I've decided to embark on another exciting adventure in habitat creation and management, and take another, more committed whack at building a semi-closed ecosystem. The last attempt 3 years ago involved a 10gal tank with few small catfish, some snails, a couple of dwarf frogs, some aquatic plants and algae and a whole lot of mildew. That was in a one bedroom apartment on South Beach. After the frogs escaped and the mollusks and fish went belly up, we called it quits. The humidity in that place was challenging enough without the tank of water in the living room, and we had to repaint the whole apartment to overcome the mold.
Colorado does not have that problem. You can leave your corn chips out overnight (or for weeks) and they'll still be crunchy here. So will your grapefruit. You have to try hard to make mildew here. Plus, we now have a house with a basement, and a bit of land. While the HOA may limit my outdoor activities to some degree, the only limit to what I can do in the basement is what my wife will let me get away with. If I convince her it has educational value for the kids, the sky's the limit. So, she is on board with the aquaponics plan, at least to the extent that I've laid it out for her. So far it's mostly still in the planning and aquisition stage.
Here's the plan:
This will be a flood and drain aquaponics system-
- Fish Tank: 200+ gal aquarium
- Fish: 20 Catfish, 20 Tilapia
- Sump: ~100 Gal tank
- Grow bed: ~200 gal container, not identified yet
- Grow media: Hydroton
- Plants: Moringa Oleifera, Spinach, Broccoli, Citrus, Cucumber, Tomato, Lettuce (winter), Duckweed (in sump)
- Fish food: table scraps, worms from worm bin, dead bees from hive, will probably need to supplement with commercial feed at some point
I'm still playing it by ear to see what I can find in the way of a grow bed, something that will look ok in my basement and still be food grade material. With the recent legalization of recreational pot in my state, I'm hoping folks will be moving their grow activities into the backyard and get rid of their hydroponics cheap...
More to follow on the rest.