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Thinking Easter moving mountains is easier than you think

Its Easter.

Now I know Easter is really all about some Pagan thing and not so much about a Bible, but..

Traditionally, Easter is a time when all Australians get as many people together as they can, and drive around in boats very fast trying to do as much damage as they can to the river banks.

ItsThats all well and good, its not the speed that does it, fast boats and skiers just skip across the surface. But humans make these things that make wakes so your skiers can do jumps. It looks like amazing fun but it will destroy the river in no time.

When I was a kid of seven years old or so, we would visit an Aunty and Uncle living in a place called Port Noarlunga. The beach boasted a very cool reef full of interesting fish, and a little way away, the worlds highest sand dune (I think it might have actually been the worlds highest sand dune, and not something that simply seemed that way to a kid). A small shop would sell the normal crud that shops sell to people doing stuff at the beach, including small plastic balls with a tiny hole in them. I asked the shop keeper why there was a hole in the ball, and he told me it was to let the water out that I was complaining about that entered through the small hole.

Thats when I knew there was a problem with the world.

But for a few years, this shop also hired out little wooden sleds/sledges/sleighs and sticks of wax to ride the sand dune. This dune was tall. So tall we rarely bothered to climb it all the way to the top for it was hard going walking up it.

Now its not so tall, and the river at the base of the dune is wide, and shallow.

This image search reveals what it looked like about half way through the damage.

I put that mountain into the river.

Me and a couple of friends.

Even kids can move the largest mountain given time.

It only took 20 years or so to turn it into nothing special at all.

There.

Thats the seasonal biblical mountain moving reference out of the way.

Now, lets all try not to destroy the River Murray like I did the Onkaparinga River when I was a kid.

Speedboats and skiers dont do a lot of damage, but wake boats will eat the rivers of the world given half a chance.



120 Things in 20 years thinks we should dredge all that sand back up there.
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Is Water Flushed From A Filter Better

Ive often heard people say water flushed from a filter is better for your plants. 
I wondered how true that is.  Is It higher in Nitrate?
Heres the test.
Its higher in some trace elements, but dont count on it for Nitrate.

The problem with dumping this on your terra-garden  is that this nutrients are lost from the aquaponic system.
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Theres still time to plant your winter crops

 Redwood Seeds has these to offer
 &
Johnys Select Seeds recommends these winter vegetables.


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This is my tank heater

UPDATE:
2013/01/18
Several months ago I built this heater with a stainless steel element. Its actually refered to as an Incoloy type water heater element  (120-1500-ELD.

You can purchase them online here at http://www.plumbingsupply.com/elements.html

This heater now floats in the sump tank.  Its very important to add something buoyant at the end opposite the cord so that air bubbles leaving the element do not get caught in the small area where the element screws into the plastic housing.  Even this very small amount of exposure will burn out the element.

 


Previous Designs


 2012/03/19
Today I made the mistake of unplugging my pump while the heater was on.  PVC smoke quickly filled the room and the element died.
.
Here is my new design.  Its made of 1" galvanized pipe, but the element will still self destruct withing seconds if its run dry so I have moved it to a position below the level of the sump tank.  The outlet is above the fish tank so it will not draw a siphon but the water level will drop to the level in the sump tank.
If I should loose the pump the water will boil inside the pipe, but this galvanized pipe will not burn.
The thermostat can not operate at boiling temperature, and will still burn and self destruct within seconds if the water is not flowing.  At least this will prevent heating galvanized pipe. - Just looking for a bright spot to an unpleasant situation...

I will not be using the Honeywell Thermostat because the water changes so slowly that I can regulate it as I wish by flipping the switch on and off.  The temperature changes by about 4F per day.
 
If I ever choose to hook up the thermostat I think I may be able the use the high cut off temp as a safety.
But there has simply been too much to do.

My plan is to use an 1-1/2" PVC elbow to cover the electrical connections.

