Progress and more progress

You know that ability to accurately gauge distance or weight? Or how some people can always just know how long it will take to drive somewhere? I am not that person, on any of the above. Pretty much in my head if a place is close by it will take me 15 minutes to get there and if it is the other side of the valley it will take me 30 minutes. I am horrible at guessing weight, distance, height, and anything quantified in numbers. So when I thought about the work involved with building an aquaponics system from the dirt up I did not fail to completely underestimate everything about it. Luckily, as I mentioned before, my husband is super excited about this project so things are happening! He is really good stuff, that husband guy of mine, and we are on track to meet our self-inflicted deadline with fish and plants in on March 1st.

You may not know this about me, but I am really good at math as long as it doesn’t involve numbers…here I’ll show you:

  

“Kick you in the Face” yellow furring strips + pond liner-ed trough + plumbing =

Growing space!!! After we filled the boxes and got them hooked up the the fish tanks, Neil decided to add stand pipes to better regulate the water levels. Now they are perfect and flowing beautifully.

  

Muchkins + metal cage thing = hours of playing “don’t fall in the empty tank”

  

Layna + Daddy’s work bench = a Layna Cave.

  

Fish left over from the swimming pool that mysteriously appeared in Neil’s boss’ office while he was away on his honeymoon + air stones + filter (so they don’t get sucked into the grow beds) =

 

A great start to a fish-based way of growing food!

Obviously here in the desert, our biggest problem for fish will be keeping the water in a decent temperature range so that the fish won’t boil alive or freeze…both of which are possible here. Neil built a box out of OSB that has 1 1/2″ foam insulation sheets that goes around both tanks. I will be painting it white sometime before summer hits to help with keeping it cool. These things coupled with choosing a fish that can handle some pretty drastic temperature swings should ensure success. We were thinking channel catfish but after much scouring of the internets, have landed on bluegill. Tonight we went and bought some minnows to put in to at least get some cycling started, and then when we can figure out how we will get bluegill into the state (drama, drama, drama), they can just eat the minnows. We have been recording the temperatures of the water in the morning and at night, and since building the box and putting the rafts in we went from a 10 degree temp. swing to a 2 degree variation. We also tested the water tonight and the pH is way high…stupid city tap water. Oh well. Once it starts cycling (we are probably going to add bacteria to help move that process right along) the pH should be better.

In the mean time, I have seeds sprouting on my counter in my kitchen (counter space is over rated) and in a few days I’ll be posting on all that loveliness. I mean, I have tons of stuff growing all over the place and I haven’t killed anything yet! Hooray!