Got my aquaponics project started

[thepronghorn]

I have a little aquaponics setup with two goldfish and a tomato plant, but it isn't really working too well. The leaves keep on falling off, and it just keeps on growing taller but not any wider. I bought some aquarium fertilizer for it, but it's hard to tell if it's helping. Hoping the sun will come out, so I can get some tomatoes.

[amberwolf]

AW, you don't need a glass aquarium (tho it would be nice and relaxing to watch your fish), a wood box with pond liner and lockable lid would do. Just make sure to pump air into it, throw in a couple fish toys, and entertainment like dvd player and LCD screen and fish will be fine

Except that Nana can and will dig or chew thru whatever she feels like if she really wants something. It is one reason I have dog food in several separate storage areas--so that if the dogs ever do get into one of them, at least they can't destroy or eat all the food at once (cuz I keep a LOT of it around most of the time). (same thing applies to keeping pests of various kinds out of it).

Almost never does anything happen. They know better. But they are still dogs, and thus every so often temptation is greater than training, when I am gone long enough.... A closed and locked door is nothing to Nana.

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That was a year and a half ago, IIRC. Never happened before or since, but she's physically capable of it. Probably took her a minute or two to do that.

EDIT: I take that back--I forgot that she did it again a while later, when her and Bonnie were still being disagreeable, and Nana had to stay in that room for a bit. I put 1/2" or thicker plywood up on the walls and door, and metal server case lids screwed to the plywood. She peeled back the metal and dug thru the plywood, to get out again. I don't remember how long that took; I think i was not at home at the time. I can't find my pics of it.

(after that, Bonnie was put in the other bedroom and Nana given free reign of the house, which Bonnie didn't like but at least Nana didn't destroy any more doors).

As for plants, raise the grow beds out of dog's reach.

Two of them are St Bernards (well, one's a mix, with German Shepherd). There *is* no "out of reach".

[Dee Jay]

I found a fish feeder!

cheesy little plastic meat grinder we got as a gift

all I have to do is motorize it and activate it with arduino or another back up 12VDC timer

fish food will roll down to a series of solenoid doors to distribute the proper portion to different size fish tanks.

[Dee Jay]

UPDATE!

well here's my mini system!

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I decided to use a plastic trash bin as a reservoir/sump, and trash bag as a liner for easy cleaning, all I'd have to do is drain the sump and replace the liner with a new one. When I do expand with more grow beds, I simply add more trash bin sumps, more fishes and/or tanks. The main goal is to have many little grow beds, as opposed to one big grow bed, as it allows repositioning to catch direct sunlight as the sun moves throughout the day.

I learned a lot about the importance of a well built bell siphon. The first trial worked really well (beginner's luck again) but I didn't know why it worked until I cut the drain pipe and bell to set the planter's water level lower. After that cut, the bell siphon just wouldn't work! It turned out that the tip of the drain pipe needs to be cut cleanly cos rough edges will create turbulence and water will not pour down evenly over the edges and you won't get the suction you need to suck down air that's trapped inside the bell. Also, you'll need to cut the drain pipe straight, which is difficult to do with a hack saw. My cut ended up slightly angled but it worked out since the wooden garden hutch's lid/roof that the tank and planter sits on is also angled, as you can see on the water's level at the left side of the tank.

I decided to simplify the overflow prevention system by using the same mechanism as a toilet tank..in just a few hours I built this:

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The float cost $7. I could've made one with a plastic bottle but I wanted it to look good, and not too bulky, and the ball form factor is best for maximum buoyancy. The valve is a lid off a 35mm film can, and the clamp was a bicycle light handlebar clamp. Works really well, I AM VERY PROUD. Eventually, I'll upgrade to a real toilet tank mechanism if I find a used one, a new one is about 40 bucks.. my inlaws have a plumbing biz, they might have a used one in their warehouse.

So what happens to the water trapped in the grow bed when tank's valve is shut?

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On the next timer cycle the pump will flood in more water and it'll be drained by a plastic bottle operated drain plug, just like this badass guy's system

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, and drain back into the sump, over and over until arduino alerts me with a failure report: tank pump error (er.. sum shit)

The tank will be filled with these wiggly little guys known in Japan as Doujou fish.

