World Water Day

Friday, February 3, 2012

World Water Day

March 22, 2012 is World Water Day and what better way to celebrate than by building a basement aquaponics system? During the course of the next several weeks, I'll be posting ideas, suggestions and links to plans for building an aquaponics system. I will be building my own basement aquaponics system too.

My plans include a 100 gallon fish tank and approximately 3 x 6 feet grow bed. The system I will be building can be scaled larger or smaller based on the amount of space that's available.

I could use a 150 gallon fish tank and two grow beds, or three grow beds and a 200 gallon fish tank. Aquaponics offers flexibility and affordability because with a little pre-planning and creativity, it's an easy do-it-yourself project. Stay tuned for updates.

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Amateur Hydroponic Tips for Deep Water Culture

1. Wash your hydroton before using it. I didn't do that in my first project and ended up with a film of clay dust throughout the water chamber in my deep water culture bins.

2. Adjust your lighting before planting. It's very difficult to make adjustments after you've planted when using deep water culture.

3. Use a commercially produced nutrient. DIY is great for most things, but why not take advantage of professional research and development to flatten the initial hydroponic learning curve?

4. Shop around for the best prices. Some hydroponic shops are "friendlier" than others and it follows that some have lower prices than the competition.

5. DIY is cheaper than paying full retail for a "kit" system. You can look around on the Internet and find several examples at inexpensive, but effective hydroponic growing systems you can assemble yourself.

6. Buy a commercial quality air pump for aerating your deep water culture beds.

7. Kick start your basement hydroponics by maintaining temperatures at optimal levels for the vegetables you're growing.