You CAN PRINT FOOD – with aquaponics. Christian shares some interesting learnings after more than doubling the grow space in the indoor aquaponic system, including “track lighting”, the weight of water + media, the importance of thoroughly washing your media, and some differences with the outdoor system.
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Christian shares some improvements, some expansions, and some learnings from the new Aquaponics build and the process of moving a running Aquaponics system across several states. ALSO: hypnotic timelapse of a bed flooding/draining.
http://wiki.iceagefarmer.com/wiki/Aquaponics
Let’s go build great things.
Aquaponics is truly SO easy to build. Life just FLOWS from aquatic systems.
Take the challenge.
DO IT!
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As part of the “Grow Your Own Food Challenge” for the Grand Solar Minimum, Christian answers a question from a friend who is hesitant to start an Aquaponics system, fearing that it will be a huge time commitment. In fact, this is one of the simplest, cleanest, and least demanding ways to grow food, both now, and potentially in many different versions of the future.
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Today, IAF explores remediation of effects of large diurnal (between day/night) temperature swings in Aquaponics systems. Small (100 gal and under) systems are particularly vulnerable to quick changes in pH and temperature. Such rapid changes are detrimental to the entirety of the system:
* plants don’t metabolize nutrients, leaving nitrates in the water
* water quality suffers,
* fish feed less (produce less ammonia!) and are more prone to infections
* the biofilter (beneficial bacteria, which turn ammonia [fish waste] into nitrites, into nitrates [plant food]) can be injured, leaving ammonia in the water
* ammonia is MORE TOXIC at high temperatures
* DO (dissolved oxygen) drops, because Oxygen is less soluble as temperature increases
All of these factors mean that temperature fluctuations are a BAD THING. In this video, IAF shares this information, and walks through steps taken to remediate the damage in the current heat wave (100’F+ days, 55’F nights):
* Rotating Ice Packs by day, to keep water temperature from escalating too high
* Sadly, may have to use a heater by night, to keep water temp from dropping too low
* Added a bubbler + air stone, to ensure water has enough DO so fish can breathe easy
* Did a PWC (partial water change), which I try to avoid with Aquaponics, to flush out ammonia and ensure fish stay healthy.
In the context of the Grand Solar Minimum, and the highly irregular and increasingly extreme climate, this really speaks to INDOOR GROWING — AQUAPONICS will produce more reliably in a more controlled environment, without these fluctuations — which is what we want to ensure FOOD SECURITY.
YOU CAN DO THIS AT HOME! –And you should, to produce clean food for your family. It’s that or watch as the food prices continue to increase, and ultimately, the shelves empty completely.
Start taking daily steps NOW towards radical self-sufficiency so that you can thrive in the current Grand Solar Minimum / Little Ice Age.
Oyster Mushrooms are a relatively low-effort, decently nutritious, immune-boosting fungi!
Red worms are awesome producers of worm castings/compost.
Duckweed is a high-protein, mini lettuce-like plant that grows atop slow moving water and can be used to supplement fish diets (up to 20%). Soldier larvae (up to 50%) are another option–likely coming to the farm soon!
Although I mention in the video that I might not make mushrooms in the future, I don’t regret learning how to do so. There are many cool applications for fungi, from medicinal to remediative, and on balance, they are relatively low-effort after setting up the medium & inoculating.
Also in this video, IAF works on establishing more of the well-understood processes that cycle energy through our systems:
Starting a red worm bin to turn scraps into worm castings and liquid fertilizer for potted plants
Receiving duckweed, and setting it up to start producing an initial population to then pull from and supplement fish diet. They love it, and it feels healthy to add living foods into their diet. Goldfish are omnivores after all!
Considering black solider larvae also, to turn even more scraps into a tiny bit of compost and a lot of larvae, which can also be used for fish food
And a crazy cold front & rain rolls through Northern California, dumping rain on the central valley (including Oroville)
Please share with your friends information on the Grand Solar Minimum and the resulting climate disturbances we are experiencing, as well as intensification of the crop losses that have already begun.
START GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD TODAY — ACHIEVE FOOD SOVEREIGNTY!
Taking daily steps towards radical self-sufficiency means looking each day at what INPUT is required. Identifying these inputs and creating systems that will produce them for tomorrow allows you to push forward that frontier of producing your own inputs–and increasingly leveraging your own outputs!
Each step increases your resilience. This concept must be applied to the communities we build as well.
Today, I apply this methodology to one of the two elephants in the room with respect to the challenges of moving our food production to sustainable off-grid indoor growing in order to ensure our food security in this Grand Solar Minimum: HEAT.
A compost water heater generates HEAT (up to 160F/70C) as it produces COMPOST, which can be used for growing further crops. By completing the cycle here, you generate energy AND reduce your dependence on external inputs!
Also in this video:
* drilling holes for a new 2″NFT pipe
* transferring dwarf moringa oleifera starts in coco coir into containers under LED lights
… and a spider spins a web across one of my grow beds.
YOU CAN DO THIS AT HOME! –And you should, to produce clean food for your family. It’s that or watch as the food prices continue to increase, and ultimately, the shelves empty completely.
Start taking daily steps NOW towards radical self-sufficiency so that you can thrive in the current Grand Solar Minimum / Little Ice Age.
After several weeks of nitrates at zero, despite increasing feeding (and protein content), today I am introducing new fish to the Aquaponics system.
While balance (and patience!) is always the key in aquaponics, I prefer to establish that balance with a non-zero level of nitrates, which at least guarantees that this is not a limiting factor to plant growth. On the other hand, we want this balance to be relatively low, for fish comfort. Some folks like to run at 80-100ppm, so that if for any reason feeding must be stopped, there is at least a buffer of nitrates for the plants to burn through for a bit.
Fellow aquaponicians: where do you run your system?
YOU CAN DO THIS AT HOME! –And you should, to produce clean food for your family. It’s that or watch as the food prices continue to increase, and ultimately, the shelves empty completely.
Start taking daily steps NOW towards radical self-sufficiency so that you can thrive in the modern Grand Solar Minimum / Ice Age.
Quick discussion of the importance of regular ammonia testing of your aquaponics setup. Watch here.
SYMPTOMS:
– bubbles lingering on surface of tank water
– fish looking lethargic
… immediately test the water!
RESOLUTION:
– water change to alleviate situation — fish won’t like (or survive long in) non-zero ammonia levels
– identify and remedy source:
– rotting organic material in tank?
– excessive organic material in filter?
– dead zone in grow bed?
YOU CAN DO THIS AT HOME! –And you should, to produce clean food for your family. It’s that or watch as the food prices continue to increase, and ultimately, the shelves empty completely.
Start taking daily steps NOW towards radical self-sufficiency so that you can thrive in the current Grand Solar Minimum / Little Ice Age.
a period during which solar activity diminishes, resulting in drastic climatic and geophysical changes to our planet. These include increased galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), seismic activity, and volcanism; the latter often results in a global reduction in temperatures (see “the year without a summer” — and much more on the IAF wiki).
