Clean Recirculating Aquaculture

[Ganoderma]

what is BSF and YUK?

 

i will look into what peopel do here. although i am not going to be stocked as high as tehm...here, in all agriculture, it is done on a crammed high output rate. so feeds are often chemical/hormone enhanced (although there are lots of government reg's).

 

My production per volume would liekyl be much less...but i am planning on doing a "full circle" style. i was planing on using things like isopods, worms and other critters, but your flies have me very interested!!!!

 

i am going to be doing some regular farming as well, as in not hooked up to the aqua circle (still organic)...so extra plant waste will be used to feed the bugs. i am also wanting to work mushrooms into this. bugs have a hard time breaking down things like cellulose (i think these flies ahve teh same problem, but am not sure). fungus is excellent at breaking this down! one problem with cultivating mushrooms is they need to be SUPER clean, not easy in a farming environment....so this means either building a building (expensive) or using my house (i am married..:lol:..:doh:). i will look into outdoor cultivation, but contaminates are a huge problem!

 

OK, 2 hours and 7 beers later i have this diagram....my lord am i slow in photoshop, so no more diagrams for me!

 

this is the very general idea of what i am planning. the biggest disadvantage to many farms/land her eis they are long and narrow....my future farm is only abotu 4m wide by a few hundred long (i think)....i will measure it later. it is about 3/4 acre.

 

so this setup needs to be thin and long....but i am thinking going segmented. to start i am thinking of using concrete box pons, instead of what i normally done here: in ground. this is to avoid local weather issues and to make water easier to control...lots of fine tuning to do.

 

fish pond water overflows and goes into the plant tray area...the plant tray area will be a sheet with pots in them with mesh bottoms (the pots). the idea with this is they will be grown in coco coir (i hate peat....) and the roots can grow through the bottom and into the water for a hydro ponic system. but being in the coco coir (didi i say i hate peat?) i can still add solid fertilizers (worm castings) without too much falling through to the water. the whole thing will probably be about 50cm deep, roughly.

 

where the water flows out of the fish pond and into the plant tray it will have foam sheets for mechanical filtration, and likely i will add a biological filter in the output from the pump!

 

at the end of the plant tray it will be closed except for about a 1 meter wide gap to let water escape...this size will change dpending on water flow volume (i need to research more about sizes, pumps etc....). it will then pump the back to the main pond, above water. i want it to go through a bio filter i will make, but also have good surface disruption for O2 for the fishies...farms here use a water wheel type thing for this, i want to avoid that....another reason for smaller, segmented ponds (less surface area in one pond, makes it easier for one pump to manage it).

 

here is the first draft. i dont take controll of the farm until new years (Jan 01 2009).

 

i am very interested in any input you all have. i only want to put into it the electricity the pump uses (probably a couple hundred W an hour! :() and elbow greese (likely a lot). also there will need to be water changes....i can easily manage this with rain water in the summer, but in winter i am afraid i have to use ground water....but i am trying to think of ways to limit this...such as more filtration...ideas ideas ideas....and another one (night of sleep) bites the dust, YEAH! lol.

 

 

ps. i apologize for all the typos i am sure i missed :D

[Michaelangelica]

Sea Snails (abalone) are being farmed off the Tasmanian coast. the snails get all they need from the water. Thereare no inputs except the structures to house them

 

There is a virus off the Victorian Coast is killing many which is a worry.

 

I don't think we can continue to hunt for fish for very much longer and farming has to be the future.

 

I'm very Happy to eat Tasmanian Smoked Salmon every day no matter what you feed them on.

[Ganoderma]

i dont want to farm in anything that can leak into natural water ways :lol:

 

edit: link Taiwan Review

 

i am considering using the tilapia as well, still some mroereading though.

 

edit: more links..learn a little from everyone :D

 

Practical Aquaponics. Build an Aquaponics System to grow your own Fish and Vegetables. Commercial or Home

Urban Aquaponics. A complete how-to guide that leads you through the whole Aquaponics experience from the tank to table.

