Cold Water Aquaponics - 3.5 Year Summary

For the past 3.5 years, I've been running an aquaponics setup in my basement.  Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics (growing plants in water, without soil).  Most people who set up an aquaponics tank live in warmer areas, such as Australia, Hawaii, and California.  I live in an area of Colorado that gets much colder in the winter, which makes it much more challenging, and potentially more expensive.

I started this blog with a lot of technical detail, in case other people who live in cold climates want to set up an aquaponics system.  This post is an overview of my experience (with lots of pictures) for people who don't want to spend hours going over my wordy posts.  If you're looking for specific information, such as water temperatures, how to set up the tank, etc., take a look at my 2011 posts.

Equipment - Fish tank and Grow Beds

My setup consists of a single fish tank (150-gallon stock tank) and two grow beds (60-gallon stock tanks), which are filled with gravel.  The grow beds are on a platform above the fish tank.  A submersible water pump in the fish tank pumps water into the grow beds. Once the water gets to a certain level in the grow beds, a siphon causes the water to drain back into the fish tank.   The fish poop in the water fertilizes the plants, and the gravel in the grow beds filters the water before it is returned to the fish tank.

Fish tank on bottom, grow beds on top.  Left grow bed is empty, right grow bed is filled with gravel (grow media).

Siphon - this is in the middle of each grow bed.  When the water gets near the top, water is drawn up through the brown tubes and drains into the fish tank below.

The siphon is surrounded by a larger pipe and covered with screen. This keeps gravel from being sucked into the rubber tubes and clogging the system.

This is the drain that comes out of the bottom of the grow bed and drains the water back into the fish tank.

I added an empty flower pot with fish filter material under the drain pipe.  This catches some of the gunk that the gravel doesn't get, keeping the water a little cleaner.

I got the information on how to set up the siphon from a paper published by University of Hawaii.
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/bio-10.pdf

Fish

Tilapia are used in most warm-water backyard aquaponics systems.  Tilapia are warm-water fish that grow quickly, taste good, and usually reproduce on their own.  This is great for warmer areas, in which the water won't need to be heated.  Because heating adds to the complexity of the system, as well as the cost, and an additional point of failure, I chose to go with trout.

My water temperature is usually around 45 degrees (F) in the winter, even indoors (if it were outdoors, it would be frozen for most of the winter).  Trout do fine in the cold water, but they grow more slowly than tilapia, and they don't breed on their own.  I have to drive several hours round trip to replenish my stock once or twice a year.  If I get them in the spring, when they're small, they only cost me about 50 cents each.  However, cold-water fish die quickly if they don't have constant water circulation, so I have to rig up an air pump on my truck when I transport them.  I use a large aquarium pump and run an extension cord from an inverter in the cab of the truck to the air pump in the back.

Per the fishery guy's recommendation, I transported the fish in a large (clean) trash can in the back of the truck.  I drilled holes in the top and ran the air tubes from the air pump into the water in the barrel.  A couple of notes if you do this -  put stones on the air hoses to weigh them down.  On one of my trips, the hoses popped out of the water and I lost 35 of my 50 fish.  Also, make sure you tie down the barrel really well - another lesson I learned the hard way (see post "A Fish Story" if you want to  read about this failure).

Air pump taped to the barrel.

View from above - fish in a barrel.

 

The first set of fish I had was so feisty, and the water so high, I had to put chicken wire over the tank.  I read about several people who had fish jump out and die in the middle of the night.

Here are some random fish pictures from the past three years.

This is about how big they are when I usually get them.  About 5-6 inches.

This is after about six months.  I think this is a 12-inch plate.

This guy got BIG.  Over 14 inches long.  The lump on his head was from my repeated attempts to "dispatch" him quickly, but that didn't work too well.  If you raise your own fish and are looking for a humane way to dispatch your fish, I recommend this video.  Don't watch it if you don't want to see a fish die.  

This is the same fish as above.  "Grandpa fish."

Grilled trout dinner.

Trout and koi sharing the tank.  The koi didn't last long.  I don't know if the trout attacked them, or if they had a disease from the pet store.

Here is some information on aquaponics fish.

