Aquaponics Gardening- Step by Step Guide to Raising vegatables and fish together -by Sylvia Bernstein (Reactions from Chapters 7 and 12)

 After reading Chapter 7 and 12, I started find answers to my own question, like why would you prefer clay pebbles rather than gravel in the planting beds? What kind of plants do you needs to grow in and aquaponics system? What materials to use and where to find them them?
      Chapter 7 mentions the requirements when it comes to small system to big system.  I thought it was interesting you can figure out the size of grow beds and fish tanks from a one to one ratio it will eventually become a 1:2 once the system matures. This ratio also requires how much you feed the fish. If the the protein contents in feed increase then the waste in pounds a fish produces. The kind of fish is important to think about, Omnivorous fish has a lower protein compared to carnivorous fish. 
    Chapter 12 is mainly about plants. It mentions the unique ways of growing plants, starting plants, healthy plants, understanding pH levels and bug control. At first I really didn't understand what ph level was until I read the chart on page 165.  pH level of 6.8-7.0 is recommend because its the most common nutrients deficiency in aquaponics. The planting beds recommend clay pebbles because gravel weight more than twice gravel does allowing less force on the plant bed structure.

Chapters 10 and 11

It seemed easy to say that an aquaponics system needed fish, water, and plants but the more I read on, the more complicated the process seems to get. The specific care needs for the plants and fish make sense, but the water is what surprised me the most. The chemistry moves past the simple bond between hydrogen and oxygen to pH and beyond. Given our knowledge, as architects, about room temperature and psychometrics, it makes sense that water temperature might also have comparable considerations, I just never thought of it that way. The amount of oxygen water can hold is not only affected by temperature, but also by altitude and barometric pressure. "Oxygen is more easily dissolved into wear at low altitudes than at high altitudes, because of atmospheric pressure is higher at lower altitudes," according to Sylvia Bernstein. It was interesting to read about the different oxygen requirements of the fish based on their native environments, which related back to the importance of temperature and pressure.

Perhaps what I found most interesting about this set of readings was Sylivia's question of, "To eat or not to eat?" It seems that making every other decision at the beginning of the project is critical, but with this one you can change your mind. I enjoyed the personal story she included about her initial intentions to eat the fish and how that decision may have changed over time. We don't necessarily think about the killing and eating of animals, we usually just think about the eating part. When faced with the task of having to do the killing ourselves, that distinct line becomes more blurry. This is especially true for scenarios when we have grown and bonded with the animals as Sylvia did with her fish.

chapters ten and eleven

These two chapters helped me greatly when working on our diagrams for the presentation. I was able to get a lot of details about the water, the fish and how the two work together. Reading about koi vs. Goldfish vs. Tilapia really makes me think that aquaponics could be a huge movement once it becomes more of a 'thing' over here in Boston, especially in schools. I was also starting to wonder if there was a way to place the plants immediately in the tank instead of using pipes to transfer water. I know we're installing the raft system on top of our tank but how will this plants turn out compared to the ones on the shelves? Maybe we can even set up a system at the BAC? I'm not sure if that would even be possible but it's worth a thought right?

Aquaponics Source System Locations

I am so excited about this diagram that I couldn't wait to share it! I finally heard back from the Aquaponics Source about their system locations. Unfortunately they weren't about to give me a full list right now, but I think it does a good job at showing their systems are located in a variety of climates. There is even one in Groton, MA!

Chapters 7 and 12

Seeing the "zones" of aquaponics helped me to better understand how the system functions. The information about ratios put scale into perspective. One could not make "plate-sized" fish with a small table top aquarium, though this size seems ideal for a small crop of herbs. Though the system seems relatively simple, it is good to know that there are so many things that need to be considered before getting started including size and shape. I never would have guessed that a shallow wide tank would be better than a deep and narrow one. Chapter 12 help reinforce many of the ideas that I had about comparing soil farming and aquaponics, especially the differences in water use; More importantly, why these difference occur. Understanding that plants use energy to grow was not something that I had really considered. It makes sense that if the plant uses more energy to grow longer roots needed for finding water that they would not grow leaves as big. I liked that even though they said that most plant types can be grown using aquaponics, they explained that there are better methods for starting different types of seeds.

7 and 12

It was good to learn more about how much fish are required to keep the plants alive and many other little details. It's very important that the Bernstein pointed out the fact that these tanks once they're full with water and fish can get really heavy and how you need to take into consideration that weight when you decide to place your system. She also provided us a nice breakdown of some of the systems such as barrelponics or aquabundance. Chapter 12 helped me learn more things about insects than I truly wanted to ever know. It was very intriguing to find out that for pest control you can actually use some insects to do that for you, instead of sprays or other chemicals that would harm any part of the aquaponics system. I'm curious how an insect issue (fingers crossed we don't have to worry about that) arising in Codman would be tackled due to the location of the aquaponics system.

Reaction to Chapter 5 and 6

The quote at the beginning of the chapter reminded me about an idea that I had for part of our answer to "Why aquapomics?" "The soils are not being replenished and the land is dying." When soil farming is done properly, crops are rotated to allow for nutrients to replenish. With an aquaponics system, one would not have to worry about crop rotation. Reading the rest of the chapter taught me that the environment needed for growing is very particular. A lot of considerations need to be taken before making a decision. The main factor is temperature required for optimal bacteria growth. This factor helps determine where your system is placed. There are many inside considerations including weight, humidity, water spillage, light, and sound. These particular factors raised red flags in my mind knowing our test system is supposed to be in the library.