Hey fabulous people,
I recently purchased a Back to the Roots “Water Garden” V2 as a present for my friend’s birthday on Amazon and after watching like a million videos on it I had to get my self one too… well actually my dad bought it for me but minor details. The Water Garden is an Aqua Farm which is basically a hydroponics system. In simple, fish in the bottom and plants grow on top.
Not that you can
become a full blow farmer or anything of that sort with this unique tank but it is
a pretty neat sustainable farming method which apparently uses 90% less water
than regular farming. The fish produces ammonia-rich waste and helpful
naturally occurring bacteria, which grow really well in in the plant pots, convert
the ammonia into nitrates. As the plants continuously take in the nitrates as
nutrients, they are also cleaning the water for your fish! So scientific, I know.
The kit is designed
and manufactured in the USA and it is especially great because it comes with everything you need, like the fish
tank, gravel, organic seeds, grow stones for the pots, natural fertilizer, a
silent submersible water pump… they even include fish food and a coupon for a
Betta (which can only be used at Petco… boo for us Canadians).
The setup for the tank is pretty simple
but extremely tedious. Here's how you go about setting up the tank:
- First wash out your tank thoroughly and fill it 1/3rd the way with water and add some of the chlorine water conditioner that comes with the tank based on the instructions on the bottle. We're doing this step to make the water safe for your fish and to also get rid of any bacteria from the pet store water, basically giving the fish a "bath". Let this sit for 15 minutes to come to room temperature.
- Place the container your fish came in into the tank so the fish becomes used to the water temperature. Leave for another 15 minutes. A really good tip is to place something heavy on top of the container so it doesn’t float around and stress your fish.
- After 15 minutes tip the jar sideways and let your fish slowly swim out. DO NOT dump your fish out because we're doing so many steps its crucial that we don’t hassle the little guy. Let him swim around for another 15 minutes.
- In the mean time wash all of your aquarium decorations carefully with hot water to kill bacteria and get rid of any impurities that will harm your fish. Because I used actual seashells that I found on my trip to The Maldives I let them soak in hot water for about 10 minutes to make sure all the bacteria is dead. Cross contamination can be brutal in an aquarium setting.
- After your betta has done “bathing”,
scoop him out gently with some water and throw out the remaining.
- Wash your tank again, place your decorations and fill the tank
up entirely with water, add more dechlorinating conditioner (based on the
instructions that are on the bottle) and let this water sit for 15 minutes so
it comes to room temperature.
- Set up your water pump so that its adhered to the back right of the tank. You'll know what the correct "back right" of the tank is because there’s a little indent for the wire to come out.
- Take the container with the fish and repeat the process of placing it in the water for 15 minutes so that the water in the container becomes the same temperature as the outside tank water.
- Slowly open and tip the jar so your fish can swim free in his new home :D.
- Put the lid on the tank and pull the
water pump tube through the little whole on the lid and bend it over in the
designated spot. If you're confused on how to do this step refer to the
instructions the kit comes with or my picture.
- Wash the porous stones the kit comes with thoroughly with hot water and split them equally between the five growing pots.
- You can put seeds in the individual pots or you can put in actual plants.
The two organic seeds they provide you
with are wheatgrass and radish sprouts but I want to use my Aqua Farm as a mini
herb garden. And so, I was wondering if it would be possible to grow pre bought grocery
store herbs by using the roots and stems. Now I know nothing about botany, so yeah
it was a bit of a long shot but it actually worked… well kind of. There are
five spots in the Aqua Farm for plants and from my fridge I took out coriander,
mint, parsley and basil because that’s primarily the most used herbs in my
house. In the fifth spot I planted some of the wheatgrass seeds so I can throw
some in my smoothies. Setting up my little experiment was pretty simple I guess,
basically just cut of the stems and roots, if any, and placed them into a grass
of water.
Coriander is basically the only herb I
was completely positive about because there were actual roots in the bunch from
the grocery store, but to my surprise the parsley and mint also grew. I was a little sceptical because the mint
was a little black and the stems were a bit hard when I took it out of the
fridge but I tried it anyway and after three days I saw baby mint leaves
growing, yay! Now because we don’t use basil as often as the other herbs, we
freeze the bunch and use it bit by bit and so the stems from the basil were
frozen and I pretty much had absolutely no faith… and expectedly nothing
happened. But I’m sure if I had used non frozen basil it would have worked.
After three days I took the stems from
the glass and put them in the water garden. Make sure the stems are deep enough
into the rocks so that water is actually reaching them or they will begin to
wilt and eventually die… which happened to some of my plants :(
Now on to my betta, the kit suggests you
keep a betta in the tank because they’re solitary fish and a 3-gallon tank
would be too small for more than one fish. Betta’s are also low maintenance and
don’t produce high amounts of waste… so your tank wont be gross.
And can I just say I’m
obsessed with my betta fish, Gyarados aka Gary! Although im not a huge fan of
my current set up, watching him swim is actually so calming and peaceful and I literally
can’t stop telling people about him. Like I’ve managed to even keep my room clean
since the day I got him because I’m actively making people come in and see him
LOL. I feel like I should start adding “has an unhealthy obsession with new pet
fish” to my bio’s in the future haha.
For
anyone interested in getting one of these sweet aquariums here’s the amazon
link-- http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00CN52TRM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00
Until
next time xo,
Naheeda
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