I am a huge fan of the the Garden Pool.  What is the Garden Pool?

It is a couple's vision of a self contained closed loop food production system made in a swimming pool using aquaponics and powered by solar energy.  The gist of the idea began when Dennis and Danielle McClung bought a Mesa (think Phoenix weather), Arizona home with a run down swimming pool in need of either removal or restoration. With a new mortgage they didn't have the money for restoration, and removal seemed like a shame not to mention it was still going to cost them money. 

The idea of creating a garden in the pool, sort of a subterranean greenhouse popped into Dennis' head.  The rest is history. 

The Garden Pool feeds a family of four with 8 fresh chicken eggs a day, unlimited tilapia fish, organic fruit, veggies, and herbs 365 days a year while using 90% less water than conventional farming methods.

The garden pool is so much more than just this unique attraction.  It is a self help website filled with clever ideas shared so that you too can build from inspiration.  I will mention the do-it-yourself and educational video projects later.

The Garden Pool is a 16 foot by 30 foot swimming pool enclosed in a PVC structure UV resistant polyfilm translucent canopy that raises the high at the "deep" end to about 15 feet.  This main structure took two days to build and many months to refine the process inside.  Since this is Phoenix, Arizona there is an evaporative cooler that keeps the interior about 15 degrees cooler than the outside in the summer.  Additionally shade blankets are spread over some of the structure in the summer to keep temperatures down.  Inside the structure maintains a pleasant lake side humidity and odor.  At the bottom of the pool is a 3 1/2 foot deep (6,700 gallon) pond measuring 16 foot by 16 foot.  About a third of the water source was recycled greywater from the bathroom showers/ sinks and laundry machine...new projects now seem to have diverted this reused water.

They spent $1,500 on treated 2×6's & 2×4's, a 1/2″ braided steel cable, a 20'x40' 12mil clear UV treated tarp, a 3,000 cfm evap cooler, 90 Watts Solar, a Power Inverter, a Marine Battery, 5 gallon buckets, storage totes, scrap wood, redwood lattice, lava rock, drip irrigation tubing, rain gutters, hydroton, air stones, 2 air pumps, 2 pond pumps, etc.

Floating on top of the pond is rapidly growing duckweed and other pond plants: this helps provide shade and cut down on evaporation in the summer.  Additionally the volume of water is greater in the summer as well to keep the water from getting too hot.  These plants are involved in bioremediating the water.  Duckweed has a high protein content and is edible.  Growing on the bottom of the pool is algae. 

Swimming in the water are tilapia, some of the fastest growing popular buttery tasting warm water fish, which eat the algae and the duckweed.   A single mature female can have 1200+ babies every 4-6 weeks. A tilapia matures from egg to harvest size (1.5 lbs) in only 6-9 months.  They have a small head so most of the fish is fillet.  They grow very well in very warm waters with low oxygen requirements.    A channel catfish patrols the bottom and eats many of the small tilapia fingerlings as a population control.  Garden pool also has 2 tanks to raise young fry and fingerlings.

Tilapia would eat any mosquitoes near the pond and the water is constantly flowing in the aquaponic setup which prevents the growth of larvae.  They monitor the water daily for pH, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, temperature, turbidity, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, and coliform [such as Salmonella] indicator bacteria.

Aquaponics requires less resources than traditional farming by creating a sustaining recycling system. Energy usage is offset by taking advantage of solar power, thermal mass, and gravity.

A chicken coop is built over the pond, with the roosting egg laying hens directly pooping into the pond at night through a chicken wire floor.  In the day the backyard is the chicken's kingdom shared with two goats and a solar oven.  Because the fish and chicken waste are absorbed by the plants, the up keep of the animals may actually be easier than a typical fish tank and coop.  The chick eat duckweed and other pond plants. 

Additionally Dennis designed a black soldier fly (BSF) larvae chicken feeder that rocks! BSF larvae rich in calcium that egg layers need.  They feed on your garbage composting it and producing a nutrient worm juice, they secrete a pheromone that repels flies, and when they get to a point in their maturation cycle they naturally climb.  Dennis thoughtfully added a ramp for them to climb up and drop into a chicken feeder down below.

They have recently added four ducks to the pond.

The water is also constantly recycled and this uses 90% less water than conventional farming! You also don’t have to spend time watering plants. You do not have to weed as they do not grow in a controlled greenhouse-like environment. Organic Food – With your produce receiving nutrients from your fish and chickens, not only will the resulting crops be vibrant, fish healthy, and eggs fresh, they will be organic too!  Less land is needed to produce crops in an aquaponic system and crop yield is faster.

Aquaponics versus hydroponics (versus aeroponics).  The McClungs originally started out with hydroponics in mind.  Here nutrient waters circulate through porous beds.  The advantage is no weeds and easy planting, easy harvest.  But they quickly realized it was expensive with weekly additions of supplements to the water that made you dependent upon a supplier.  In search of a solution they came across aquaponics which uses fish waste water to circulate through plant beds giving the same benefits without the expense or supplier dependence.  And you can eat the fish.

A solar panel powers the internal lighting (LED), fans and pumps.  The evaporative cooler still requires the power grid, but they are hoping to add more solar panels and a more efficient cooling system in the future to go completely energy independent in the garden pool.

They have these long rain gutters that they hang up throughout the pool area.  The gutters were originally filled with pebble sized lava, but they switch to hydroton (expanded clay).  Both have a porous structure which supports a home for vast microbial communities that not only clean the fish water but fix nitrogen to support the plants.  Water is pumped up from the pool and circulated through the hydroton beds.  Plants are directly transplanted into these beds or more conveniently started as transplants on a seed transplant cube/plug  and then transplanted.  The water also circulates through a series of hydroton containing 5 gallon buckets and kiddie pools.  The variety of plants being grown is mouthwateringly impressive.

The McClungs are clever in finding solutions to one problem after another, and the result seems to be problem solved with a product being produced.  And they share.  I see no reason why their garden pool cannot be adapted in many other areas of the planet, and it doesn't even need a pool.

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Danielle video showing how to clip chicken wings.  [PS: Her chicken course is well worth taking even if you have already attended other's similar course.] 

Greywater project video

Shower greywater video

Shelfponics  video Dennis' DIY project that inspired the planet.  And barrelponics. Got fish?

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