Friday, September 23, 2011

Osama and Omar's Trip to my farm.. I mean my balcony garden

No! This is not actually a "harvest" from my Aquaponics system. They are accidental casualties when me, Omar and Osama bought new Tilapia for our Aquaponics system and they ended up aggressively attacking each other. To save them from further pain, I fried them and ended up with a healthy and tasty lunch for me and my friend Usman.
Osama presenting the Kerela in the Aquaponics system, he and Omar have been helping me with.

Above is Osama showing some fruits of the Kerela plant and just at the background is the Aquaponics system 2 with sweet potato, kangkon, swiss chard seedlings, pepper seedling, tomatoe seedling and lady finger.

Osama enjoying the smell of freshly picked Jasmine (Sampaguita) in my self watering container garden.

Above is, you may not believe it, but a shot of Osama taken by Omar in my Kodak digital camera. I love it because Omar captured it perfectly. Actually, Osama was just watching TV, but I really liked the emotion, he looks like thinking deeply.

Osama overlooking the self watering container garden.

Mashallah, two healthy boys... adding fresh vegetables to their diet would be a good idea!

Osama and Omar.. happy and healthy! Mashallah, visiting "our" self watering container garden and aquaponics systems. Below is Omar showing Jasmine (Sampaguita) flowers, which he later picked.

Just standing by the kerela-sweet potato-kangkong jungle!

Below, Omar fooling around with Jasmine, I mean the flower (sampaguita)



Omar below, shot taken by Osama.

















Thursday, August 25, 2011

Self Watering Container Garden 25Aug 2011 part II





















Part II of my Self Watering Container Garden update 25 August 2011










Self Watering Container Garden 25Aug2011































Updating on my self watering container garden - pots are made of recycled 6L water bottles. Growing media is a mixture of potting soil/mix and hydroton.























Saturday, August 6, 2011

WARNING to Aquapons....Tilapia could be a heartless killer of other fish!!!

Hi there.
About 3 nights ago me and Osama finally decided to go get some Tilapia for our Aquaponics system. At first I was hesistant, worried how on earth we can bring them home....and the thought of telling the salesman that I need them alive... is something weird.. so we decided we will tell him its for a school project.. which is actually true..because we are preparing one Aquaponics system for his science fair 2 months from now.

We got to Marhaba supermarket along Hail street in Ruwais and got 4 healthy and active looking tilapias for only ... 10SAR.. yes... all of them for 10SAR... whatta bargain... it took 3 plastic bags becuase their fins kept poking holes on the bag... finally we had to rush back home with 4 tilapias in a plastic bag.... the taxi driver gave us that strange look when the tilapias flapped.. from the bag...

Upon reaching home, we put them in one small container and soon enough we realized we may need to separate them as ... because of hormone treatments in the farm..all of them seemed to be males and were fighting. That same night I put two of them separately in two of my other aquaponics systems, with already established goldfish groups.

Friday morning.... i found two goldfish dead..obviously attacked because their tummies showed nipping or bites... scales were gone....skins were bruised... ay yayayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy... immediately i had to come to the rescue... we put some 4" pvc pipes in the container they were in to give each one some sort of territorial feeling.... but not after 4 goldfish dead 2 more dying... and they were not just goldfish... they were with me since i started aquaponics in january of this year.. so they are almost 8 months old... they have grown happy, healthy and they have been with me on this journey.... what a bummer.... it as a bad way to go......

now.. i am thinking of getting a bigger tank for these 4 tilapias...and maybe come up with a better system for the school fair.... inshallah

so lesson learned! ------- don't mix tilapia with goldfish..... it will be ugly!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

My indoor and outdoor aquaponics systems... Aug 2011

six goldfish in the indoor aquaponics system growing ornamental flowering plants with brocolli, okra, tomatoe and swiss chards... grow lights are tube light blue and red, fluorescent bulb
trying to root some rosemary stems i got from the supermarket the other day
ornamental flowering plant seedlings
swiss chard in the center and left is an ornamental flowering plant seedling
more ornamental flowering plant seedlings
outdoor balcony aquaponics systems with ampalaya, basil, tomatoe seedlings, sweet potatoe, swiss chard, celery, spinach and some ornamentals
a view to the right side of my small balcony... aquaponic systems..


and here is a quick video upload on my growing garden planted in self watering container pots made out of used 6liter water bottles.. and one or two bigger ones...

