A Little Aliteration

So Peeps...
I bought 40 cubic feet of this fine grow media product and am set to take FedEx delivery sometime tomorrow.

The need is really for only 27 cubic feet, but there was a significant discount to buy a 40 cubic foot pallet, so that's the direction we took.

Course, that's about 2000 lbs of this specialized clay rock.... which is 1 ton for those of you with a conversion function on your Hewlett Packard.

I can just envision Joanne with her tender inquiry tomorrow.."What the HELL is all that SHIT in the Driveway??????"

When she finds out that it is for the Aquaponics Project which she now knows virtually nothing about, I'm sure she will see the virtue in a short period of minimum yard clutter.

Or maybe not....

I can always have Katelyn console her....

Or maybe not....

Whatever.   Tomorrow the rubber meets the road and the Aquaponics way of life will be cresting upon us.   A new liftetime of vegetables and plants grown in a harmonic cycle of nutrient exchange with Fluttering Finned Fish.

Or maybe I'm Phucked.

Saturday Multi-Tasking

I'm starting to believe that multi-tasking is big time Bullshit.

You can only do one thing at a time.... and for the most part, you can only get one thing done in a day.

So here I go again, planning a highly productive weekend, when in reality only one or two things will really get done.

What our minds can conceive, our bodies can achieve.... but with a considerable time lag.

Whatever....

Tomorrow, I have a hard stop at 3:30 PM when I will take the S550 out to Lexington, MA and attend my grandson, Ethan's, baseball game.

Before then my hope is to complete the hardwood floor installation in my half bath and also transport the solar power system from Peabody to Marblehead.   That means that the floor gets done by 10:00AM and the Solar system is delivered by 2:00PM....

Not wholly optimistic, but doable.

Perplexing Points for Pondering Propagation

So I called the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife to ask about a permit which would allow the propagation of native fish.   The Code of Massachusetts Regulations indicates that Bluegill could be raised with a permit but absolutely bans Tilapia from being kept in MA.

The well meaning staffer at the state office recommended that I use Tilapia for the system, and said that Bluegill is actually not domestic to Massachusetts.

The verbal direction is diametrically different than how I read the code.

Then, one guy at the state agency suggested that I just go to a bait store and buy live golden shiners.... and he emphasized that I would not need a permit at all.

Peeps... I'm trying to do the right thing here... maintain the public trust by not violating any of the Commonwealth's laws.   I just want to get fish to pooh in the tank so that I can grow vegetables.  And it would be a shame if I couldn't use fish that live in the pond naturally just a mile away.

If all else fails, I can always go to PetSmart and buy some Goldfish.... but that just doesn't seem to be a cool way to go.  It's not the money.    I could buy a fishing license for $27 bucks, travel to a secret spot that Rich Mah knows about, and legally catch and transport 20 shiners or so.  After paying for lunch and beers with Rich, that would be a lot more money than buying Goldfish.

Meanwhile, I'm taking delivery on the Aqua Rocs grow media which is being delivered to FedEx in North Reading where I will pick it up on Monday.   That is the last piece of the puzzle left and I will be putting the system in the ground next weekend.

Mah-velous Plan

So I'm waiting for orders to come in from McMaster-Carr, Allied Aqua, and Amazon... after which the only thing lacking to assemble the aquaponics system will be fish, plants and water.

Rich Mah, an old classmate and current FB Friend, has volunteered to help me fish for local Bluegill stock to populate the fish tank,  If you can believe his Facebook posts, Rich is a killer freshwater fisherman, and I have offered to get him onto the Lagavulin and fish for some Stripers in the salt after the Bluegills have been stocked.

I think about twenty Bluegill would be enough.  Rich thinks it's a no brainer.

That is one hell of a win-win deal from my standpoint.

