Lana'i urban farming systems

12/20/2025

Simple systems operating as they should. We've gotten quite a bit of rain these past several weeks and that is not the best for aquaponics. The rain tends to dilute the nitrate content.

Keep your system clean, feed your fish, and test your water. God does the rest. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May 2026 be a blessing to us all!

12/07/2025

About 3 weeks since my last post. You can see Romaine lettuce starting to take off. I will be in fresh salads in about two weeks. Important to keep the starters going through the grow to ensure you'll have more to plant in the grow beds as you harvest.

Keep your aquaponic systems clean and test that water!

11/19/2025

Hey Gang, one more thing before I get back to work. Koi can be a good alternative to tilapia in an aquaponic system. They do not like high density tank environments and will die quicker if your system fails and oxygen levels drop or nitrate/nitrite/pH levels get too high. Koi are not as hardy as tilapia but they can be a part of your system. We love our shubunkin koi for the lower performing ong choy garden.

These are original koi paintings I completed recently, enjoy!

11/19/2025

Aloha Gang, well its been a minute since my last post. Life has been hectic. I did block out a day a few weekends ago and completely flushed my lettuce beds in anticipation of the new crop. Cleaning is an important part of the aquaponic process and keeping the system running optimally. Take pride in your garden and remember, a little bit of give a s**t goes a LONG WAY!

By the way, in case you're wondering about all that green stuff floating in the water around the plant rafts, that is "duck w**d". This is a small floating plant that is scooped up every so often and fed to the fish as a supplement to their daily pellet food. Not necessary but a treat no doubt for my finned friends. I also grow this to block out any sun that could get into the water and create an algae bloom. Algae robs the system of oxygen for the fish and nutrients for the plants. These little duck w**ds block out the sun very well and provide that extra treat for the fish. Duck w**d is a sort of "canary in the coal mine" for the system. If you notice a "die off" in duck w**d that usually will point to problems with oxygen/pH/nitrite/nitrate levels.

10/14/2025

Re-posting a great video my summer interns put together a few years back on helping to reduce incidence of rat lung disease caused by slugs in aquaponic systems.

This is a video by two Lanai High Sophomore students about residential aquaponic systems and mitigation of A. Cantonensis in home gardening in both soil and soil-less…

10/14/2025

Slugs LOVE aquaponic systems! I've switched over from ebb and flow growbeds to deep water culture and have drastically reduced the amount of slugs coming into my growing environment. I just cleaned out my two active grow tanks and found just two slugs in the entire system. Where there were over 100 in cinder beds, I now can count the invading slugs on one hand.

Wash all of your vegetables, farmer's market, supermarket, and home garden produce!

I will be posting more of my planting the cleaned up grow beds in the coming weeks. Right now letting water nitrate levels get up to 100ppm (optimal) by the time ready to transplant Romaine lettuce and broccoli rabe sprouts for my winter crop. Stay tuned and eat safe!

The state Department of Health is reminding the public to be extra vigilant when handling fresh produce.

05/10/2025

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/05/bagged-romaine-lettuce-food-safety/682734/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

Food safety in America is under attack.

03/20/2025

A little care goes a long way with your aquaponic farm! Water testing often, care used to minimize pests organically, keeping water flow clean and clear, monitoring amounts of fish food to keep them fed without polluting your water with too much food, and keeping starters going to replenish eaten vegetables, are all part of a successful farm experience.

02/16/2025

Testing the water on a recently rebuilt Aquaponic system at my place. Doing well!

01/19/2025

This is my second post today. This is the sample results from my aquaponic system stocked with tilapia.
pH 6.8 base, good
Ammonia 0, excellent
Nitrite, low, good, the conversion to Nitrate is working
Nitrate, rising, somewhere between 40-80 ppm. I want to see number rise to 80 ppm because that is where the aquaponic process is delivering ample nutrients to my leafy green crops.

Good responsible aquaponics founded with solid water tests done frequently will deliver results. There are many factors in growing plants. Sunlight, rain, wind, temperature. The one thing you have the most control over I would argue is water quality.

Test and test often!