Growth!

So it has been 6 days since I first got my system up and running with seeds planted. Today I awoke to find that both the Arugula and Lettuce have sprouted! What an awesome experience to watch growth from a seed. One day there is nothing on the surface and the next there are 6-8 sprouts!



Over the past week I have spent a lot of time on the web site Backyard Aquaponics which has an online message board for people who have aquaponic systems. It is chock full of useful information regarding anything in aquaponics (designs, plants, water quality, fish...everything). Its also useful as you can put up a question and usually within 12 hrs someone more knowledgeable than yourself has filled the void in your understanding.

Recently I have been spending a lot of time trying to understand the importance of water quality regarding both your plants and your fish. Luckily I have started off with the hearty goldfish, and thus don't have quite as many water quality qualms as some folks raising more sensitive fish. None the less, its all important to know.

One important tid bit I did learn is that the bacteria I have mentioned before that turn ammonia into nitrites into nitrates takes a very long time to reproduce (by bacteria standards). It takes about 15 hrs for these types of bacteria (Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter) to reproduce by binary division. For comparison an E. Coli bacteria in the same amount of time would have created a population of 35 trillion cells (learned that on the forum!). So the lesson here is that it will be a while for my system to cycle (or grow a full population of this bacteria) and begin to work its wonders.

Since these ammonia and nitrite eating bacteria take a while to form, I have been watching my nitrite and ammonia levels pretty closely because if these substances build up it can be toxic to the fish. In which case I will need to do water changes and add salt to the system. But as of now, things look good!

Another interesting thing I have learned is about the magic of the earth worm. We all know that worms are great for the garden, but I'm not sure I would have guessed that they could thrive in an aquaponics system. It turns out that worms can do just as much good for a grow bed as they can for a garden bed. By introducing worms to the system any unprocessed solid fish waste will be consumed by them cleaning your water even more. In return you get even more nutrients for your plants via the worm casings (poop). I was woried about them living in a aqueous environment 50% of the time, but apparently worms can extract dissolved oxygen from the water and thrive in a water filled environment. So I will be picking up some worms as soon as I get a chance.

I hope to see the other plants sprouting here soon. I will post more pictures as more exciting growth continues!