfered with the back pressure or something along that line.

The plants have not changed a lot. Bean plants are growing and beginning to bloom. The first set of seeds did not sprout. I suspect they rotted. Similarly many of the corn seeds in L-3 didn't sprout. I suspect that there are some seeds that lend themselves to sprouting in a GB and many that won't. I replanted the green bean seeds in L-1 to see if I could get some more to sprout.

The tomatoes are still growing but are a light shade of green which I take to be unhealthy. I suspect this light colored vegetation is indicative of a missing nutrient which I will guess is nitrogen. Our water tests indicate no nitrites and very low nitrates meaning little to no nitrogen for the plants. Perhaps we should add a couple more fish now that the bacteria seems top be established. I have been adding fish food... if the fish don't eat it perhaps it will feed the bacteria.

Squash pants are light also but appear to be preparing to bloom. Pepper plants are also light but growing, Bell peppers seem to be doing better than the Jalapeno peppers. The corn is growing, and I added some sprouts that I had planted from extra seeds.

Out of all the plants the two cucumbers in L-3 seem to growing the best. They are blooming and have small cucumbers growing. Cucumbers have always been a good grower in hydroponics systems so no surprise that they are doing well in our AP system.

I am also gearing up to start a worm bed. I've been researching growing worm bins and even dug worms tonight from my own compost pile. Hopefully we should have a start by this weekend, however according to the documentation we won't be ready to harvest for a couple months. I might go buy some sinker pellets to try also why we wait on the worms.

Blessings,
Tony

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Prototype Aquaponics Project (Charity Chapel)

We started the maintenance phase of our prototype project on April 24, 2010 when we planted our grow bins with basic vegetables and added 4- 2 lbs plus channel catfish. On Sunday the 25th of April we added 3 more fish and a few more plants.

We planted yellow squash, zucchini squash, Celebrity tomatoes (hybrid), Homestead tomatoes (heirloom), Roma II green beans (seed), Silver Queen sweet corn (seed), cucumbers, Bell peppers, and Jalapeno pepper.

We ran our system without plants and fish and the water tested OK for pH and alkaline. Chlorine was not an issue since it had evaporated from the water in the several days prior to testing.

Below is a short log of the first week in maintenance. It is provided to catch up to date.

  • Saturday 4/24- Tested water, everything in spec. Fish seem OK. Plants fine except for jalapeno peppers which seemed wilty.
  • Sunday 4/25- Tested water, everything in spec. Fish seemed OK but wouldn't eat. Lack of appitite OK due to stress. Fish also exhibited slight white marks, probably due to fish agression.
  • Monday 4/26- Tested water, everything in spec. Large fish is harassing other fish, establishing territory. Smaller fish have whitish scrapes. Fish seem not to be hungry but perhaps they're not able to "smell" the food because of the quick flow of water in the tank.
  • Tuesday 4/27- Quick check of system. All seem OK. Fish are active. Plants look fine. Bean and jalapeno peppers have bounced back and are less wilted.
  • Wednesday 4/28- Tested water, pH slightly more acid than previous but still within spec. Nitrite levels climbing as was expected as bacteria begin to colonize and convert ammonia. Some fish look a bit more beat up but still active. All but large fish still not eatting. Large fish comes to top and eats pellets but doesn't respond to sound. Fish seem more active and willing to feed in late afternoon/evening (5PM - 630PM). Plants doing well.
  • Thursday 4/29- Quick stop showed little change from previous day. Some fish more beat-up. There is some concern that topping off water (adding chlorine) on Monday may have damaged the fishes slime coat that protects its skin though it was added to grow bin and was not a lot by total volume.
  • Friday 4/30- Tested water. Still in spec but Nitrates are climbing into stress level. Tested water with other test kit so chlorine and bromide levels are within spec. Fish show lots of damage, many have leasions and lots of white spots. The fish still are not eatting. Plants are doing well. Beans are standing straight and look healthy.
  • Saturday 5/1- In the morning we hung our Sustainable Missions project sign. Water tested OK. Nitrite levels have risen and are getting close to danger levels. We expect the levels to begin to level off as Nitrate levels begin to rise. Nitrate levels are rising. Plants look fine though tomatoe plant leaves are contrasting leaves. Older leaves are a dark green and new growth is a light green. We theorize that the lighter leaves are due to a lack of neutrient. We expect that the leaves will darken as the nitrogen cycle progresses. We expect to see fraster growth once the Nitrate levels increase and level off. In the afternoon I got a call from another member who had inspected the fish and found one dead on the bottom of the tank.
  • Sunday 5/2- Arrived at site and removed dead fish. The fish was white and showed several leasions. We inspected the other fish and found two others that seemed to exhibit similar aspects; whiteness, cuts and leasions. We removed those to fish, killed them and buried them next to our in-ground tomatoe plants. This should cut the stress in the tank. We only need these "stunt fish" to colonize the bacteria in the grow bins. The fish still are not eatting but we plan to try worms. We also discovered some of the corn had sprouted, and some beans had sprouted. All the other plants looked healthy.

Anthony Faircloth, 5/2/2010