For 10 years I have had an 18' x 32' foot (5.5 x 9.75 meters) greenhouse at our present location. It was moved from our last house and it was never fully setup. Then in the summer of 2008, we finally had to replace the plastic covering. Then my Giant Pumpkins contracted Fuserium Oxysporum and died (I had 200lb (90kgs) baby pumpkins on the vine). My personal best is 580lbs(265kgs). I was in a sorry state.

With lots of extra time on my hands my attention turned to the greenhouse. I repaired the controller, put Polycarbonate on one end wall, added power vents and thrip screen, leveled the floor, sunk the 50 gallon pond, added 2" of sand and covered the floor with heavy duty black weed guard. Then filled it up with tropical fruit trees.

Summer and Fall went by with good success, Lemons, Figs, Pineapples, Birds of Paradise and more. Bugs were low, only a few fungus gnats which were easy to control. Winter came and I filled the propane tank and turned on the heater, keeping the temps above 50F degrees (10C).

Our winters get cold and we had 3' (1m) of snow pile up that year. It cost about $200-$250 a month to keep the greenhouse going during the winter, or around $1200 for the entire year.

That December (2008), my 10 year old son announced that he needed a science project for school. Having looked at Hydroponics, Aeroponics, Aquaponics, Aquaculture for years, we decided to hook up a floating raft system to the small pond with its 10 Koi and Goldfish. We bought a plastic tote, rerouted the pump line, added an overflow, cut some foam and started some lettuce in 2" net pots full of miracle grow.

The lettuce grew very very slow (the water averages 45-50F degrees (8-10C) the daylight is too short. After 3 months, it was barely 3-4" across. In the meantime, I decided it was time to join the big league. So the search began for tanks, pumps, fish and information.

This blog documents my journey.

First item, when growing lettuce in raft, don't fill the net pots with miracle grow. The day we moved them from the nursery to the floating raft, the air bubbles from the airstones, eroded away the media in most of the pots. I switched to 1" by 1" Horticubes (and later to rockwool cubes - see the Aquaponic Floating Raft article). Start the plants in these, then put the Horticubes or rockwool cubes directly into holes in the foam board in the floating raft.

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