Aquaponics update

Apparently our system is busy maturing (not unlike our teenage son).  Before you put the fish, in the form of fingerlings, into the tank, you let the system cycle for two months with just plants to let the system, or more precisely, the micro-organisms, mature.  So we are just at the stage where we are ready for fish, and the plants are growing away happily, though more slowly than they will once the system is mature.  So here are a few images of what's growing.  We are just experimenting at the moment, which includes dropping some seeds straight in, growing things that are out of season and trying some wicking.  We've had a problem with a few grasshoppers who've found, and love, the sage and just last night a rat who ate the first tomato that was almost ready to be picked (@#$%&*).

I have been growing some comparison seedlings in the nursery to see if they do grow faster in the aquaponics system, and the results is they absolutely do!  I'd say three times as fast at the moment, which surprised me.  and it should only get better....