Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks! And here is last nights tomato harvest! Do you think my sons excited for fresh tomatoes? A teaser... I'm working on a new type of planting system, as far as I can tell, never before seen by the world! Proto types are now being tested! Promise to list them for sale here first (if they work out and after the patent of course!)... More to come!

Look like gobstoppers from when I was a kid!

Intrigued by your new invention...

Just found an amazingly awesome deal! Menards has seed packets for a nickle! Limit 40 or $2.00! Holy cow! if you can get there, get there! WOW!

I am 8595 miles from Michigan.

I geuss gas cost might lower the savings....

They do look like candies, don't they? He gobbled them like sweets. It's crazy to think that the plant which grew those was cloned from a plant which I grew from a 15 year old seed! Tomato vines are really quite incredible organisms.

Growing that tomato plant from a 15 year old seed - now that's impressive.

Monsanto will Not be happy

These were sweet 100's hybrids. They were easier to start than any new type of tomato seed I've recently tried. Makes you wonder why...

Update on the school aquaponics : Today I've installed a timer, light bulbs and the reflector. The seeds have started to germinate and the water had that sweet smell I look for to tell me it's ready for fish. Yeah most people use test kits to know when the water is ready for fish... I smell it, hasn't failed me yet. If the water smells musky or like dirt I wait on the fish for a few more days. The sweet smell tells me the bacteria are established enough to start adding fish. Some little Tilapia will make it their home on Wednesday during his next class. Here's what it looks like today:
Here's a pic of things germinating

It should be noted that the kids keep asking where the fish are, when the fish are coming etc.

Great stuff JG. Will there be a light in the fish tank for the kiddies to see the fish?

I really admire what you're doing over there, hope you're going to graduate a bunch of aquaponicists.

They should be able to see the fish without a light so that's the route I'm going to try first. The nice thing is that the whole classroom setup is about $100 usd to put together and I actually already had most of the stuff to build it. I think I've only out of pocketed about $40. I think 60 some odd kids use that classroom throughout the week. Pretty cheap for the amount of learning it will provide. I bet you would do the same thing given the chance! On a different note, I just finished gutting and cleaning my first fish ever. I grabbed my biggest guy out and tried to ice water kill him. Didn't work. It did slow him down allot though and one solid whack to the head from a 1"pvc pipe finished him off easily. As a bonus the meat was pre chilled so hopefully it will keep better. Here's what he looked like waiting in his bucket. . These are his final weigh in pictures on the scale. I was surprised when he only yielded about a quarter pound of meat, but this is my first time EVER cleaning a fish so now I know what to expect. I know to expect a 25% return on overall weight with a lean fish. I will honestly say I almost threw up at first, but I got past it anyhow. .

Lol. Well done buddy.

When I was a kid I was in charge of cleaning fish that was caught so I don't have a problem with it. I also had to process chickens (killed them myself at 11) and also any rabbits I shot on the farm.

Hope the next time is easier. Once you get the hang of it it becomes faster and less messy.

Thanks. Just turned 31 and that was my first time. Funny, I was a boy scout and all that but never got the chance even being the outdoorsy type. Infact, instead it was a fish which I know spent it's entire life indoors... Life is strange sometimes.