Monday, July 25, 2011

Aquaponics Update 25July 2011 - Death of a Pangasius






Bad news.....another one of my Pangasius died. It's the 2nd one in less than a month.






The first casualty was the smalled one. I noticed it was swimming afloat and not on the bottom as they usually do.... after 48 hours in quarantine, its dead.






The 2nd one is the bigger one, it's almost 10" and like the smaller one, has been with me for more or less 3 months.






The same symptoms but in this one, there was more. I noticed the usual color (albino) became more pale and there were small lesions on the skin in the stomach area. It also appeared bloated or like the food it has eaten were not digested and were bulging. Immediately I put it in quarantine, bottled water, a lot of aeration and a little sea salt.






One day, two days, finally it died this morning. It looked gruesome. I don't know what it is and why it happened and I will not stop searching for information.






Friday, July 15, 2011

Aquaponics in Jeddah update 15July 2011

It was a sad weekend. Thursday was the funeral of my grandson (through my niece, the elder daughter of my oldest sister). Jam suffered childhood leukemia for a few years and his young fragile body (only 6) couldn't take it anymore. Inshallah and with all my heart's faith in Allah, that he is now safe in the arms of the Creator. Couldn't help but had a few hours in Thursday morning just on the net, crying while listening to some sad songs. Inshallah, I pray that my family will draw strength from the inspiration of our faith in Allah and His promise of eternal life.

On my Aquaponics, I also lost my bell pepper and one small pangasius in Aquaponics sytem 2. Actually it was since early last week. The pump broke down, water was in the growbed and it probably drowned. I tried my best to revive it and in a few days it seemed to be recovering but it just gave up. I took it as a good chance to clean the growbed. This is my Aquaponics system #2 where I couldn't grow any new seeds and there are some insects that seemed to be eating the seeds before they can germinate.

After cleaning it, i replanted a watermelon, a few brocollis, a cloned basil and threw in some new seeds of Bellpepper, hoping they would germinate.

My other two systems are doing fine. #1 have the ampalaya, basil, okra and tomatoes. #3 have the ampalaya, spinach, bush beans which are drying up again - huhuhuhuh, parsley/cilantro just dried up...... but, but but... swiss chards germinated only after 3 days of sowing... huh.... very fast, i hope they tolerate the heat...

No pictures or new video yet.. there will be inshallah aftter a few days or next week....

Just started my Aquaponics system 4.. which will be indoors and will be some sort of germinating bed... but for the flowering plants.. lets see how well they do, today i just threw in a bunch of mixed seeds and hope they germinate this week.. will certainly post pics once this happens, inshallah.

I posted some videos of my step by step instruction in making the self watering container pot, made out used 6L water bottle...glad that some of my friends already visited and promised they will try to do it... its nice if it could make their gardening life easier! Inshallah.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Aquaponics and Self Watering Container Gardening in Jeddah - 07 July 2011 update

Continuous flow system, small container with ornamental plants from the nursery, cheap plants but beautiful, shares the same fish tank as AP System 2



Aquaponics system 3 - ampalaya, bush beans, spinach, parsley, fish tank have koi and goldfish with one pleco





Aquaponics system 2 - with bellpepper, cloned basil, celery and ampalaya







Aquaponics System 1 with Ampalaya, okra, basil and tomatoes


Here are some pics of my Aquaponics systems 1, 2 and 3, plus my garden in Self Watering Containers.


