Impromptu Workshops!

This week Jan 1-5, 2012 sudden changes impromptu workshops, moving gravel.
Hi All. It was a while back that I had said I would be inviting people out to see what was down in the bottom of some grow beds.
Well I’m not gonna be able to provide a lot of notice here as things are moving quickly (or so I hope.)

I was planning on changing out the media in the grow beds in my “Big System” and was going to have “work shops” so people could come see what the bottoms of those beds are like when we pull the inappropriate media out.

But now Plans are changing. I think we will be pulling the media out of several of the Big system Grow beds here this week. Anyone interested in showing up might get in on it and be able to pitch in. Unfortunately I don’t have a hard set schedule for when it will be happening. I’ll try to take some pictures so I can post them so people can know what a couple years of solids building up in a bed is like (truth is I don’t expect there to be much sludge.)

Anyway, a bunch of beds will be getting emptied and the big system and tower system will be getting hooked together for the time being. Right now with the cool weather the fish are not eating as much and I’m running short on nutrients for the plants that do like to grow in this weather, so I have ample filtration and plants to handle this operation. See, we could be moving soon and I want to get the grow beds ready to move and we will re-fill them at the new property with a new more appropriate media (one without shells or limestone!) Then once I get the media started cycling up at the new place we will be able to move fish and the tower system over.

SOOOOOO. This is the notice Starting tomorrow we will be transplanting plants from the grow beds that will be moving out and perhaps tomorrow or Monday we will be starting to pull the shells and gravel out of several of the big system grow beds. That shell filled gravel will go to landscaping some pathways and I’ll probably pull 5 grow beds off the system to prep them for moving.

If anyone wants a bucket full of cycled up media to put in a bag and use as a calcium carbonate buffer, bring a bucket. I would recommend putting the shells in a paint strainer bag or stocking to hang in your fish tank to buffer a system (I say in a bag so you can pull it out if the pH is too high or if the calcium levels get too high and you need more potassium instead.) The brown river rock can be placed into your grow bed to help it cycle up (this only helps if you have just built a system and are about to start filling it with media and start cycling.)

Contact me or comment if you need info about finding the place.
Google Mount Dora, FL if you need the aprox location to figure driving time and then contact me if you are coming over and I’ll e-mail the address and phone number so you can find us. Wear appropriate clothing to get wet and muddy if you actually want to do more than watch. I recommend boots or sturdy shoes as our property is not very sandal friendly (lots of ants and mulch and some nettles even.)

This week Jan 1-5, 2012
Impromptu gravel moving workshops, Get to see what happens down in the bowels of some grow beds.