How I made my first Wicking bed

12:28 AM in Aqua, bed, first, how, i, made, my, wicking

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My Dream is to End World Hunger

3:35 AM in Aqua, dream, end, hunger, is, my, to, world

Through photography children share their innermost feelings. The opportunity to reveal their dreams in photographs shows each child how much their dreams MATTER! Their hopes and dreams captured in quiet moments tell a story that few adults can imagine. "When you show children that you care about what they dream for in life, perhaps a child who never felt he or she had self worth, now will."  -Linda Solomon

When Emily, then 7 years old,  she was presented the opportunity to express her dreams via a photograph. Her dream was the very grown-up goal to end world hunger.

Emily was one of 19 homeless children in Albuquerque who were afforded this opportunity back in 2012. Darrionte, then 8 years old, is featured in an article published in The Albuquerque Journal on Sept. 6, 2012.

With the support of local car dealership Galles Chevrolet, the pictures were made into a set of greeting cards, which the Barrett Foundation  sold in 2012. Even though the cards were created three years ago, they still touch our hearts and are still very relevant today.

A national project
Project director, renown photographer Linda Salomon, has brought  Pictures of Hope to children living in shelters in Tucson, El Paso, Philadelphia, New York City, Flint, Michigan, Tulsa, Raleigh, Fayetteville, Charlotte, Kansas City, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis and Albuquerque.

Heres how it works. Solomon presents a photo tutorial to the children at each shelter. At the conclusion of the tutorial, the children are surprised with digital cameras donated by Walgreens and given their first photo assignment as young photojournalists. Each child has a Picture of Hope card showcasing one of their photographs. All the children in each city celebrate with their mentors at the "Meet The Young Artist" receptions when the Pictures of Hope cards are launched. Its a special day no one will ever forget.

On her website, the photographer explains her motivation. "The numbers of homeless children in the US are the highest in our history, 2.5 million. One out of thirty children are homeless," said Ms. Solomon. "The mission of Pictures of Hope is to change lives, one life at a time. We show each child there is hope and they are not forgotten. Pictures of Hope touches the soul of each child we meet."

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Pictures of my first Aquaponics growbed

4:54 PM in Aqua, aquaponics, first, growbed, my, of, pictures

Here are a few pics of how the 70 liter Aquaponic system looked a few months after it was setup.
I had to also build a cage around it to keep it from being destroyed by monkeys. Yes we have some monkey trouble here once in a while.

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Yellow leaves in my Aquaponics

8:15 AM in Aqua, aquaponics, in, leaves, my, yellow

Iron deficiency is one of the most common deficiencies in an aquaponics garden, it is responsible for the yellowing of plant leaves. Furtunately, this Iron deficiency is also one of the easiest problems to fix: simply adding a small amount of Chelated Iron fertilizer at regular intervals is all that is needed.
Iron deficiency in an aquaponics garden is quite common. In aquaponics, unless you add additional sources for the nutrients, all nutrients that come into the system will come through the fish food. Not all trace elements are introduced in the fish food.

Yellow leaves Aquaponics

Once you have run your aquaponics system for some time, you can quickly and easily tell if the plants are showing iron deficiency just by looking at them. When the plants have a slight yellowing of the leaves this is a strong indication for iron deficiancy. If it is left untreated, the yellowing of the leaves will become more pronounced. Plants generally react really well when the missing nutrients are introduced into the system and you should expect to see a result within a couple of days.

What is "Chelated Iron"?

Chelated means that the Iron has been chemically altered so that it is possible for the Iron the be dissolved in the water. You cannot simply through a bunch of Iron nails somewhere in the system and expect the Iron to somehow dissolve (it will dissolve very slightly if your water is acidic, but you dont want it to be too acidic).

It usually comes in a powder form, and it is a yellow powder. Often, some spoon or other measuring device is included in the pack. Some shops will sell chelated iron as a liquid, but this usually turns out to me much more expensive per gram of iron. Check the labels and compare prices between powdered and dissolved chelated iron fertilizer to ensure the optimal deal.

Buying Chelated Iron

You can buy this product in virtually every plant shop, it is very common indeed. It is quite expensive, it usually costs around $20 and will last in a small DIY homesystem for approximately one year. You can also buy it in a number of online webshops that will ship it to you in bulk if you require larger amounts of cheaper Chelated Iron fertilizer, for example if you operate a very large aquaponics system.

How much and how often?

Dont add too much of anything in one go in an aquaponics system. Adding about one teaspoon full at one time should be sufficient. You will have to add it about once every month.

Where to add it in the system

Murray Hallam suggests adding the Chelated Iron in the autosiphon of the aquaponics plant bed. The chelated iron will dissolve there and the pumps will bring it into the plant beds.

Is it safe? Will it hurt the fish?

Yes it is safe. No, the Chelated Iron fertilizer will not hurt the fish. Just avoid adding an massive amount of Chilated Iron fertilizer to the system. Also avoid adding it directly into the fish tank, the fish might mistake the powder for fish food.

Aquaponics, ækw??p?n?ks, pisciponics http://aquaponics-commercial-backyard.blogspot.com.es/

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