We discovered the concept of aquaponics when we watched a television program last month on the topic of survivalism/disaster preparedness and instantly fell in love! Over the last month, we have spent countless hours researching every avenue we could find and found wonderful, helpful information here on this forum.
We have our first system built, and it is up and running! Things are going quite well so far.
After weighing the options, we decided to pursue "fish-ful" cycling and now stocked our 125 gallon pond with about 20 feeder goldfish and 5 tiny bream. Our grow beds are roughly 100 gallons and we have planted: cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, squash, green beans, sugar snap peas, along with mustard, turnip, and collard greens. Our fish were introduced 12 days ago and cycling is in the works. Today's testings have shown us that nitrates are now present and growing! I can't believe that it is going so well. Our ammonia and nitrite levels are still raised but I should see them start to fall really soon. Fingers crossed!!!Our fish seem quite content in their new home and the plants are looking healthy and happy.
We can't wait to finish watch this beautiful project grow (and yes, we already have plans to expand!)Thanks to this forum we were well educated on what to expect and are off to a tremendous start! Happy farmers are we!
G'day and welcome honey&powpow