Turtles are stinky and don't play well with others-- or what not to put in the set up

Back again to what to put in the bottom of the set up. Again your best resource will be the internet and then finding local gardeners actually doing these set ups. The Austin area has great resources.

I was just introduced to another resource (well two). I will be the STEM ELA (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) English teacher for the Grapevine Middle School STEM Academy next fall. We will work collaboratively (Science, Math, ELA, Social Studies) to create problem based learning experiences for our 6th grade students driven by Science based questions but incorporating all of our core TEKS to create rich authentic learning outcomes. GOOD GRAVY that was a mouthful.

In a nutshell...because of this new position I have been able to participate in some incredible professional development with my amazing STEM team and director (thanks Jamie, Mickie, Bryan, Julie, and TONY). This week I am at the Green Revolution Environmental Project Based Boot Camp at BRIT (Botanical Research Institute of Texas http://www.brit.org/ ). As an entry event to project based learning we were enlightened by a panel of various experts in fields connected to the environment and environmental impact.

Back to aquaponics---one of the panel experts was David Cohen from Green Phoenix Farms http://greenphoenixfarms.com/. This company not only provides service of setting up various size systems but (more importantly) the education piece.

Back to turtles and our own "learning curve". The superstar, I mean husband, decided against goldfish as the "fish" as they are not good "bait" or eating. His reasoning being everything we do with this should be useable. So to get the system started we ---I mean he and the kids (Rocking Raccoon and Friendly Bear) brought home a turtle friend and some blue gill from a local lake. We thought to start this part before adding plants as a "proof of concept". Also we were only about 60 bucks (cost of IBC) into the set up.

Turtle Friend dirty up the water in a bad bad way. I am sure there were some scientific measurements we could have made at that point to test ph and nitrogen levels but the other fish were dieing and I didn't like how the turtle eyed me.

So next iteration was tilapia. We had chosen some plants at this point... herbs, tomatoes, and some squash. just basic things I know we would eat.  Where to get the tilapia and what happened.

"But Lilly", you ask, "How does it work?" -- next post my friends!