Snoop FishyFish

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Don't know what they're called in English but they look like miniature catfish. They're inexpensive and in some cases FREE to children at town festivals. We had a bunch from last summer's town festivals but most of them died in the first few months, we're down to the last 3. This one in the photo is the alpha fish, eats all the fish food and the rest feed on his poop, he's the biggest and the ultimo hombre, last man standing.

OH BTW, I found my pepper plant sprouts infested with aphids, feeding off tiny young leaves sprouting between branches. I brushed them off with a fine tip brush and hammered those suckers. They look just like them robots in the Matrix films. The sprouts will be fine, I'm glad I caught them early!

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more later, so stay chooned!

[amberwolf]

I think they call them "loaches" around here. Some of them commonly eat snails and such, as well as waste from other fish. Dunno about that particular species.

[Dee Jay]

I think they call them "loaches" around here. Some of them commonly eat snails and such, as well as waste from other fish. Dunno about that particular species.

ah yeah, that's what they are, "loaches". Thanky...

...sucks about yer dogs.

Our previous landlord were an elderly couple and they had magnificent white Akita, he was a bear of a dog. A big guy and very intelligent. But he owned the couple, growled at them when he didn't agree. Then one night we heard heard him howling in pain, and the next day the couple informed us the he died of some sort of stomach virus. It was so sad.. Anyway, point is, you gotta show 'em who's boss at an early age, before it's too late.

[Dee Jay]

Once a year the system gets a clean when a new batch of fish are added

let's see your fishes, the biggest one you got

[amberwolf]

Anyway, point is, you gotta show 'em who's boss at an early age, before it's too late.

Oh, mine know well who is boss. Problem is when I'm not there, boss isn't there, and Nana takes charge (used to be Bonnie). Normaly nothing happens, but occasionally.... So I have to plan around that possibility, rather than risk "all" on complete loss from a single unusual but not completely improbable event.

I have been pondering...we sometimes get tanks that are cracked in shipping, and normally these are destroyed and tossed out. I am going to see if I can buy one of them cheap instead, and repair it. (and also we have a dollar-a-gallon sale going on right now thru the 21st)

We get 10, 20 (H and L), 29, 40, and 55 gallon tanks. Which size would probably be best for starting out? Most likely my first fish would be goldfish, small Comets perhaps, or maybe Rosy Minnows? (mostly because we have these for 15 cents each at work)

I have already salvaged an unused Eheim canister pump, meant for I think 30 gallons or so. It can be used with or without filter media, and it comes with a small bag of the clay bioballs and a one-use carbon pad.

Then I just have to decide which veggies I could most realistically grow with this setup, that I can't get for cheaper at the store, but that I could really use to supplement my food supply.

I would have to probably put this in the back "family room" so that I can have the plant tank either outside in the backyard on a raised platform, or in the window for morning sunlight. Perhaps fence off that area of the yard so the dogs won't go there (they DO obey fences).

[Dee Jay]

Anyway, point is, you gotta show 'em who's boss at an early age, before it's too late.

Oh, mine know well who is boss. Problem is when I'm not there, boss isn't there, and Nana takes charge (used to be Bonnie). Normaly nothing happens, but occasionally.... So I have to plan around that possibility, rather than risk "all" on complete loss from a single unusual but not completely improbable event.

I have been pondering...we sometimes get tanks that are cracked in shipping, and normally these are destroyed and tossed out. I am going to see if I can buy one of them cheap instead, and repair it. (and also we have a dollar-a-gallon sale going on right now thru the 21st)

We get 10, 20 (H and L), 29, 40, and 55 gallon tanks. Which size would probably be best for starting out? Most likely my first fish would be goldfish, small Comets perhaps, or maybe Rosy Minnows? (mostly because we have these for 15 cents each at work)

I have already salvaged an unused Eheim canister pump, meant for I think 30 gallons or so. It can be used with or without filter media, and it comes with a small bag of the clay bioballs and a one-use carbon pad.

Then I just have to decide which veggies I could most realistically grow with this setup, that I can't get for cheaper at the store, but that I could really use to supplement my food supply.

