Lighting for Aquaponic Systems Archives - Aquaponic Urban Micro-Farm in Jacksonville, FL

Patio Aquaponics System First Planting

by Ren Sogueco | Dec 18, 2016 | Aquaponic Basic Concepts and Components, Aquaponic Systems, Grow Bed, Leafy Green Vegetables Grown in Aquaponic Systems, Lighting for Aquaponic Systems, Propagation, Seed, Vegetable Growing with Aquaponics

Now that our patio aquaponics system is well into cycling after the introduction of tilapia, we are ready to plant our first seeds in the grow bed. As you may recall, cycling is the process of building beneficial bacteria in the system in order to efficiently convert fish waste into nitrates and nitrites, which our plants will eventually use as fertilizer. It’s time to add those plants — if not, nitrate levels could reach a toxic level which could kill the fish.

Heirloom organic seeds

We’re exclusively using heirloom organic seeds so we purchased our first batch of romaine lettuce from Annie’s Heirloom Seeds. Annie’s ships their seeds in standard USPS and are packaged in branded packets. We were a little disappointed in the number of seeds for the money you pay ($2-3 per packet, with $7 shipping charge) so we’ll explore other sources to see if there is a better value for farming on a small scale.

We understand these seeds are better quality than what you’d purchase at the local big box store, but I think you still need to match volume since those seeds are only $1-2. Plus, we’re starting to see a lot of branded seeds options on the market (think Martha Stewart), that are not heirloom, nor GMO-free but get into the $2-3 price point as well — and those packets are loaded.

Use of rock wool

Some aquaponic farmers throw seed right into the hydroton pebbles but we prefer to set them in rock wool, then place these cubes in hydroton. Although we’d space these wider in a large outdoor system, we’re unsure of how much we could squeeze in our system. For this planting, we’ll space them about three inches apart.

As they grow under artificial light, we could easily lift the rock wool out of the hydroton to re-space. This is the primary reason why I choose to set in rock wool first. We’ll do our best to space as tightly as possible without sacrificing plant quality by stunting growth.

Seed germination

Seeds germinated after two-three days and are growing vigorously. Although we have not hit the recommended 30 days for a tank to completely cycle, we suspect there is enough fertilizer in the system judging from the vigorous growth of the seedlings. I’d consider our first planting in the patio aquaponic system a success.

We plan on planting arugula, bok choy, escarole, water cress, mustard and basil in the future.

USPS Packaged from Annies

Our six seed packages packed in standard USPS.

Tiny Tim Tomato

We also have a Aerogrow 6 system donated from a friend to test out Tiny Tim tomatoes

Seeds from Annie’s

We ordered six packages to test our Annie’s Heirloom seeds.

Rockwool and Hydroton

We embedded rockwool cubes into the hydroton.

First Planting

Grow bed with seeded rockwool.

Growbed Lighting

Florescent lighting installed 12 inches above growbed surface.

Romaine Lettuce Growing Using White LED

These germinated within 2-3 days and this is after only a two weeks.

Romaine Lettuce

Romain lettuce at two weeks.

Juvenile Tilapia

Tilapia have grown fast in just three weeks!

Basil

A spare sweet basil plant growing next to bell siphon. We measure humidity and temperature.

Why Use Aquaponics on an Apartment Patio?

by Ren Sogueco | Nov 20, 2016 | Aquaponic Basic Concepts and Components, Aquaponic Systems, Lighting for Aquaponic Systems, Vegetable Growing with Aquaponics

Eggplant and peppers showed extremely anemic growth.

Growing vegetables on a patio in dirt-filled pots seems like an easy endeavor, but theory does not always translate to practice. Why use aquaponics as an alternative? Let us explain.

Aquaponics vs Pots for Growing Vegetables

Following are challenges with growing in dirt pots: 1. you needed to carry dirt which is heavy — especially tough when you’re on the fourth floor; 2. the soil is devoid of nutrient content or it was mystery to the amount of nutrient content it contained; and 3. you don’t necessarily get enough sunlight for the plants to grow healthy since patios are usually covered. Sunlight, if you are lucky, comes in at angles, either in the morning or late afternoon. We discovered why so many patio gardeners try and fail — and probably never try it again.

Aquaponics using LED Lighting is the Solution

However, we didn’t give up and turned to what worked for us before, aquaponics using artificial lighting. Yes, water is heavy too but it can be poured with a hose and drained! And in regards to the nutrients, aquaponics is a mutually beneficial system where fish waste supplies nutrients (nitrogen) for plants, which in turn would remove these elements that would be toxic to the fish. More on the benefits of aquaponics here.

LED lighting is the ideal solution for dimly lit patios (or deck surrounded by lots of trees). Although expensive to purchase, they are low power consumers, could potential provide the right, if not perfect wavelength of light and be turned on and off using a timer so you have complete control of the growth using this lighting.

Growing Vegetables Using Two Organic Practices

During the last six years in Virginia, we grew our vegetables in 8 raised beds, filled with rich compost sourced from foliage, yard waste and surplus vegetables; and in two custom-built aquaponic systems. Read about benefits of using aquaponics here.

Our primary aquaponic system was a large installation outside which grew mostly stem plants such as peppers, tomatoes and basil using bluegill as the livestock living in a 600 gallon pond. We also had an indoor system which we grew mostly leafy vegetables such as bok choy, lettuce and arugula using tilapia as livestock in a 70 gallon tank.

Vegetables grown in post yielded no real success. We used bagged dirt in pots.

Have A Fish Tank? You Have a Potential Aquaponics System

For our small patio, we needed to scale an aquaponics system even smaller. We decided to build an aquaponic system around an old 55-gallon tank we used as a saltwater aquarium. Like our larger systems in Virginia, we will build a flood and drain system, just on a smaller scale.

As we do our build, we’ll provide updates on progress on this page.

Updates:

Small-Scale Aquaponics Patio System Build