Original Post:
This is my heater. It uses two 1500W elements in series to drop the current down below 8A which is the max amperage my Honeywell 675 thermostat will handle.  In this picture I am using only one element without the thermostat in order to deliver more heat.
Its an inline flow through heater. It works very well and should last for many years. As long as water flows through the heater it will not over heat.  I would like to add a relay that will only allow the heater to be on when the pump is on and water is flowing.
The elements are rated at 1500W, but measurements indicate only 1300 W are actually being used when only one element is used, and when placed in series 750 W is drawn.  I attribute the difference to line loss even though the building is wired with 12 gauge.
The elements screw into 1" female adapters.  The housing is made of 2" PVC.  When I put my hand on the heater, I can just barely feel the heat, but over time it will maintain my 1000 gallon system which is well insulated.
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Aquaponics Is Not A Sustainable Form of Agriculture


Aquaponics has been touted as a way to save the world from the destructive and wasteful agriculture practices used on most commercial farms which is clearly not sustainable.. But just as raising cattle for meat, raising fish on farmed grain is also costly to the environment.
 
Much of the grain used to produce fish food is GMO;  raised using large amounts of fossil fuels for fertilizer and machinery in order to produce a profit while neglecting the environment.

Perhaps aquaponics will find a place in outer space, but while we are still here on Earth, aquaponics will remain a romantic attraction blindly portrayed as sustainable, and ecologically sound by those who fall in love with the technical wonder of soil less gardening.  For some the full experience includes the ability to automate, and record  data from sensors.

Clean, neatly segmented water processing stations each providing an optimum environment for bacteria, roots and water quality at the expense of outside energy and natural resources.  Computerized systems can even be monitored and operated remotely from a smart phone miles away.
 
Certainly easing the harvest of wild fish is a good thing, but we often overlook the large picture. Kinda like growing corn for ethanol. What a short sighted idea that was. Aquaponics is not easing the harvest of wild fish as well as it appears. The food we feed to the fish is made from wild caught fish. And while that source is comprised mostly of fish with little commercial value, and waste from the processing it still places a burden on the wild fish population. For more about the analysis of fish food read http://www.oscarfish.com/fish-food-ingredients.html.


Aquaponics uses less water than soil based farming, but it comes at a cost is the environment, and fossil reserves which seems to be overlooked. All along I have promoted energy efficiency in aquaponics, but the numbers still come up short as I demonstrated in another article Energy to Produce Vegetables .  The caloric value of the food produced does not match the energy required to operate an aquaponic system. The pumps require more energy than is grown by a very large factor; sequestering far less carbon than it releases. Some aquapons are supplementing light, and heat during the cold season. This puts aquaponics so far into energy debt that it becomes absurd.

This government funded aquaponics research system has deep pockets and no regard for wasted energy



Bottom line - aquaponics is fun, its interesting, but its not saving the world as a sustainable form of agriculture.

So what can we do?  The answer lies in simply helping, and growing with nature rather than in spite of nature.

Plant in soil, according to the seasons.  Conserve water by creating collection and recollection areas,  use green mulch,  alternate and grow companion crops, build healthy soil with micro-nutrients, and microorganisms, never let the soil lay bare,  Use only safe pesticides if needed.  Never waste a good thing - compost and use compost tea and EM.   Use bio-char,  humus and rock minerals.  Gather leaves in the fall or just let them provide the natural benefits to your soil by leaving them alone.  Pay attention to micro-climates, and take advantage of shady areas near fruit trees.  Let some beneficial weeds grow in order to bring nutrients up into the top soil.  Love the worms and bees, and feed them well.  Plant flowers among your vegetables.  Do not till your soil.


Wear sun block, and a hat!
Wicking beds and Hugelkultur beds conserve water

The Basics of Natural Farming





The common theme between Hugelkulture and Wicking Beds is water supplied from below the soil.  These are both considered Permaculture.  It may very well work in our favor to integrate these methods with aquaponics.  This new hybrid system is called Earthan Beds. 
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Glyphosate Alternatives




Let me acknowledge that glyphosate is only the "Active Ingredient" listed on many herbicides, and that its actually the unlisted adjuvants that we need to be concerned about. Unfortunately the regulations only require safety testing of the active ingredients even though the adjuvants have been found to be 1000 times more toxic.  The only other dangerous ingredient in RoundUp that I know of is polyethoxylated tallowamine POE-15. 

In an effort to avoid using glyphosate I did some research on how the kill weeds around ornamental landscape plants, pathways and driveways.  I still and always will object to Glyphosate and 2-4-D being used on or near vegetable gardens.

Here are the methods I was able to discover:

Pulling weeds by hand, and sheet mulching.  This is great for a small area


Zinc Sulfate mixed 1-1/8 oz per gallon will treat 4 sq ft.  At $12 per 10 lbs this works out to about $0.35/sq ft.  Yikes!