I would have to probably put this in the back "family room" so that I can have the plant tank either outside in the backyard on a raised platform, or in the window for morning sunlight. Perhaps fence off that area of the yard so the dogs won't go there (they DO obey fences).

good to know you're goin' for it! sounds like you have the resources to kick off this project..and your ebike building skills and tools will crossover to aquaponics. I found my glue gun to be particularly usefull as watertight sealant.. zip ties, electrical connectors, etc.. and the fact that plumbing has always been used as an analogy to electrical basics

tomatoes are always good to have, or anything that can be preserved or pickled. And don't forget that you can always sell, trade/barter, or give away the excess. I decided on jalapenos since it's not available at Japanese supermarkets like it is in California. anyway.. ya, tomatoes..especially if you cook spaghetting regularly. You might want to consider growing a moringa tree. moringa is highly nutritious, look it up! I ordered moringa seeds and 2 lbs of moringa leaf powder along with the arduino stuff.

my tank is 15 gallons. The first/last thing I ever grew anything were bean sprouts, in 3rd grade elementary school so I have a lot to learn. As a beginner, I say start small. learn. then expand. GROW! it's the natural order of life.

the roof is the best place for an aquaponics garden, unfortunately our building has 11 floors and we're on the 3rd..

[amberwolf]

The roof here is out, unless I want to cook the plants and boil the fish. I have a spot flat enough but it's just way too hot up there.


Not completely related to this, but I just found out that the city turns old garbage bins into composters, and sells them for $5.
http://phoenix.gov/publicworks/garbage/ ... sting.html
but i have to get them from one of the stations, both of which are pretty dang far away, especially for hauling something so large:
http://phoenix.gov/publicworks/garbage/ ... index.html
i'll have to call tomorrow to see if they have any avaialble, and how big they are. tehn i can work out a way to pick one or two up. Would be easier than using the methods I have been trying (with some success, but not a lot) for teh last half a year or more.

[Dee Jay]

FUN n FISH !

[Dee Jay]

absolutely brilliant
mine is gonna sprinkle from the top down and surrounded by a shower curtain to keep every drop inside the planter

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my pepper sprouts had yellowy, crumpled leaves, and stayed the same height for a few weeks.. accoring to this page they were suffering from lack of bonemeal
http://www.ecoseeds.com/Pepper.growing.tips.html

so yesterday I transplanted them into bigger planter with fresh soil mixed with bonemeal and WOW, the sprouts stood up proudly, yellow tone gone and leaves are started to flatten, all in just several hours!

[Glenn_M]

Once a year the system gets a clean when a new batch of fish are added

let's see your fishes, the biggest one you got

Dunno about biggest, but felt like some trout for dinner so went fishing the the back yard
Caught these this arvo. Some for dinner and some for smoking me thinks.

Trout Dinner.JPG

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Cheers,
Glenn

[Dee Jay]

update time!

holla at my 'penos!

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Just kidding, I bought two full grown plants at my hardware store thinking it was Jalapeno but my wife said it was a non-spicy species. WTF japanese really know how to fnck things up.. .. I'll have to destroy them when the jalapenos and cayenne start pollinating to avoid cross pollination.

Anyway, good news and bad...

http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Oddball,%20Dojo.htm
I read some great info on some sites on Dojo fish (Weather Loach) that says Weather Loaches are very tolerant to to ph and temp, so it encouraged me to search for sources of Dojo. I found a place that sold baby Dojo's for 10 yen each! So I bought all they had which was possibly 60 to 70 baby ones but I was charged only 500 yen since it's so hard to count every single one of them tiny wiggly things.. nice deal!

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So I acclimated them and put them in the tank, transplanted the sprouts to the grow bed.. got the timers synced up to kick in every hour and 45 minutes to drain-fish-tank, to fill-grow-bed, to siphon-back-to-tank... I bought two really great timers that can be set by the hour-minute-second but missed the part about having only 14 on-off settings so I had to spread the settings out to 1hour 45 min intervals. The sprouts adapted well to the grow bed and the power draw of the timers, air pump, big water pump, and small water pump is a little less than 5 yen for 24 hours on weekdays, dunno yet what it'll cost on weekends. Everything was cycling great, fish were having a good time..

the bad news was they started dying one-buh-one and I don't know why, amonia spike maybe? Or stress from the water turbulence? Didn't cycle the water long enough?All of the above?.. But Snoop Fishy Fish was doing well so It's hard to pin point the culprits..

