How it all Started 14, The end.

Well not really The End but I have to choose an arbitrary point at which the “Start” is past. I think that first fish dinner is a pretty appropriate point at which to say, “I made it through the first part of Aquaponics”. The Aquaponics system is not only up and running but producing fish as well as veggies.

growing jungle June 5 2008

Baby Tilapia July 8 2008

I’d mentioned back in the Tilapia blog post that the fish could breed in a bit of pipe dropped into the cage, well I know this because it happened with the fish in my cage that I left a 3″ fitting sitting in. I noticed an aggressive fish in one corner with a dark stripe over the eyes, well I’ve come to recognize this as a sign of a female tilapia holding eggs or getting ready to release fry. The little guys in the bucket we some of those fry rescued from the big tank.

tomato hedge June 14 2008

The Aquaponics system took lots of work that first spring, washing gravel and tending plants but it was great exercise and much of it actually quite fun.

I learned a lot about aquaponics system design and got to experience different pump choices and some of the pros and cons of them. I experimented with different media choices and have learned why one might not want to use washed shells as part of their media though it does work to an extent. I have pushed aquaponics system stocking to some limits and cycled up multiple systems during this time frame.

So of course this is only the end of the beginning and I of course have not quit Aquaponics, I still have 100’s of pounds of catfish happily swimming around tanks in my yard and the pump goes on.

For those who wish to go read the detail version check out my original system thread. BYAP System Thread Pages 1-58 (December 2007-Aug 10, 2008) is the time frame for this Blog post.

The Big Aquaponics system as it was late summer 2008.

system design