Circle of Life

I thought that I would try an experiment with aquaponics. It is the most efficient use of water to grow food. If you use organic fish food, i.e., bugs, worms and duckweed and others, it is a completely organic process. You get fresh fish, like tilapia, and fresh vegetables, like lettuce, beans, tomatoes, peppers, and anything else that you like to grow in your conventional garden. I got on craigslist and bought a blue plastic barrel. The blue ones are used for non poison materials. Stay away from the black onesL. I started by cutting out some paper stencils to use for holes in the side. Then I transferred them to the side of the barrel. I marked line where I will cut the top off of it. I will then cut the stencil pictures out. The pictures are suppose to read “WATER + FISH + PLANTS” When you add this up it should equal balance. This should work. The fish eat and create waste. The water becomes high in ammonia, which will eventually pollute the water and kill the fish. If you pump the water into a grow bed of approximately the same volume, bacteria will convert the ammonia to nitrites, and in turn, different bacteria will convert the nitrites to nitrates which the plants love. This efficiently cleans the water and it can be returned to the fish tank. This is a complete cycle and the only water consumed is from evaporation or that stays in the plants such as tomatoes. Here is some pictures that I took of what I did on this rainy Sunday afternoon.