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I thought Brokeback and the nameless one were both gonna die soon but they too were thriving and growing.. and all three enjoyed the new comers but then Brokeback died too, and then finally Snoop died. I'm down to one last fish, the last of the new comers. Wouldn't doubt if it's dead by now.. it sucks to be an aquarium noob..

I especially miss Snoop, he was as active as a little puppy, and very quirky, and he was getting pretty big! He was really fun to watch, it's sad to see the OG's go..

I was emotionally bankrupt..but on the bright side, as a consolation prize, a little ladybug flew in last night to help with the aphids. Woke up this morning and found him still hard at work. Thanks, Steve!

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the tank and grow bed overflow system isn't functional yet, it's now only a matter of fabbing a wooden cover for the tank strong enough to withstand the force of the float/valve overflow system I made.

[Dee Jay]

Once a year the system gets a clean when a new batch of fish are added

let's see your fishes, the biggest one you got

Dunno about biggest, but felt like some trout for dinner so went fishing the the back yard
Caught these this arvo. Some for dinner and some for smoking me thinks.

Trout Dinner.JPG

Cheers,
Glenn

NICE! Thanks for the photo, it's very encouraging!

[Dee Jay]

ooh btw... check out the racks I found! a neighbor across the street croaked (RIP) and a bunch of stuff sat on the sidewalk the day after, two of them were the dismantled 3 level wire racks. one caster was missing and one was damaged, and the plastic retainers were missing so I replaced four casters on one rack with brand new heavy duty ones and ordered retainers for 28 bucks.

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It's been disturbingly windy for the past 3 weeks so I rigged a stiff coroplast panel to protect the fragile sprouts, it's secured by zip ties on hanger rods that came with the junked racks and it slides down.

And here's my current grow bed setup, it'll change and improve as this project evolves..

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Weird, that last Dojo is still ALIVE! I guess he has Mojo! So that's what I'll call him, Mojo Dojo

[Dee Jay]

Ya, aphids are back..
..I think this is what happened

KILL 'EM ALL!

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I buried all the dead Dojo's into the soil planters. Winged aphids flew in attracted by the decomposing stench and laid its eggs. The eggs hatched and they climbed the nitrogen pepper seedlings and sucked its sweet green nectar. Their white/translucent bodies turned green camouflaging themselves from aphid hunters LIKE ME But I left no leaf unturned. I used bright white light on my bicycle light and the tip of the wet ink brush and caught about 40 to 50. Ones in the photo were about 1mm but some of the babies were microscopic in size. They were smaller than a grain of sand but intelligent and pretty QUICK

I plan to cover the soil with doublesided fly paper and sprouts sticking out through holes. Winged aphids can't get to the fish and lay eggs and get stuck, and the ones that are already living in the soil will try to climb up and also get stuck. This should be a very interesting experiment!

[Dee Jay]

bought a 6 in 1 fish tank water tester and passed all 6 tests with flying colors!
I should've done this test to begin with but I'm too much of a noob

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tank test

NO3 mg/l (nitrate) 10 safe

NO2 mg/l (nitrite) 1 safe

GH (general hardness) 4d/8d safe

KH (carbonate hardness) 3d OK

pH 7.6 OK

Cl2 (chlorine) 0 OK

check out this stainless steel adjustable rolling rack I found! yet another dumpster deal.. I put a 1" thick plywood on it and covered it a trash bag and it was perfect as a rolling fish tank!

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Cleaned out the tank.. ready for another try with a new gang of fish this weekend

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[Dee Jay]

gotz da moringas…

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2 one pound bags of leaf powder

100+ seeds

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planted 3 seeds and one sprouted in 3 days. another one tried to sprout but having problems coming out..and the 3rd didn't sprout at all. Oh well, I didn't want more than one tree anyway

tried a teaspoon of powder in water.. ick.. tasted like mowed grass with a spiciness in the throat, something that I've never heard from first time moringa users. Felt woozy and bloated at first but goes away and then good mood and alertness follows. LIKE!