I order a lot of stuff on-line, and have never had an issue to date.  Amazon is a great company, and McMaster-Carr has every piece part that you can imagine.  You stay up late at night, theorizing what nut, bolt or hardware fixture that you may need, get on-line to McMaster-Carr, hit the button and the thing shows up in forty eight hours..... sometimes faster.   And the unbelievable thing as that McMaster doesn't ask for a credit card.  They ship the stock, then send you a bill.

Allied Aqua is a dedicated aquaponics supply house out of the Kansas City, Mo. area.  Their prices and selection seem superior after many nights of Googling for aquaponics resources.  I bought the pump, clay rock growing media and numerous gaskets and PVC fixtures from them and am anxious to see if the quality and service is what I anticipate.

Meanwhile the solar energy system to power the pump is complete and cooking away at the Nanepashemet Peabody warehouse along with the two 275 gallon IBC totes that I bought from Tropical Juice in Salem.  Sitting there also is all of the PVC pipes and fixtures from Home Depot that will be fabricated into the water distribution system and the bell siphon units,

I told Rich that he will get the call in late May to transfer Bluegill from Redd's Pond to a life of leisure and fish happiness in the Nanepashemet Aquaponics Tank.

UPDATE:
Nix on this.  It is illegal to keep live fish from a pond in Massachusetts per 321 CMR 4:00.
Thank God that we live in the land of the free.

Fish for Bluegill

NATIVE BLUEGILL  (Lepomis macrochirus)

The preferred alternative for the fish species in my aquaponics system is locally caught Bluegill.

Now that the grow media and pump has been ordered and in delivery, all of the components except the plants and the fish. 

 Everything should be assembled by the end of May and then the system water will be cycled with plants prior to adding the fish.  I will wait under that time for the final determination..... fish for Bluegill or order Trout.

UPDATE:
Nix on this.  It is illegal to keep live fish from a pond in Massachusetts per 321 CMR 4:00.

Thank God that we live in the land of the free.

Turning to Trout

I've decided to order twenty 6" Rainbow Trout to stock the Aquaponics fish Tank.

Need to check if the New Hampshire trout hatchery will deliver sometime in May.
http://www.hyonahilltrout.com/trout.htm

The choice centered around Bluegill, Trout, Goldfish, Koi, or Tilapia.

Bluegill - no local sources.  I could fish for these myself at Redd's Pond, but that would have been time consuming and you can't be sure what some of my Marblehead Liberal Neighbors would squawk about if they saw me hauling away 5 gallon pails of live fish.

Tilapia - a favorite for aquaponics, but it is a warm water fish and I intend to keep the fish outside in the cold weather.

Goldfish - widely available at local and on-line sources, but boring and the trout are actually less expensive.

Koi - cool fish but wicked expensive.  They are probably a good choice despite this because of their longevity - 20 yrs or more.

Rainbow Trout - hardy cold water fish.  Very pretty to look at.  would make a tasty meal if we elected to harvest them.  And if my research is correct, I can have them delivered rather inexpensively from HY-ON-A HILL TROUT FARM in Plainfield, NH.

 So Rainbow Trout gets the nod.  I feel they are more resilient than Brook Trout and better to look at than Brown Trout.

Positive Outlook

Late April Weekend.

April is an important month.  Because if you live in New England, the best months of the year are June, July, August, and half of September.  So you don't want to be burdened with job and household jobs during these months.  You want to be fishing, riding your Bike and doing anything but house chores.  The time to get this stuff done is April and May.  And April is half gone.

This weekend looms important per the above standard.  I don't want to be painting, or building stuff or anything else once June kicks in, so it's imperative that I get a shitload of stuff done in April, and this is one of the last weekends left.

So, the choices for this weekend are as follows.....

• Rake the yard and get all of the debris to the dump.
• Uninstall the bathroom and get the wall ready to paint.
• Finish the Solar Pump installation and move from Peabody to under the Deck.
• Cut the IBC Totes for the growing beds and the fish tank.

The old Me would think that all of this can get done this weekend.  I would be ecstatic to get three out of four.

PC Pussification

Would somebody please tell Curt Schilling that freedom of speech is dead in this country????