Plants

Most plants don't do well in cold water. The water in my tank gets down to about 45 degrees (F) in the winter.  Most plants do better in water temperatures of 65-80 degrees (F).  I couldn't even get wild flowers to grow in my grow beds.  Just like people, plants don't particularly like 45 degree water on their roots.  Also, the window next to my tank faces east, so it doesn't get much sun.  Even with a grow light, I get yellowish plants in the winter.  Plants do OK in the summer, but they spend most of their energy trying to get to the sunlight coming through the window.

lettuce sprout

bean sprout

Bean plants

Bean plants

Bean blossoms

Beans,  My bush beans grew like pole beans, trying to get to the light in the window.  For the size of the plants, I would have gotten hundreds of beans outside.  Inside, I got about 25 beans.

I ordered a few strawberry plants.  I got about five flavorless strawberries.  It was still kind of cool, since they showed up in the middle of December.  Nice to see some color that time of year.

Accidental Oak - An acorn from a different planting project fell into my grow bed and sprouted a Mighty Oak.  It's been there for a coupe of years now.  It loses its leaves in the fall, but then greens up again in the spring.  

I added coir (coconut husk) to the top layer in an effort to get stronger plant roots.  I also have a fan blowing on the plants to simulate wind.  I do not have a fan strong enough to simulate the winds we get, though!

Here is another picture of my strawberries.  You can see how the plants spend most of their energy on growing big leaves, probably trying to survive until the water warms up and they can produce some fruit/vegetables.

Here is information on plants in aquaponics.

May 2014 Update

I've still got five trout in the tank.  I threw a bunch of wildflower seeds in one bed, just to see what happens.  The plants have grown, but no flowers, probably due to the cold water temps.  Now that it's starting to warm up, I expect the cilantro to grow a lot more quickly, and maybe I will get some flowers.  Because we don't have A/C and we heat mostly with a wood stove, the temperatures inside the house aren't as constant as they would be with central hear and air, so the water temperature fluctuates with the seasons.

Instead of typing a bunch of stuff, this time I decided to just narrate the video.  Not sure if anyone can understand my mumbling over the sound of the water draining...

UPDATE:  After I uploaded this, I watched it and realized you probably can't hear anything I say, so here's a rough transcript:

Me: "Blah blah fish blah blah....I still have five fish....one is a lot bigger than the other.  Let's feed them.  They love dried meal worms....blah blah blah....
Here are the plant beds."
Cat in the backgroud: "meow."
Me: "In the left plant bed, I planted a bunch of wildflower seeds.  They haven't produced any flowers yet, probably because the water is too cold.  Oh, that looks like some little flowers coming in.  In the right plant bed, I have some basil and cilantro.  And here is Armando, the fish keeper."

Fish Fetching Fail 2013

I took a half day off yesterday to go to Boulder to get my 50 new baby trout.  Had the trash can cinched down tightly.  Had my inverter, air pump, and duct tape.

It was so exciting seeing the 50 baby fish swimming around in their little bucket before we headed out.  I couldn't wait to get home and get some pictures...they're just so cute!

After a 2+ hour drive from Boulder, at least half of which was spent in a pretty major rain storm (yay, rain!  boo, low visibility), I ran in the house to grab my cameras.  When I removed the lid, my heart sank....all but five or six of my new babies were lying at the bottom of the trash can, not moving.  :-(

I started scooping them out so I could move them to the big tank to see if any could be revived.  After several minutes, out of 50 fish, only ten survived.  Worse than the dumped-out-in-the-bed-of-a-hot-truck-in-the-scorching-sun episode of last year!  The only thing I can think of is that when I put the air tubes into the trash can for transportation, I didn't put the air rocks on them because they were kind of gummy and I was afraid they would get less air that way.  Instead, the rocks weren't there to weigh them down, so I think the tubes popped up to the top of the water and blew out into the air instead of into the water.  So sad seeing all those cute little rainbows dead.  :-(

One of the babies - This is how big Fatty McFish was when I got her last year.

Zipped up bag of fish failure - I read that if you fry them up crisp enough, it's easier to get the tiny bones out.
Worth a shot.  Or I guess I could boil them for fish stock - yum!  :-{

Today, on the way home from work, I decided to cheer myself up, so I stopped at PetSmart and bought three small koi fish to put in the tank with the trout.  Koi can survive cold (even freezing) water, so I figured why not add some color to my sad little tank of survivors.

As soon as I added them to the tank, the koi swam right over to the group of trout.  The trout were like, "whuuuuttt???" and swam away.  But within a few minutes, they were all hanging out together like a nice blended family.  Don't ask me how I am going to "harvest" one set of fish and keep the others.  Or how I will explain the sudden disappearance to my Koi babies.  One day at a time...

