12 volt lighting for Aquaponics Green house

This is my 12 volt lighting option that I am trying. It seems to work pretty good.




    The Camera didnt catch the lighting very well. but I can go into my green house any time and it is alternative power in case power outrages. It keeps all pumps going in my aquaponics.

lit  up more than enough to see by and feed my fish.The  12 volt lights and fans stay on all the time. so I never have to turn switches on or off.It is run off my solar panel back up system.  Its

    I have replaced most of the 12 oz bottles to the coke bottles without lables. seem to do very well.

The LEDs are bought off of ebay for $4.00  for 20 of them. I placed 5 in each bottle. Pretty sure you can buy lights already made for cheaper but It was an idea I had to see if it worked, and I am very happy with them, oh and there is different colors now so if you want to build grow lights the same way, I am sure it would work pretty good.

    My fish likes them ( or not lol) sometimes I come in late from work, and it is nice to just go in to check on things and feed them.

 I use pvc fittings to encase the wire and hold the mouth of the bottle. I will be running a long series of  pipe and fittings from the top of the green house.  Easy enough to glue or ziptie the bottles into the fittings.

Hope you like and share my post.
Thanks and remember, simple is easier and funner~!

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Preparing for Plants and Fish

After building the system and adding gravel, I purchased a tank cycling kit and a start-up test kit. 

Its important to cycle the tank before adding fish, otherwise your fish may be in a lot of distress, and might even die, due to high levels of ammonia.  I wont go into a lot of detail about that, since you can find plenty of information elsewhere, but its an important consideration before you get your fish - especially if you have to travel several hours to get your fishies.

The Aquaponic Source has a good overview of the cycling process.  This is also where I purchased my kit for $15.  I suppose I could have tried using regular liquid ammonia, but I figured this would be safer and faster.  I also purchased a test kit from Aquaponic Source.

Ill post some of my readings and dates in a later post - maybe when I get my fishes. 

Lessons learned - I should have tested the pH of my water BEFORE I added the gravel.  I think there is a lot of limestone or something in our rock, because adding the rock raised the pH level in our tap water from about 6.4 to about 7.6.  Luckily, although the 7.6 is a little more alkaline than recommended, I dont think its dangerously high.  However, since I had to carry in several hundred pounds of gravel one bucket at a time, I would have been pretty upset if I had to find another media source, empty the grow beds and haul in more of whatever I ended up using. 

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System Setup

This blog will document the setup, failures and successes of my home aquaponics system.  I had to search a lot to find details on how to set the systems up, so I hope this will help others decide how to configure their systems.

Location - Were just outside Colorado Springs, CO.  Our elevation is about 7000 feet above sea level, and temperatures can be bitter cold during the winter months, so this will be an indoor project.  Ive set it up in the dog room downstairs in our basement.  Our house is an older split level, so this room sits at ground level.  Ive set it up next to a window in order to get as much sunlight as possible.
Grow beds - The grow beds consist of two 60-gallon ponds that I got at Home Depot.  I think I paid about $30-40  for each pond. 
Media - Im using pea gravel as media.  We had a big pile of gravel out back, so I sifted (to get the smaller gravel) and rinsed it and carried it in one bucket at a time.  Took a while, but that was pretty much free.
Fish tank - The fish tank is a 150-gallon Rubbermaid stock tank that we found on Craigslist for $60.  The guy I bought it from had used it as a pond, so search for "pond" if you cant find anything under "stock tank."  If you cant find one on Craigslist and you have to buy one new, check out Ace hardwares website.  They have reasonable prices - I think about $120-160 for 150 gallons.  Note that youll want to use a rubber/plastic container for your fish, not metal.  You dont want the metal rusting or leaching into the water.
Fish - I will be raising rainbow trout in the tank once the water is ready and I get a chance to drive up to Fort Collins to buy them.  Liley Fisheries in Fort Collins, CO will sell small quantities of fish to individuals.  So far, Ive only communicated with them via e-mail, but they are very helpful and respond quickly to e-mail.  I think they said the fingerlings are about 50 cents each.  Tilapia are recommended for beginners, but Ive chosen trout because it gets pretty cold in the dog room in the winter, and I dont want to heat 150 gallons of water. 

I will post details on the setup and configuration in future blogs.  Heres a picture of the system the first day I started pumping water (20 August 2011)

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Life!!!!

It might be kind of lame to do all these different posts on the same day, but I wanted to break them up into useful posts, instead of one giant blog.

Once I had my pump and drain set up and one grow bed full of gravel, I planted a few test seeds.  The cycling kit arrived the next day, so I wasnt really depriving my future plants of nutrients for long.

Lettuce and bean sprouts appeared only four days after planting.  Once the beans sprout, they grow at an amazing rate.  Well, maybe its not amazing to the seasoned gardener, but its cool to me to see everyday.  :-)

Here are a few pictures.  I tried to line them up better, but I gave up.  :-P

Lettuce Sprout Aug 20

Bean Sprout Aug 24

Bean Sprout Aug 25

Bean Sprout Aug 26

 ?

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