First Japanese Cucumbers! Looking good! #Aquaponics

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Growbed update 22 June 2014

Growbed is looking very well. The cucumber plant looking like it's going to start flowering soon. I may need to pull out those Water Spinach to let the cabbages grow.

Growbed update 18 June 2014

Seedlings are doing very well. In the growbed (clock wise from left) I have Chinese parsley, Spinach, Japanese Cucumber, Red Spinach ( Amaranthus Dubius), Cabbage, Water spinach & Chinese kale.

I added the pipe extension from the pre filter outlet to avoid splashes from hitting and injuring some of the seedlings.

I have had major deaths of my catfish due to unknown reasons, my guess it could be the hydroton being new and was not sufficiently washed. Wife insisted it's because I didn't start the system with ammonia this time around. Could be right.

Update 7/5, growbed prep'd and we're ready to rock and roll

Hydrotons acquired and we are ready to rock and roll!

System Reset

The frame was damaged in a storm few months ago so I had to harvest and switch off the system. Finally had time last weekend to to clean things up  so I took the opportunity to reset and redo the setup. The frames are no more and I opted for simpler, low profile setup for better structural stability. I need to get me more LECA!

Non aquaponics - bench with growbed full of lettuce in Insadong, Seoul

Found this cool bench with a growbed full of lettuce in Insadong, Seoul. They're lucky I've had lunch!

Growbed update 26/5/13

Quick update on my rebooted aquaponics system. The growbed now enjoys much much more direct sunlight. The habanero plants are recovering from the shock. The tomato and eggplant plants are growing very very nicely. I am getting more LECA this weekend to convert the system to a constant flow growbed and nore more NFT. More pictures later.

Aquaponics system reboot in progress

I've been working on rebooting my Aquaponics system, moving away from NFT to growbed system. I took the opportunity of the reboot to move the growbed to a place that enjoys full sunlight. Now I need to get ahitload of LECA!

Aquaponics habanero flowering

First flower bud of the aquaponics habanero plant has open and some new buds are maturing nicely. Hope to get some peppers soon!

Aquaponics tower in the making

This is going to be an interesting project. The goal is to have an ecstatically pleasing piece for the front yard that is also functional.

My plan is to have like an outer vase around the tower to hide the white pipe. The media is going to be LECA but the whole structure will need to be weighted down with some heavy pebbles to avoid it from tipping over.

I'll be working on this piece for the next few weekends and I am very excited to see how this goes!

3inches of growth in 1 week!

The Habanero plants are really taking off! I estimated 3 inches of growth on the biggest plant after I week from my last posting!

The other seeds I sow did not show signs of germinations yet however some tomato and eggplant seeds I sow indoor have started to sprout!

System update 22/2/2013

A little update because I would like to record this interesting observation I saw on some of the changes I did to the system.

In previous entry I mentioned that I removed the bell siphon and run the flood and ebb strictly on time. The system is flooded for 30 minutes and let to bleed out to dry for another 30mins. I started noticing that the yellowing on the leaves associated with iron deficiency has immediately disappeared.

There's probably 2 causes of this. First being the longer flood time without the water being siphoned out means the roots are able to absorb more nutrients or the second cause is the longer pump running sends more water to the swirl filter this removes more waste and allows the coral bits to break down and buffer the PH better.

I am starting to see some little branches coming out of the Habanero plants and the mints are growing very well too. I sow some seeds and added more Tilapia fingerlings. Can't help it! Hope it won't burden the system too much!

Growbed update 18/2/2013

Been a long time so I thought I'll do an update on the current state of my system.

First is the fish tank is clean and fish are happy and healthy. I now have 3 juvenile and 3 Tilapia fingerlings plus one fat catfish. No unintended deaths to report. I've increased the duration of the pumps to be on longer but I'll cover that later.

Growbed has been replanted with Habanero plants and seedlings together with some Mints cuttings. Everything is growing rather nicely. I've lost the whole crop of BakChoys to caterpillar attack and decided to replant.

I've also removed the bell siphon so my flood and ebb is totally controlled by the timer for the pump now. I read on the net and finally decided take up on Mahfudz's suggestion to do this. Let's see how the plants like their roots being soaked longer in the nutrient rich water from the fish tank.

Pump now runs for 30 mins and off 30 mins to let the water drain through the bleed holes I have on the outlet pipe. The idea is to let the plant absorb more nutrients during longer soak time. This will also allow more water to pass through my coral bits and hopefully will be able to buffer the PH levels better. Longer pump runs also means that more filtration time for the fish tank water.

The growth you see now on the Habanero plants are from 3 weeks from germinating. I can already see the bigger plants starting to sprout tiny branches!

As always, enjoy the pics!

Mysterious death

Mysterious death in my #Aquaponics fish tank. A good palm-sized tilapia died this morning without any signs of diseases. I suspect the culprit is a dominant fish in the tank frequently seen pecking on the other fishes.

Minor adjustment

Some minor adjustment in my #aquaponics system. Now feeding filtered water to the growbed and #biofilter is fed using a more powerful pump.

Water became the clearest I have ever had and fishes are very happy swimming around. Hope to see some positive result in the growed as well.

Hari Raya Qurban update

I have been away for a few days for the Hari Raya Qurban holidays and to my amusement, my system is holding up much better than expected. Plants are doing ok and the fishes are still swimming happily. Water quality is also fine.

No worries now to take extended holidays!

Growbed update 13/10

The plants are growing very well although I see some leaves are yellowish in color. They could be either due to not enough sunlight or the system is having an iron deficiency.

It rained heavily for the past few days and some plants have either fallen flat on the ground or suffered leaf injuries from being hit by heavy raindrops.

I found a dead fish today and foud the water is dirtier than I expected. I suspect that one of the water outlets in from the pump that feeds back water inside the tank is creating a current that makes solid waste harder to be picked up and sent to the biofilter.

I will try to feed the extra water outlet to the growbed instead and see how that goes.

Update 10/10 - Palm sized Tilapias

#aquaponics Tilapia are about palm sized now and the plants are growing well. I'm starting to think those may not be Pak Choys. Any idea what they are?

Pakchoy Update 5/10

The Pak Choys are doing extremely well in my system. They're growing up to a good rate. I am very happy and hope to be able to harvest soon. I read that the plant is a CCA ( Cut and Come Again) veg so I hope to be able to come keep harvesting every week.

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Growbed update 2/10.

Transplanted Pak Choys doing great. Water is crystal clear. Fishes are happy. Second round of lettuce seeds grew moldy and just not germinating http://instagr.am/p/QQgb42syod/

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