Trout and Koi Buddies

I tried to get some video of the new fish.  Sorry for the awful cinematography - trying to hold the aquarium light just right, while ducking under the grow beds and holding the camera steady.  Hopefully no one gets sea sick from watching this.

The End of the Rainbow - The Demise of Fatty McFish

FISH
In two days, I will be making the trip to Liley Fisheries in Boulder to get a new batch of fish.  Fatty McFish is  (was) a big fish in a small tank, so it was time to make room for the tank's future occupants.

For me (and probably most people, as evidenced by this post), this is the least enjoyable part of aquaponics - "harvesting" the fish - but, it must be done.  I read a bunch of opinions on the most humane way to kill a fish.  I went with two ideas -
1 - put the fish in a bucket of ice water so its circulation will slow down
2 - smack it in the head with a hammer

Well....let's just say that I won't be doing the smack in the head with a hammer.  It didn't work after one smack...or two...or...Anyway, I think you get the picture.  Obviously, I didn't smack hard enough, but that fish had a tough head.  I ended up taking a sharp knife and sawing off the head.  Wish it had been faster.  Sorry, Fatty.  :-(

Next time I will probably use more ice in the ice water.  Or maybe try the method mentioned in the forum linked above and use clove oil in the water to anesthetize the fish.

At any rate, Fatty's suffering is over and he will be dinner this evening.  He was pretty big.  I should have gotten a tape measure, but I was trying to finish it quickly, so we'll just have to take a guess at his length...looks like over 15 inches.  Actually, it was a "she," but we got used to calling it "him."

Fatty McFish

Here's a short video of him swimming in his tank last night.  BTW, the noise in the background is my dog drinking water.  He's crazy like that.

PLANTS

Unidentified Growing Object - 

Last year, my husband planted a bunch of acorns to see if he could grow some oak trees.  The planters were sitting above my grow beds.  This spring, once it finally stopped snowing and the temperatures got above freezing, a strange woody plant sprouted in one of my grow beds.  Once the leaves got big enough to be identifiable, I realized one of the acorns must have fallen into the bed.  There is now an oak tree growing with my strawberries and cilantro.

The Mighty Oak

Coconut Husk (Coir) Planting Material

All of my plants in the grow beds end up with very shallow, weak roots.  My husband bought me some coir, made of coconut husks, to see if I can get a stronger root system.  Coir is being used in many places instead of peat moss.  When I soaked the blocks of coir, as instructed, I was a little worried because it just looked like a bunch of potting soil ending up in the water.  However, I put about an inch of the stuff in a section of one of my grow beds, and it seemed to hold together pretty well.  I planted a few basil and cilantro plants...and I think something else, but I can't remember what.  We'll see if this allows them to establish better than starting out directly in the gravel.

Coir - 23 June

Sprouts in Coir - 29 June

That's it for now.  I will post some pictures of the new batch of fish soon.  Hopefully this trip will be a little less...eventful than the last!

Strawberries in December

Last winter, I didn't get any plants because there was a big gap in the dog door that allowed sub-zero winds to blow into the room.  I don't know how cold it got, but it was cold enough that nothing grew.

We replaced the dog door this year, and, after a mostly unproductive summer (too hot), I'm actually getting strawberries!  I bought a cheap thermometer that records high/low temperatures over a 24-hour period.  So far, even with outside temperatures approaching zero, the room temperature has only gone as low as 48 degrees Fahrenheit.

I've only got a few strawberries and a couple of basil plants.  In November, I had a cantaloupe plant that actually flowered, but then it wilted.  Because I've only got one fish left, I turned off the water flow to the bed that the cantaloupe was growing in.

Aquaponic Strawberries - December 2012

Aquaponic Basil

My lone trout is getting pretty big.  I haven't decided what to name him.  "Silvery 1" doesn't sound right.  He's kind of fat, so I thought about "Fatty," but I decided that was a bad idea, since the grow lights in my window already have my neighbors suspicious.  Maybe "Big Fat Grandpa Fish."  The bigger he gets, the harder it is for me to think about...harvesting...him.  I'll probably get a new batch of little trout in the spring.  I hope he doesn't become Big Fat Bully Fish.  

I tried to take some video of him, but he just sat there...until I brought out the still camera and the flash freaked him out and he wouldn't sit still.  Crazy fish.  