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ARDUINO!

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Gotz the UNO R3

16 relay board

breadboard kit

and Sensor Shield V5.0

I plan on fabbing waterflow sensors using halls and magnets AND! I found pH and Nitrogen sensors and it jsut so happed the sensor shield has Tx/Rx inputs for them LUUUUCKAY

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Gotz 100 yen shop trays to make a cage for the bell siphon and growbed overflow system

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Gotz teh 50 liter espanded clay pebbles. Not the best quality but about 10 bucks cheaper than Hydroton brand, and they don't feel as crumbly as Hydroton

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I sifted out the dust and broken bits,

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then disconnected the bed drain hose from the tank and just cycled it directly back to the reservoir overnight so that the clay dust would settle in the reservoir and not in the tank, and it worked out perfectly!

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the pepper's growth were stunted in the small planter and had been begging for more growing room, the roots has gotten bushy.. now it's time to reach for the stars and GROW!

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The moringa seedling is really taking off! The plan is to feed the fish with moringa leaves so I won't have to buy expensive fish food..

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how can these chickens be wrong..



bed time for peppers…

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I held back on getting more fish until i got this growbed into it's second phase, now it's done. I'm hoping it'll bear fruit before winter so I'll have the pump running 24/7

Mojo didn't make it after all… but the kids came home with 2 gold fishes from a festival and they're doing great, and having fun in the hide-out-pots. I'll call them Ping and Pong cos they bounce around the the tank and sometimes into the air!

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Aside from jumping the gun with the 60+ dojos that died, this project has really progressed. But there are many other things coming up, an NFT growbed for watermelons and bittermelon that the wife planted (ooh forgot to put up pics of those), arduino programming, waterflow sensors, shower system,,etc but OH WHAT FUN!

I am so happy!

[Glenn_M]

Great work there Dee Jay.
Keep the updates coming.

Glenn

[Dee Jay]

Great work there Dee Jay.
Keep the updates coming.

Glenn

cheers, Glenn!

glad you enjoy my developments!

I've got more good news!

[Dee Jay]

I achieved balance!

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Got 2 new mature loaches, big guys, too.. and same day I transplanted peppers and moringa out of small the beds to the big bed ..so I thought I should check on the ammonia (NO2/NO3) levels
before the Loaches arrived NO2 and NO3 were up to "water change" level
2 gold fish 2 weeks
2 loaches 1 week
fish ate well and wasted well for 3 weeks' total but zero NO2 and NO3 which means plant's good bacteria converting ammonia! now it's ZERO

NO2 0 safe
NO3 0 safe
GH 16d OK
KH 3d OK
pH 6.8 OK <-- wooden chopsticks bundled up in the tank should cut this down
Cl2 0/0.8 safe

water had been on 24 hours a day for 3 days before this test, flow was fast but turned it down the night before the test, which means more time for ammonia to breakdown by bacteria

plants also respond well to slow-flood /fast-drain, more time to drink up

cayennes are yellowy compared to soil planter ones, this indicates iron deficiency gotta get iron chilate.

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LESS ELECTRICITY!!

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I did away with the tank's "small pump" and timer which drains the tank to fill the reservoir and went with natural water level equalizing siphon, something I discovered when the tank pump wouldn't stop siphoning after it powered off. so I rigged up a bigger hose and it has enough power to suck up silt, solid waste, and even big clay pebbles off the bottom of the tank

tank is clean and in perfect condition! My nostrils flare with PRIDE!

As for the fishies, they ignored each other's cliques for the first few days but now playing well together, chasing tails... and the kids are lovin' them!

Time for a few more fish, maybe?

I went out shopping at akihabra for 3 prong hall effect sensor but nobody carries them, only 4 prong IC's so I'll have to order online. I will build a wind speed sensor, too, that would raise and lower the coroplast wind shields.

