Yesterday I moved my Aquaponics system to Compass School, where it will be used for high school science experiments.
It sits under a west-facing window as before, but now it is mobile. Check out the stand that the students built for it! They painted it and even added casters to roll it out of the way when they need the counter space for other lab projects. Nice work!
It took about an hour to set it up in its new spot.
To buffer the shock to the fish, I moved about 20 gallons of water with the system. We then added 10 gallons of dechlorinated water from the school's water supply. Here's an inside look shortly after setting it up.
Why is the water so cloudy? Well, a lot of organic matter was stirred up when I emptied the grow bed. The grow bed is 100 pounds of expanded shale, creating a lot of surface area where the plant roots, fish food and decaying fish food collect. Since I hadn't rinsed the grow bed media since I built the system, I rinsed it all in another plastic bucket before moving it. No worries. The water should clear up soon as the solids settle to the bottom of the growbed, and the water is cycled.
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| Eric with barrelponics system |
Anyway, I'm psyched that the system is in good hands with Eric Rhomberg, the science teacher. I think it looks pretty cool in his classroom. Don't you?
The water cleared up by this morning. Here's the fish happily eating their breakfast. Looking good!
Check back for more updates from Compass School!
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