Grow beds and 2 sumps
Steve and I were both sick over the holidays. The really bad part of that is he has a forced vacation every year because the plant shuts down for the holidays.
And we were sick! It was some weird flu thing that zapped the very energy from every cell of our bodies. Mine hit my lungs, and Steve’s hit his sinuses. We don’t usually go anywhere during this time of year. We just take in the holiday spirit; enjoying friends, family, and social gatherings. We go to dinner a lot, and the movies. This year ; not so much.
But we had moments of feeling a bit of energy, and during one of those times, Steve walked out to the backyard, and looked at the aquaponics system that I have been building via remote instructions from a friend.
The tank was fully cycled; full of nitrates. There was algae growing. That is a sign that plant life can now be maintained. I did not have the plumbing, or the electrical (not my strong suit) going yet.
Steve started thinking, and searching the net; and with the help of a couple of my calls to my fish friend, he got it going. I planted bare root strawberries and away we go.
160 Gallon with 20 Tilapia
The night we got it going, I was just falling asleep. He said “Honey” Me-“Hunh?” Him- “you awake?” Me- “I am now” Him “can I have one of your grow beds to plant in?” Me- “Sure”. Then 10 minutes later. Him-“Honey, you awake?” Me-“Hunh?” Him- “I wish there was a book that I could read to help me understand”. I reached over to my night stand and gave him my Aquaponics book. He turned on his light and began to read.
I smiled to myself. He is finally hooked. Yay! Farmer Steve is coming along quite nicely. Nighty night.
Good luck with your system. My wife is making me start with our 10 gallon fish tank before she will let me go any bigger. I am happy for you that your husband is now on board.
Thank you. I will be sharing a post about the shelf system that I built for my adult son. I used a 4 tiered shelf system that I bought at Walmart for $20.00. The bottom shelf holds a 10 gallon (yardsale $5.00) tank perfectly. He put 5 feeder goldfish and an algae eater. The three shelves above are for herbs and strawberries. There is a pump in the tank to pump the water to the top shelf and each shelf is attached to a drain and hose that drains back into the tank.
I intend to get the whole fam-damly into this farming thing. That way, I know that I am living and leaving a real legacy!