Theres No Tomorrow

This video is hands down the best I’ve seen yet at covering all the bases of our present converging dilemmas in one quick (35 minute) hit. Over the years I’ve presented all of the issues covered in this video — hitting them from various angles and in different ways to try to drive the point home — but it’s excruciatingly difficult to cover each element sufficiently whilst giving the casual or intermittant reader a full overview simultaneously. The excellent use of imagery has enabled the creators of this little video to touch on each subject whilst joining up all those dots into the fuller picture.

CCRES AQUAPONICS
project of NGO
CROATIAN CENTER of RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES (CCRES)

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SUN or NO SUN

Light (sunlight or artificial light) is one of the most important factors of Gardening. In the presence of light plants bind water and carbon Di-oxide(CO2) into sugar which is being used as food.
This sugar is also used to form new cells, to thicken cell walls and to develop flowers and fruits. Plants effectiveness to produce sugar is normally proportional to the intensity of light (until its too hot or too cold to survive).

In case the plant bears fruits or flowers, it requires much more energy than those which only grow leaves.
If there is a short supply of light even healthy and green looking plant may never yield any flower or fruit, which is definitely a problem with vegetables like Tomatoes or Beans.
In case you are only interested in the leaves (like in the case of spinach or lettuce) Light might not be a major issue.

Keep the plants to a minimum of six to eight hours in direct light in case you are looking for fruits. The results can be very frustrating if you try to grow Tomatoes, Eggplants or peepers in the shade. There is a fair chance that you might come up with a good and healthy green plant without any fruit.

Root crops such as beets, Carrots, Radishes do well in partial shade as they store up their energy before they flower. Plants like Lettuceand Spinach are mostly tolerant of shade. In case of very hot and bright light they need protection.

Only Mushrooms can be produced in total darkness.

I hope the article has cleared some doubts regarding sunlight exposure of the plant. If you have any other query please provide your feedback in the form of comments.

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105 Gallon Apartment system PVC or no PVC

So, Ive previously written about my windowfarm that Im building.  Im also currently working on a 105 gallon system for my friend +Evgeny Pogorelovs apartment.  Its going to be a basic flood and drain on a timer.  We have a 55 gallon aquarium, which will feed into our 50 gallon stock tank grow bed.  Were currently planning to have about 5-6 tilapia, and grow all kinds of veggies.  Ill update with pictures soon.

Right now, were constructing the frame that will hold the system.  Weve cut all the wood, and painted it all white, and now we need to assemble and put it on wheels for easy mobility.  The next step is plumbing; well use a 200 GPH pump.  Were hoping to stay away from using PVC due to conflicting reports about PVC leaching chemicals into water over time.  However, this may only apply to soft PVC, not hard PVC.  We need to do a little more research before we buy pipes.

Heres what Pogo wrote to me about PVC in farming systems:

Found some resources that cite PVC as leeching dioxin, pthalates, and other toxins into water / food. Definitely want to avoid PVC piping in any operation we start. The safer alternative is biodegradable EVA plastic. 

"See: www.aaa.dk/pvc PVC plastic is an environmental and public health hazard because dioxin and other persistent organic pollutants can be emitted into the air, water and land during its manufacture and incineration.

In addition, PVC products can leach toxic additives during use, and thus may harm patients receiving certain medical treatments.

PVC has come under scrutiny by the European Commission since 1997 resulting in the release of the Green Paper in July 2001 that highlights the dangers associated with its disposal, and in April 2001 the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the Commission "to introduce rapidly a policy on the replacement of softPVC, in so far as the current risk analysis of phthalates indicates that it is desirable to reduce the exposure of people and the environment".

These concerns have led increasing numbers of health care providers to search for alternatives. Grenaa Central Hospital, Denmark, substituted 95 percent of its PVC-products with safer alternatives without compromising safety and care, and found many of the alternatives to be more cost effective."

http://www.annieappleseedproject.org/nonalforplas.html

Heres a company that sells EVA piping: http://dir.indiamart.com/impcat/eva-pipe.html

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Israel Bio Fuel from Algae

Israeli scientists grow microalgae strains from the Red Sea in bioreactor fields in the desert near Jordan, for astaxanthin used to create cosmetics, colorants and food supplements…

CCRES AQUAPONICS
Project of NGO
Croatian Center of Renewable Energy Sources (CCRES)

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The Ideal Fish Farm

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Nutritional elements contained Spirulina

CCRES SPIRULINA PROJECT

Amino-acids composition of bulk spirulina powder

Essential amino acids per 100 grams of bulk spirulina powder Isoleucine 3.17g Leucine 5.02g Lysine 2.70g Methionine + Cystine 2.19g Phenylalanine + Tyrosine 5.00g Threonine 2.78g Tryptophan 0.84g Valine 3.48g (Total amount of essential amino acids) (25.18g) MORE INFO HERE

Non-essential amino acids per 100 grams of bulk spirulina powder Arginine 3.60g Alanine 4.11g Aspartic acid 5.47g Glutamic acid 8.02g Glycine 2.85g Histidine 1.09g Proline 2.04g Serine 2.74g (Total amount of non-essential amino acids) (25.18g)

Pigment contents of bulk spirulina powder
(per 100 grams)

 

Components

per 100 grams of bulk spirulina powder

Chlorophyll-a

1.29g

Total carotenes

157mg

Xanthophylls

81mg

Phycocyanin

7.56g

Major carotenoids

?-carotene

201mg

Zeaxanthin

72mg

Lutein

ND

Spirulina consists of the wide range of healthy/nutritional elements, more than 50 different kinds.

 

 

Amino acids

Valine, isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine, methionine, lysine, tryptophan, threonine, cystine, tyrosine, histidine, arginine, alanine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, proline and serine.

Vitamins

Beta-carotene, vitamin E, vitamin K1, vitamin?K2, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6, biotin, folic acid, vitamin B12 and inositol.

Minerals

Zinc, iron, magnesium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, calcium, sulfur, selenium, cobalt, cupper, chromium and manganese.

Other nutritional elements

Dietary fiber, polysaccharides, linoleic acid, gamma-linolenic acid, phycocyanin, zeaxanthin, chlorophyll a, nucleic acid and SOD.

Generally, some nutrients function better in concert with vitamins, minerals and amino acids.

 

CROATIAN CENTER of RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

 special thanks to 

Mr. Atsushi Egashira

 President of DIC LIFETEC Co.,Ltd

 

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105 Gallon Apartment System Assembling the Frame

 Tonight I had time to stop over +Evgeny Pogorelovs house after work and we assembled the frame that will hold our 105 gallon aquaponics farm for his bedroom.  The total cost so far is about $250, and we still need pumps, piping, media, and fish.  Estimated cost is about $350 for the entire system.  It is also larger than we need, so we could fit a second 55 gallon fish tank, and a second 50 gallon stock tank on the frame.  Pogo moves out of his apartment in September, so well decide where it will go, and if well upscale at that point.

We started with the shelves that we made last weekend, painted and ready to be assembled.

Heres our 50 gallon stock tank and 55 gallon aquarium.

Attaching wheels

Not too difficult at all

DRILL!

Assembled!

Moving it into its future home

The frame was build larger than necessary to allow us to make the system larger in the future.

Thanks +Evgeny Pogorelov.

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