Well, the winter has given us some ups and downs for our aquaponics system. There was a time where it seemed like if there was something that could go wrong, it did. We had fish dying every day for a while. Now it seems that we have that stabilized. We decided that we just had way too many fish in the tanks. We couldn't keep the ammonia levels down and it was causing all sorts of illnesses for the fish. It sounds crazy, but out of all of the fish we caught, we are down to about six: one largemouth bass, one rock bass, one crappie, three bluegill. Lynnea brought in some guppies so we decided to separate the two tanks into feeder fish and the fish we caught. The minnows and guppies can still produce the nutrients for the plants, but now they can also provide food for the other tank. The largemouth bass is crazy for them! He spends his days staring into the tank next to him.
The plants have almost all withered, except for the brussel sprouts and peppers. There are a few carrot plants that have not died and a couple of strawberry plants that are still green. We're not really expecting to see any strawberries, but we'll use their roots to clean the water. Why did they die? There are a couple of factors:
First factor: In an effort to keep the heat down in our rooms, maintenance installed a protective film on the windows that keeps out 98% of all UV rays. Before we could install a grow light, plants started withering, roots started disappearing and the water wasn't getting filtered. It took a while to bounce back.
Second factor: One day we discovered thin webs all over the strawberry plants. Upon closer examination, these webs had what looked like little dust flakes. Upon even closer examination, these dust flakes would move around! We put them under our digital microscope and identified these creatures as spider mites! Apparently the best way to get rid of spider mites is to release a predator mite that eats them, so that's what we did. Although we didn't really get to see the predator mites go to work, the spider mites were gone shortly after the release.
The latest idea was to plant some seeds to try to get more vegetation filtering the water. We sprinkled some spinach and lettuce seeds and crossed our fingers. Within a week, they were sprouting all over the place! It is quite exciting to see how much they grow each day. Just for fun I threw in an apple seed. It took about two weeks, but now we can honestly say that we have an apple tree growing in our classroom. It doesn't look much different than the lettuce, but we can still brag about it!
That's the latest and greatest with our aquaponics system. Click here to see pictures!
-Mr. Cooper
The plants have almost all withered, except for the brussel sprouts and peppers. There are a few carrot plants that have not died and a couple of strawberry plants that are still green. We're not really expecting to see any strawberries, but we'll use their roots to clean the water. Why did they die? There are a couple of factors:
First factor: In an effort to keep the heat down in our rooms, maintenance installed a protective film on the windows that keeps out 98% of all UV rays. Before we could install a grow light, plants started withering, roots started disappearing and the water wasn't getting filtered. It took a while to bounce back.
Second factor: One day we discovered thin webs all over the strawberry plants. Upon closer examination, these webs had what looked like little dust flakes. Upon even closer examination, these dust flakes would move around! We put them under our digital microscope and identified these creatures as spider mites! Apparently the best way to get rid of spider mites is to release a predator mite that eats them, so that's what we did. Although we didn't really get to see the predator mites go to work, the spider mites were gone shortly after the release.
The latest idea was to plant some seeds to try to get more vegetation filtering the water. We sprinkled some spinach and lettuce seeds and crossed our fingers. Within a week, they were sprouting all over the place! It is quite exciting to see how much they grow each day. Just for fun I threw in an apple seed. It took about two weeks, but now we can honestly say that we have an apple tree growing in our classroom. It doesn't look much different than the lettuce, but we can still brag about it!
That's the latest and greatest with our aquaponics system. Click here to see pictures!
-Mr. Cooper
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