How dare he say the type of hate speech that offends Trannies by criticizing their right to pee as they see fit!!!!

If there is a God in Heaven, Schilling will be immediately removed from his sensitive position  as a Baseball Analyst on ESPN.

We may be Pussified, but at least we can stay PC!!

Remove Schilling before even one more Trannie has to endure his insensitive, hateful opinions.

Baseball analysis deserves no less.

BTW.... here's what really offends me these days.  I so sick and tired of the Phoney Liberal Bullshit doled out by assholes who make major issues out of stuff like allowing trannies to go to the Girl's Room.

It is aggravating that we are allowing our society to become oppressed  by Pussies intent on pushing their egotistical PC crap.

If you don't like what Schilling says, don't listen to the Phucking ESPN Baseball show.
Stupid Pussies.

Foward with Aquaponics

So this week, in the midst of championing the business success of Nanepashemet Telecom, your MOAM got some milestones checked off in the real important category.... the Aquaponics Project.

The solar power experiment came off without a hitch at the Peabody warehouse, where two 100 Watt Photo Voltaic Solar Panels are supplying current to two 12 volt 100 Amp Hour batteries.  The connected AC Power inverter drives shop tools with ease.

I will use this off grid power system to fuel the 92 watt 1100 gallon per hour water pump which will be the heart of the aquaponics project.  Have not bought this submersible  pump yet but there is a huge selection available for less than a hundred bucks.

Then on a whim, I was on Highland Ave. in Salem last Wednesday and dropped into the  Tropical Juice Plant which had advertised the availability of 250 gallon IBC food grade totes about six months ago on Craig's List.  Drove away with two of these babies in great condition for $100 each, which I felt was a great price for items of this quality.

So now, I have to pick up the PVC items tomorrow morning at Home Depot in order to make three Bell Siphon systems, which I can build from plans that I found on the Web.  The IBC Totes have to be disected into four containers.... one for the fish, and three to contain grow medium for the plants.

I've laid out the whole system where the conventional garden was that the groundhog ate in one night last July.... have not disclosed this to other members of the family however. I've found that these types of disclosures are best made after the system is already in place.

BTW, I'm going to trim this all out in pine and the final result will look the balls.




The below Bell Siphon system should be done sometime next week.

Model # C4703
Internet # 100116710
Store SKU # 232483
3/4 in. CPVC CTS Slip x FPT Female Adapter	4	$       1.18	$       4.72
Model # C4704HD34
Internet # 100347148
Store SKU # 187747
3/4 in. CPVC CTS Slip x MPT Male Adapter	4	$       0.44	$       1.76
Model # 96735
Internet # 100299374
Store SKU # 584130
#18 O-Rings (10-Pack)	4	$       2.27	$       9.08
Model # 57471
Internet # 202280935
Store SKU # 193712
3/4 in. x 10 ft. PVC Schedule 40 Plain-End Pipe	10	$        2.93	$      29.30
Model # 531095
Internet # 100161921
Store SKU # 193860
3 in. x 10 ft. PVC Schedule 40 DWV Plain-End Pipe	1	$      17.74	$      17.74
Model # 531137
Internet # 100161954
Store SKU # 193852
2 in. x 10 ft. PVC Sch. 40 Plain-End Pipe	1	$        8.87	$        8.87
Model # PVC021161600HD
Internet # 203811678
Store SKU # 232777
2 in. PVC Sch. 40 Socket Cap	3	$        1.32	$        3.96
Model # C406-007
Internet # 100347455
Store SKU # 187976
3/4 in. Schedule 40 PVC 90-Degree Elbow	24	$        0.40	$        9.60
Model # PVC021081600HD
Internet # 203811562
Store SKU # 536636
1-1/2 in. x 3/4 in. PVC Sch. 40 Reducer Bushing	3	$        1.54	$        4.62

Downgrading the Truth.

My Liberal friends tend to downgrade this.