BurnOut Weed & Grass Killer made of a special blend of citric acid and clove oil and other patented synergistic components. If I try this product Ill post the results, but from what Ive read this too only stunts the plant and leaves the roots to grow again.  If you have used this Id like to hear about your results.

Weed Dragon is a large propane torch.  Reviews state that they are effective at temporarily removing the weeds, but repeated treatment will be required to eventually kill more persistent weeds.   Attacking the weeds again several days later seems to be advised.
The Weed Dragon delivers a 400,000 BTU while the mini delivers 25,000 BTU.  The later uses a small disposable tank, and is easily held by one hand where as the former uses a 20 gallon tank and is often accessorized with a cart.  There is also a 2.5 gallon model that is worn like a back pack.
Apparently 1 gallon of propane will last about 1 hour depending on how high the flame is turned up.  Not all models have a flame adjustment. 


Vinegar, salt, & soap mixed at 1/2 gal vinegar, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2tsp liquid dish soap will also kill weeds.  This mixture costs about $6.00/gal.  I dont know what the application rate is supposed to be, but I used it as I would use Roundup. After several applications there was only a few blotches otherwise the plants were healthy.

I mentioned this did not work and someone else told me I had the recipe wrong and absolutely guaranteed that her formula as shown above would work.  Below are the results after spraying 5 times over 8 days.  The large broad leafed plant shows only a small amount of damage.  The grass lost color but regained its strength soon after the experiment was over.
I did find that I could pour a couple ounces directly on the root area for excellent results, but causing the soil to become incapable of supporting plant life is not what Im after.  Even Roundup leaves the soil in better shape than this.

I hate the idea of supporting Monsanto or any biotech bent on destroying the earth with GMO and toxic chemicals.  But they do seem to have the only spray on products that will kill weeds.  How poisonous these herbicides are is a matter of debate.  During the past 30 years Ive never been particularly careful about handling Roundup or 2-4-D, and I dont seem to have been affected, but Ive had friends who were in Vietnam that were severely harmed by defoliants.

Of course Im not advocating that we ingest it.  Only a crazy person would do that right?  Oh yeah our GM foods have been modified to resist Roundup and therefore hugh amounts of the stuff is sprayed on our food.  This I object to, but spraying my driveway seems okay to me.

It seems too cruel but I may have to do my own experiments with Roundup.  The group of good and natural folks I would like to be able to include myself in say that Roundup destroys the life in the soil.  Somehow I doubt this.  Over time, the glyphosate can be tied up by cations in the water or it can be biodegraded by bacteria. [1] By spraying the leaves of a plant, those chemicals are taken down into the roots and might poison some of the microbiology,  but with all the bull that Ive been feed about vinegar I simply dont trust the disinformation any longer.

Heres the thing.  Dont make up the facts just to make you case.  Some organic herbicides such as herbicidal soaps and oils have been found to be more harmful to aquatic life than Roundup.  The EIQ (Environmental Impact Quotient ) of Roundup is only 15.3 (on a scale of 1 to 100).  [2]

Making up your own facts does more harm then good.   It doesnt work for Monsanto and it does not benefit the fight for a clean world.  This poor lab rat was fed Roundup.  Lets get real, nobody puts Roundup on their food like table salt except maybe the farmers using GM seeds.  So buy organic.

But dont tell me vinegar kills weeds and that its just as good as Roundup because its not. 

1. http://www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/roundup-breakdown-in-tap-water/
2. http://www.sustainable-gardening.com/archives/403
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Backyard Gardening Is Effective

http://www.trueactivist.com/russias-small-scale-organic-agriculture-model-may-hold-the-key-to-feeding-the-world/




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Water is flowing in the IBC system Cycling and Phoshate


Close to completion. The outdoor IBC system is flowing water. Take a look at my settling tank. Its based on a wet dry filter. The cool part is if it gets clogged it will not jam up the system.

Ive begun to fill the beds with plants, but have no fish.  Im cycling the system, but right now I want root growth.  So I embarked on a study of Phosphate.  

Here are two articles I believe are quite good although somewhat over whelming.
  • Phosphate and the Reef Aquarium
  • Aquarium Chemistry: Phosphate and Math
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Summer is the Time to Plant Winter Squash!

Winter squash takes about three months to mature.  For a September harvest its time to plant!

Remember squash are heavy feeders so add plenty of compost below and around each plant
Time to choose your brassicas for late summer planting. 
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