As you know, from a previous blog, S.H. made me a seed starting rack about two years ago. It has four shelves and one shelf has grow lights. Now I start most of my seeds this way.
I was looking at the three unused shelves...What could I do with the space? I am a big fan of Youtube gardening videos and I saw one about Aquaponics.
Aquaponics is is a sustainable food production system that combines a traditional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or shrimp in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. The plants filter the water which contains nitrogen, the plants use it as fertilizer, the clean water goes back to the animals, the animals "poop" in the water and the cycle starts again.
Our youngest son had a fish tank with two gold fish and a huge mystery snail, we call "Goliath". The fish were the kind you win at the fair, but they lived for two years. After they died, we moved "Goliath" to a smaller tank, that was easier for the kid to clean. The fish tank sat in the closet unused. Until now.... :-)
S.H. went out and bought tubing, expandable clay balls, a submersible water pump, pvc pipe and a shallow plastic tote. It cost about $35 dollars at Lowe's. He put it all together on Saturday while I was at work.
Today, I am off and will be going to buy a few fish to put in there with "Goliath". I plan on growing lettuce. I will try and make a video of the entire system when it is up and running!
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