The pump's AC adapter crapped out yesterday! Lucky I had a spare adapter for my piano keyboard with the exact same specs 12VDC 1.5 amps. Times like these makes me glad that I got into electrics/electronics hobby! In a parallel universe where I never got into electrics I would be cursing at evil engineers and their planned obsolescence. In this life, I'm cursing at them also but with a big cheese

[Dee Jay]

BLOODY MURDER!

the big loach died! It was shocking sight. He got sucked into the balancing siphon into reservoir tank, or maybe he was screwing around thinking he can wiggle in and back out of the balancing siphon hose, but he went all the way through and even past the kinks. He ended up inside the reservoir then sucked and killed by the pump. So I wrapped a net over the siphon hose.. I didn't think they can even get past the elbow tube, he must've had to really stretch out thin and wiggle his way through. No pics, sorry. It's not the kind of thing I like to remember.

I bought 3 new young loaches over the weekend but they don't eat well. NO2 NO3 levels are ZERO. I think I'll call the 3 young ones Moe, Larry, Curly, and the big one Shemp. I'll get maybe 2 or 3 more.

Fish Count: 6

Tank Status: Perfect
I only need to scrub brown algae off the glass about once a week. The fish don't mind when I reach in for a 5 minute scrubbing, they nibble at my hand and eat the scrubbed algae particles.

Pests: non.. no more aphids

Got a Nurtrient Film Tech growbed going and transplanted the watermelon seedlings into it but the roots were damaged cos they're so thin and fragile, they may not make it so I planted more seeds directly in the NTF bed. That adjustable rolling rack came in handy for hose support and the NTF bed, in fact I can stretch it wider for one more NTF bed.

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I harvested the fisrt ripe red jalapeno from the fake jalapeno plant...

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a beautiful little pepper pod maybe 2 inches..but zero heat..It's absolutely pointless to waste so much water and attention on these plants.

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Tasting it kinda really pissed me off, to be honest, I might as well eat plastic or wax fruits. Red Hot Chili Peppers are supposed to have you shooting steam out of yer ears and nose and flames out yer mouth and make ya say GOD DAMN! But I felt like those cursed pirates in the fist Pirates of the Carrabean film who couldn't taste or feel nothing! Way to go, Japan. You screwed with East Indian hot curries and now yer screwing with hot chilies..*shaking fist*

anyway, the growbed Jalapenos and Cayennes aren't doing so... "hot" either. They're trying to bear fruit and bloom flowers but nothing yet.. the soil planter cayennes are shooting past the growbed ones and they are about two weeks younger, but to be fair they are enjoying the benefits of dead loaches in the soil and the soil is highly nutritious to begin with. And the transplanted ones suffered some roots damage during the transplant, not to mention tyring to survive in a premature aquaponics system.

The good news is the moringa is doing great, absolutely lovin' the growbed lifestyle, delicate and pretty new leaves branching out every other day, as well as growing taller every other day. Andit seems new stalks are sprouting off the same seed, dunno if that's normal...maybe it's a branch, I'll find out when I transplant it into it's own grow pot.

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I'm really enjoying aquaponics, it gets me up every morning, which is ironic since the point of aquaponics is self-maintenance.. but watching the plants grow is amazing. I'm sure the growth will be mind blowing when the system becomes fully matured!

[IBScootn]

MorInga - how and why do you use it? Just heard about it a month ago. Bought some tea bags.

[Dee Jay]

The moringa leaf is a "Superfood"

http://www.themoringa.com/nutritional-values

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I drink alcohol nightly and was taking a multivitamin suppliment and an amino suppliment to replenish all the nutrients I piss out.. but moringa has both and more. And it curbs my craving for alcohol in the evening but that sucks cos I like drinking, especially while I cook!

Most people mix moringa leaf powder in drinks like juice and smoothies. I don't like how it tastes so I prefer to use gel caps and a glass of water, got a pack of empty 500mg gel caps just last week. adding it to curries or other strong tasting foods is good but I don't recommend cooking it,

Bought some tea bags.

You're probably talking about the Zija brand moringa tea, which is kinda gimmicky and expensive. I don't recommend it cos it has other ingredients and doesn't seem to specify what part of the moringa tree is used. 1 pound of pure leaf powder is all you really need.. and it was a good deal at amazon, $24/lbs for Global Moringa brand, it's the best price I've found on the net.. comes in a nice thick ziplocking bag. Highly recommended.

Growing your own tree is the way to go. I'll be feeding moringa leaves to my edible fish, hopefully next season.