Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The camera is less than a year old and there is a 2 year extended warranty which covers spills so Im not worried too much... yet.

I got some insulation installed and the water is flowing to the duckweed pond.

The camera seems to be fine. I lost the footage however. It would have been cool to review the high speed footage.

The system seems to be running fine. I still have a higher fill rate than I want but the slo for the duckweed tank is already close to maximum capacity. I've tossed in a few carrot seeds and onion seeds to see if they germinate. I think they may have sank in the shifting grow medium unfortunately.

My father came by to see my system for the first time yesterday. One of his friends or coworkers saw this blog. I wonder if I'm not the only person in town with an aquaponics garden. I really thought I was. Who else is crazy enough to try it in this climate? I've seen temperatures of 128 Degrees F. thats 53 C. I'm going to need some serious shade and probably misters. During heat waves I'm going to have to make blocks of ice with the fish water.

When taking on a hobby like AP it's good to have a waterproof tough camera...

Don't you worry about those seeds. They'll germinate when you least expect it, carrots and onions taking longer to show themselves than other seeds.

As for the heat, boy you just wait... Those heat loving plants will grow like gangbusters. It's a real good thing on your part - Kudos for this - that you got your system going during the winter time. The bacteria will have enough time to get established before the fish start eating full time and you'll be ahead of everyone else in your area that has an AP system. They are around, you just have to pull them out of the woodwork.

Just wait until good ol Dad comes around in the summer with those plants growing like crazy...

Keep going, you are doing just fine.

Here is the first half of the video I was shooting when my camera fell in the water. I already need to do an update video. I added the foam board insulation after this video was shot. This morning I also wrapped the front and side with a couple layers of black plastic. I also made the floating raft, minus the grow pots and covered the remaining open water with utility netting. Also this afternoon I ordered some duckweed the local fish store doesn't sell plants.

http://youtu.be/di49Cwzu4MQ

PH 8 Ammonia .25 nitrite .25 nitrate 10

Nice.

When does ph start coming down?

All depends, could take months, could take years.

I was wondering how live duckweed was shipped cross country.

Looks like this is probably to late but -

Duckweed is pretty much everywhere. If you need some take a look around at the local ponds, might even find some at the local garden center where they sell water lilies . If you ask nicely they might let you have some for free. Bit early in the season so they might not have lilies yet

Nice system layout.

My town doesn't have those things. A few people have small ponds but I couldn't find any with duckweed. The fish store doesn't even sell plants.

I only spent 7.50 on the duckweed. Its supposed to be Lemna Minor. I would like to try and grow a local variety but I wanted the Lemna Minor for its protein content.

I'm glad you managed to get some Tirobb. I'm surprised there wasn't any locally and wish you could have gotten it free but that's the way it goes sometimes .

Water test today. I've got myself a rainbow.
I need to bring the ph down.

I brought the ph down with some vinegar a couple of days ago. It has already drifted back up to 8.2. The off-gassing water which I also ph adjusted did not drift up however. Trying not to overthink things.

Did a little work on the system this morning. Little things. added a plexiglass barrier to the DWC / duckweed pond to cut down the current, cut the holes in the DWC raft. replaced some galvanized hardware with Stainless and planted some kale and cauliflower and onions.