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• DIY Aquaponics design
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  My name is Rob and I'm a mechanical engineer and a self proclaimed naturalist from North Florida. Here's what you have to do to create your very own aquaponics garden.
  
  The trick to keeping fish is making the tank the exact opposite of normal fish tanks. Commercial fish tanks are designed so that you can see the fish, not as a recreation of the fish’s natural habitat. That’s why fish tanks require pumps. There aren’t any natural plants to oxygenate the water and the surface area isn’t enough for the water to naturally oxygenate. Fish don't live in tall thin glass boxes. They live in shallow wide ponds, so think flower bed not fish tank. I recommend, for a back yard, that you use a raised tank, that is, one that is above the ground. This way if you get tired of it or have to move you won’t have a giant hole in your backyard.
  
  Your tank, for small fish about the size of your hand, should be about 8 in tall. Outline your pond with 1”X8” boards. Make sure that the boards are level when you place them. Don’t worry about the ground between the boards. Natural ponds don’t have plain flat bottoms so neither should yours. Then line the box with Visqueen, aka Polyethylene sheeting. Overlap the edges about 2 inches if your need to. Make sure it goes up the walls of the box as well. Then you are going to coat the inside of your pond with… drum roll… pond mud. Don’t go out and destroy any wet lands but really the best place to get this is from a pond. Potting soil, unfertilized (less chemicals the better), will work in a pinch. Lay about an inch thick on the bottom and slope the sides. About a 20 degree angle will be perfect.
  
  Then plant the perimeter of your pond with aquatic plants. The best place to get these is… a pond, but you can also buy them at local nurseries if they are available. Do some research, either look for them in the wild or look on the internet or in books, and find out if they like to be partially submerged or full submerged, what animals eat them, that sort of thing. As far as edible plants go… you guessed it, more research. You want a hearty plant that grows well in your area. Don’t think rice, think out of the box. A good plant for north florid is the Pond Lily, Nuphar luteum. Its roots are starchy like tubers and the seeds can be popped like pop corn. Cat tails can also be eaten but it’s a lot of work.
  
  Then get vegetarian fish. You can catch them from a local pond with a rod or with fish traps. Some very common examples are perch, carp and dace. Also, look into some other edible animals like freshwater clams and crawfish; the more diverse the ecosystem the better. Before you put the fish in make sure they can eat the plants you’ve put in otherwise you’ll be feeding them bread in order to keep them alive and that kind of defeats the purpose.
  
  For more information check out, The Original Boy’s Handy Book by Daniel Carter Beard.
  
  Please note: Don’t ever break state or federal laws regarding wildlife conservation.
  

  Posted by Rob Cooper on December 11, 2008 at 12:42:53 Pacific Time

• Aquaponic System
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  I am responding to the Wish List request in Craft: Volume 09 regarding a DIY aquaponic system. There is a program at Sammamish High School in Bellevue, Washington that incorporated aquaponics as part of it's experiential learning science curriculum.
  
  Freshmen who enroll in the class each year design and build their own aquaponic system using a variety of recycled objects such as old fish tanks, oil drum, Tupperware bins, piping, etc. Students observe, document and study the progress throughout the year and harvest and give away their produce to those in need at the end of the school year.
  
  For pictures and/or more info about the program and these aquaponic systems, email my or the teacher in charge at georgel@bsd405.org

  Posted by Yetta on November 10, 2008 at 18:00:12 Pacific Time

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