This is an eleven second video of me hand feeding the bream. It takes about two minutes to download on a dial up connection.  If you watch my hand, you'll see the bream take the worms.

A place where Aquaponics and Vermiculture come together to create the organic experience

     Phipps Pharm is a greenhouse that actually contains two totally separate "mini echo systems".  Each has a 180 gallon tank where the catfish and bream reside.   Attached to them, are two 4 x 8 foot gardens of perlite where the herbs and vegetables thrive. There are  pumps that lift the water from the aquariums up to the gardens and evenly distribute it on top of the perlite where it drips down through the roots of the plants and runs back into the aquariums.  This process, known as Aquaponics, combines Aquaculture (fish farming) and Hydroponics (growing plants without soil) to feed the plants from the fish's waste and, as they feed, they clean the water for the fish.  With the correct amount of fish, water, and garden area, the results can be amazing!

     Unlike Hydroponics, that uses man made fertilizers in water to grow plants, Aquaponics is totally natural as long as you are careful what you feed your fish.  As long as the fish's diet is natural, the entire setup is organic because that's really all you do!

You can grow most any vegetable or herb you choose while raising such fish such as bass, bream, catfish, gold fish, koi, tilapia, etc.  I've had good results with vegetables such as bush green beans, running green beans, numerous types of greens, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, melons, and herbs such as basil, cilantro, chives, dill, lavender, mint, oregano, parsley, tarragon, and thyme.

     Vermiculture (raising earthworms) is another intricate part of Phipps Pharm.  I raise red wigglers to feed to the fish, which keeps their diet natural, but have also stumbled upon another discovery.  I had set one of my worm boxes on the edge of one of the two gardens and noticed some of the worms migrating down into the perlite.  Congregating in the wettest parts of the garden, they too eat the fish's waste, distributing worm castings, and seem to like their new home.  This and many other experiments are always ongoing at Phipps Pharm as my appreciation for aquaponics makes me strive to try and improve on the  techniques that are currently used.       

     Be sure to put this web site in your favorite's list as I will be constantly be adding information, pictures, and video clips about ongoing experiments and the progress made.  If you like gardening and/or fishing, you are going to love aquaponics and this web site will prove it!!!