While visiting the Great Sand Dunes in the San Luis Valley, I stumbled upon the source of the mythical Colorado White Tilapia(R): Believe it or not, in the middle of Colorado there is an alligator farm. Colorado Gators started out as a commercial tilapia farm and imported a couple of gators as garbage disposal for dead fish. I suspect that along the way, they discovered a few tax breaks and decided to turn the operation to an animal rescue/educational/tourist venture. While not a true aquaponics system (they continuously pump in new water from hot springs source, and release cold water to the surface), they do use fish pee to grow various plants (watercress mainly, and what appeared to be a lot of bamboo).

There was also a cute little geodesic dome greenhouse next to the yurt where we stayed. Of course, I completely failed to get any pictures of it, but ran across this image which is even cuter... and closely approaches the CELSS ideal in my minds eye.

At any rate, I acquired 10 more fingerlings, unsexed whites, to go with my reds and blues. Also got two 7 inch channel cats, and got everyone (including wife and kids) home safely in the first snowstorm of the season. Need to check on my bees in the morning to see how they are weathering the frigid temperatures.

My AP system seems to be cycling well- nitrate levels are a bit high due to slow plant uptake/growth, which I suspect is limited by poor lighting and somewhat cool temperatures.