1. Aquaponics is the marrying of Aquaculture (raising of fish) and Hydroponics (soil-less gardening). I have been doing it since late January of this year and have developed 3 systems all in my small balcony in my flat in Jeddah.
2. Self Watering Containers - are pots with wick made to allow water to be wicked to the pot where plant is planted and its root system drinking on as needed basis.
AP System 1 - the ampalaya (bitter melon) plants are growing steadily and climbing now more or less 2 feet long, okra got new stem but no signs of flowers again, basils are budding because of some cuts i made to clone it, tomatoes are extremely slow growing and looks like gonna dry from the heat, fish are all doing fine, healthy and happy
AP system 2 - got a healthy and growing bell pepper, sweet potatoe or camote, new ampalaya seedling, cloned basil and some celery seedlings, this system i think have seed devouring insects because so many seeds i have sown didn't germinate, the growbed sits on top of a fish tank with 5 growing and healthy pangasius, also connected here is a continuous flow small bed with ornamental plants that seem to be growing and enjoying


AP system 3 - is the newest system with 2 ampalaya, 2 bush beans, number of spinach, some parsley... so are ampalaya and bush beans are doing well, climbing and healthy...got 3 koi and some goldfish in the tank

Thursday, June 30, 2011

YUGE mini Home Aquaponics System









Includes:



12 gallon fish tank



7 gallon growbed



water pump



air pump



plumbing



siphon set



seedlings or seeds






All you have to do is add water and fish!




email: yes2fx@gmail.com

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Aquaponics in Jeddah update 28 June 2011, Tuesday

AP System 1 (after 5 months and 3 grow bed changes) :
- 2 Amplaya seedlings going on 8 inches tall and starting to climb
- Okra still holding on, showing new shoots on main branch, no flowers, no fruits for long
- Basil still holding on, cut a couple of stems and cloned
- Tomatoes all seemed to have halted growing, maybe because of the heat
- 2 new watermelon seedlings
- All fish happy and healthy

AP System 2 (after 3 months and 2 growbed changes)
- with lone Bellpepper growing steadily, leaves bigger than my palm
- sweet potato climbing now and long at 2 feet
- new ampalaya seedling germinated 2 days ago
- Pangasius are healthy and happy....

AP System 3 (after almost 2 months)
- cucumber steadily growing
- 2 ampalaya, almost 2 feet long now and started climbing
- 2 bush beans... long and healthy
- spinach, slow growth
- japanese parsley, slow growth
- 1 small goldfish died 2 days ago.. others are healthy and happy


Self Watering Container garden....

All plants happy and healthy, periwinkles stopped blooming but growing



That's my update and will share some photos later

New Original Aquaponics Logo

Fish, plant, bacteria and me...... this is my Aquaponics.












Friday, June 17, 2011

Self watering container pot made from recycled 6L water bottle - Jeddah Saudi Arabia

This is my instructional paper for making self-watering containing pot using 6L water bottle. I actually live in Saudi Arabia where the weather could become unforgiving, mid 30s to lower 40's.






What you will need:






Empty 6L Water bottles



Cutter



Scissor



7X4" 100% cotton cloth (old t-shirt or rag will do)



Hydroton or gravel/stones



Potting mix/soil



Packing or masking tape
























Friday, March 25, 2011

Aquaponics in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia update 25 March 2011 --- more pictures

Sprouting peppermints in a plastic cup. To avoid losing the tiny seeds, i lined the cup with tissue paper, seeds, one layer of hydroton...it worked!
Sprouting basil in a plastic cup, lined up with tissue paper. This is going to be my germinating technique from now on.

Cappucina in a small container with potting mix topped with hydroton. I want to experiment growing these flowering vines on conventional method and lets see if it works.


Bell pepper / siling prasko on my AP System 2. I was able to grow a few of them... i love bell pepper in spaghetti, noodles and mixed vegetables... i tasted it once also as topping for scrambled eggs!



Brocolli on my AP System2 ... it takes ages for them to grow.. but they are OK.




Watermelon / Pakwan, crawling down. It has 3 new stems with flower buds. I have to wait for a few more months.. before i see fruits from it.





Taro/Gabi first leaf, 2nd leaf about to open... can't wait to have my first organic 'laing', not from the can!






Basil - smells good in the garden! Tried to put a leaf in my hibiscus tea yesterday...tasted good.







Bush beans / bitswelas - in the Philippines, I think these only grows in Baguio..well, let me try and grow them here and we'll see....