Early this year we had a Pond Boss gathering at CATMANDOO World Headquarters, complete with the Pond Boss himself, Bob Lusk.
At this gathering, we were introduced to small-scale aquaponics through a friend from West Virginia University. It is a process where fish and plants "grow in harmony together."
In the approximate 8 months since I first learned about this, I've found that it is quite popular with the counter-culture, the drug culture, those who are trying to make food production far more sustainable, and those who just want high-productivity backyard fresh fish and fresh vegetables without chemicals -- in a very limited space, with minimal power requirements, minimal water usage, and minimal environmental impact.
There are multiple great methods for aquaculture. One of the simplest is "barrelponics" where all you need are three plastic barrels. This link provides an entire PDF manual for setting up and maintaining such a system:
Barrelponics Instruction Manual I was about to setup a barrelponics system,when I was offered two free 300 gallon Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs). If you "Google" IBC Aquaponics, you will find more info than you can possibly digest in several days. Interestingly, the IBCs are quite commonly available for free, or at very little cost.
Mine took a little bit (actually a whole lot) of cleaning. But, as of tonight, I've got five bluegill and one small bass living in the bottom portion, and tomorrow I will start lettuce, spinach, beans, and cucumbers in the upper portion.
I'm planning on adding a few 6-8 inch channel catfish tomorrow afternoon. We are hoping to have fresh vegetables for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.
I put my system inside a small 6x8 greenhouse that will hopefully stay warm enough until Christmas to provide the vegetables.
Here it is inside my small greenhouse frame, with the tank wrapped in black plastic to keep sunlight from the fish tank, hopefully preventing algae buildup -- and hopefully adding a little solar heating to the water.
The bottom part is home to the fishes, which will get hand fed, based on the water temperature. The top part is filled with about 7-inches of pea-gravel that will become the growing medium for the plants. A simple pump-and-drain system will move water from the fish tank to the grow bed. The growbed will use the nutrients (like ammonia) from the water that has been "fouled" by the fish, and return it as fresh, clean, and aerated water to the fish.
I'll post progress, as it happens.