Big Fat Grandpa Fish

Last Fish Standing

OK, I knew this could happen, and at one point, I even considered buying a backup power supply, but since we haven't had a power outage last more than an hour in the last four years, I never got around to it.
Well, that's what I get for ignoring Murphy's Law.  Today, during an electrical storm, the transformer in front of our house went out.  The power company repsonded quickly, but they "didn't have a transformer that big on the truck," so they had to go back to the plant in town to get another transformer.  Anyway, three hours later, our power was back on and I was pretty happy.  I think our utility company is awesome...even during blizzards, I haven't been without power for more than a couple of hours in the fifteen years I've lived here.  Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking about my poor fishies.  :-(

According to the guy I bought the fish from, cold-water fish such as trout are very sensitive to lack of oxygen/circulation, and need a constant source of air.  He told me that even a couple of hours is too long for them to go without some kind of air pump or circulation, and I guess he was right.

When my husband went downstairs to feed the dogs, all fish were belly up.  One guy was still breathing, so we left him in the tank, but the rest will be dinner later this week.  Within about 20 minutes, Silvery One was right side up and swimming around in the tank.

Silvery One

Last Fish Standing

So, I guess the other seven fish will be dinner later this week.  BTW, if you're thinking that it's unsafe to eat these fish, consider the fact that lots of people will drive at least two hours to go fishing, so if they catch a bunch of fish, drive home, and eat them several hours later, it's really no different.  As long as we know that they died from oxygen deprivation, which is what most caught fish die from, they're safe to eat.  It would be different if they all died from some mysterious leprosy-like fish disease.  Just thought I'd mention that, since more than one person has voiced concern over my questionable fish-eating practices.  :-)

Friday Night Fish Fry

Summer Update - Mutant Plants!

I've been really lazy about posting to this blog, so here's a quick update.

Fish - Poor fishes, you have such a bad fishy mommy...
As the weather got warmer, I failed to add water to the tank.  One day, the timing of the two grow beds filling with water, but not enough to trigger the syphon, aligned like a bad horoscope (does that even make sense?) and sucked up almost all of the water in the fish tank.  The fish were left in about four inches of dirty water, and seven of them died.  :-(
My son had been down there about two hours earlier and everything was fine.  Since the fish weren't stiff from rigor mortis, I figured they were still safe enough to eat, so I ate them...and they were good!  Then, a few days ago, there was another floater, so I ate him, too.  I think I've still got six or seven live fish.  They're probably about 10 inches long now.

Plants - In an attempt to reach real sunlight, my plants have been growing freakishly large leaves and stalks.  I can't find the picture, but one of my broccoli plants, which languished all winter, and grew a skinny little stalk about the size of a thin piece of yarn, suddenly took off and grew giant leaves and a stalk about the size of my thumb.  The weird thing is that the bottom of the plant was still the size of a piece of yarn, and was trying to support the giant thumb stalk.  I decided to take everything out and stick with lettuce and other leafy greens.  I transplanted the broccoli and a few strawberry plants in the garden outside.  I didn't expect them to do very well, and my low expectations were met the next day when a long heat wave hit and withered the plants that were used to 70 degree temperatures.  The broccoli plant is still alive, but the strawberries all withered and died.
One of the strawberry plants I pulled had some blossoms, which I didn't notice until I had already pulled them (actually, my husband noticed them and told me I should put them back in the indoor grow beds).  I replanted it indoors, expecting it to die from shock, but it continued to grow and has produced several berries.  One thing to note is that aquaponic experts recommend against planting flowering plants.  These strawberry plants were in the bed for about six months, so I didn't expect them to flower.  They were growing mutant-sized leaves, so I figured they would never have the energy to flower.  I would still go with the experts' recommendations not to plant flowering plants, but it was kind of cool to get some actual fruit from these plants.  I tasted one the other day, and it was kind of bland tasting.  Even more bland than a supermarket strawberry.  I guess strawberries love to grow in real sunshine.  Don't we all?

Mutant Strawberries - The smaller berries in this picture are each about an inch long.  Note the gigantic leaf - some of the leaves are larger than the palm of my hand.  Kind of freaky for a strawberry plant.

Speaking of real sunshine, I did add grow lights a few months ago, trying to get a little more growth during the winter months.  Apparently, one of my neighbors saw the lights and told her daughter she thinks we're growing...uh....an illicit plant which I shall not name because I don't want my blog to come up in the "wrong" kinds of google searches.  Anyway, I am currently under investigation for a clearance upgrade for my job, so I hope the investigator doesn't choose that particular neighbor to interview.  LOL  Of course, if she does, she is more than welcome to come over and see that all I have are legal, edible leafy greens and a mutant strawberry plant!  :-)