[jeff5may]

I tossed a simple system together on the back porch this year. It consisted of the following:

1. An old kitchen table that had been replaced and moved out on the porch to die
2. A few "window box" plastic planters (2 long ones - 4 ft and 1 short one - 1 ft)
3. Some bamboo tiki torches left over from a party
4. A large rubbermaid tote - maybe 40 gallon
5. A solar fountain pump that pushed 8 feet of head pressure
6. A dozen feeder goldfish

I filled the window boxes with leftover perlite and some super-pro soilless potting mix, probably 75-80% perlite. I put the little fountain pump in the bottom of the rubbermaid container and added around 30 gallons of water to it. I plumbed the pump to 1/2 inch black neoprene fountain hose and teed off the top to each window box. I drilled holes through the table for the supply hose and below the drain holes of each window box. I let the system run for a few days to let the dusty stuff drain into the tank below. When I checked, there wasn't much silty stuff in the bottom to speak of, so I just ran with it the way it was. I threw some goldfish in the tank below after getting the pH down to 6.8 and planted a tomato in each box. I put in like 1/4 cup of floramicro and a tablespoon of bloom and fed the fish.

My wife said she wanted basil and peppers, so I grabbed a basil plant and a green chile pepper from Wal-Mart that week. I put one in each box later that week when I fed the fish. The pH had not changed, so nothing got added except fish food to the tank.

For the next week or so, the weather got dreary, and it rained a lot. The tank almost overflowed. I only went out to feed the fish a couple of times after work. The tomatoes had already begun to stretch. When it got sunny again, I went out and put a couple of tiki torches in to support the tomatoes and tied them up loosely.

For the next 3 months, all I really did with the system was add water and bloom nutes, pick tomatoes and peppers, and feed the fish. Sometime in July, the pump clogged up with uneaten fish food, so I yanked the pump, blew out the hose, and rinsed the pump off. I siphoned out a couple gallons of water while sucking out some of the muck in the bottom of the tank.

The pH had risen slightly, so I added a little lemon juice to bring it down. Maybe a half pint did the trick. I topped up the tank with bloom juice and water and let it ride for another month. By then, the feeder fish had grown to three or more inches long.

For the rest of the season, all I did was harvest veggies and feed fish. I had to extend the tiki torch trellis so it tied into the rail of the porch, so the tomatoes wouldn't tip over the flower boxes. I triangulated the tops, so the tiki torches I added formed an M. I took some cuttings, which were propagated in the small window box and hand-watered with tank water every day or two. Most of the clones went tonew homes after I had two tomatoes and a basil in one long box and a tomato, a pepper and two basils in the other. I probably gave away two dozen clones.

Sometime in August, I started giving away extra tomatoes and basil leaves. Everything produced too much for us to eat. I had no problem giving away fresh vegetables. More of the same all the way to first frost. It took out the basil, but not the peppers or tomatoes. The peppers quit flowering but not the tomatoes. We kept harvesting green tomatoes until the cold set in. I retired the system sometime in October, dumping the spent plants and media in a gopher hole in the yard. The 5-6 inch goldfish went into my parents' pond. They looked happy not to be crowded.

These systems are not any more difficult to set up and operate than you make them. General guidelines are to keep it simple, and don't overdo it. When you try to push the envelope, fish get sick, plants get diseases, and your water won't balance. Then it's an uphill battle for a while until things settle down again.