Backyard Aquaponics Magazine

Aquaponics and sustainable Fish Farming

 

 

a different take on it...have the plants IN the pond, floating! interesting!

http://www.hobbyhydro.com/wp-content/uploads/image/aquaponics.jpg

also the same site for info: http://www.hobbyhydro.com/?s=hydroponics

 

Aquaponics (hotel tilafornia LOL!)

self sufficient life Small scale aquaponics setup

http://seedproject.info/index.php?option=photo_gallery (photos)

Aquaponics

Aquaculture in Action: First Workshop Photogallery

Haiti Aquaponics Project

[Ahmabeliever]

Excellent. There are many system types (as many almost, as there are systems). Remember when looking at all this variety, should you wish to make a food system for yourself - efficiency, gravity, product streams ease of use, reduction of labour, trouble shooting, maintenance, access and more...

 

Biological filter. These are certainly not new to fesh water aquariums and pondkeeping, what is new is that terrestrial plants are added to them.

 

A sponge filter is a biological filter, just nowhere near as efficient. The old saying 'a dirty filter runs cleanest' is due to the bio-film catching ever smaller particulates, till the water looks polished. Polished water is a good sign you need to rinse the sponge. Rinse it in some of the fish water to avoid killing the biology.

 

An under gravel filter is also a biological filter. Any type of filter I add to these systems is biological. A sponge would only be added to clean a dirty system in my designs.

 

Like I said, as many systems as there are users. This is a great data base as there is info on differing cliates species laws etc buried amongst it. Get reading!

 

Basically, there's your loop of resources, I'll talk about aquaponics and how I do it as efficiently as possible being cheap....

 

But for now there's plenty to read in the links provided so go familiarise yourself with the concept and then we'll link it all together to make.

 

Cash from waste removal

Worm castings

Worms

High Protein Feed

Premium Organic Fish

Premium Organic Vegetables.

 

Wastes from market preparation of goods goes directly back to the cycle. ie fish and vege scraps for BSF (Black Soldier Fly) to eat.

 

Six income streams. the 2 major ones (fish and produce) being premium products.

 

Downside.

 

A system like this requires a fair bit of knowledge and set-up.

 

But it's not that hard, and if clean systems start out producing dirty systems, the incentive to go green, and the method, is staring industry in the face.

 

Backyard operators could establish themselves in urban areas and sell directly to their neighbourhood business. The intensive nature of these systems means a shrewd operator in areas where land is premium can still succeed. Cut out a lot of transportation and storage issues, local food is in high demand much like organics. you'll have local organic food.

 

Large intensive Aquaculture produces a lot of wastes and here I propose the above type of loop with the addition of.

 

A large sponge filter that has solids removed from it for recycling into BSF food and worm castings.

[Ganoderma]

indeed, good points. everyday my ideas change. one huge problem here are typhoons...which blow everythign not secure away....and torrential rains....design hurdles!

 

without getting into the underground filter good/bad debate (we can talk about that in the aquarium thread though!), i always think of them as waste sinks rather than filters. but thats just my opinion.

 

i have been thinking about the bottom a lot lately and i am thinking making it smooth (paint or perhaps plastic). this will make it easy to clean any algea that grows and scrub away crap. concrete (i will be building mine out of concrete and brick) is pretty porous and hard to clean.

 

i was thinking having the bottom a sloped design...what do you think? WARNING here comes some stellar keyboard graphics!!!!

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Also have it sloped from front to back. make it so that if you had a marble in it, it would always run down to one end. my idea was if most of the waste sort of settles and runs down to one general (relatively small) spot, and place the pump there, more of the waste would be directly placed into the plant beds. Big pumps (like LARGE pond pumps) seem ok with small debris, and poo is soft.

 

 

 

one other big debate i am having with myself is soil or not? depends on plants though, which i still have not decided. what are your opinions on it?

 

 

 

 

another topic i wanted to discuss with you are species to use.

 

 

here were my thoughts while on the loo today :esmoking:

 

 

Plants

Main crop plants for selling.

*Luffa sponge. edible fruit, and greens. can provide shade over teh fish pond without affecting the water disturbance/O2. If fruit is not good for sale, it can be dried for a sponge (sponge can be used in filter as well!). Only real "WASTE" are the stems and old leaves. leaves can be ground and fed to fish and the rest can be dried and used in mushroom cultivation.

 

*Corn. everyone loves corn, but it is hard to secure in hydro it seems. i dont know. the left over stems are great for mushroom culture. but i am thinking it is a low yeild to energy product...?

 

*Tomato. this is been done by many people. leftover platn waste is pretty much direct "feeder insect" food i would think. not great for mushroom culture i dont think and not sure if fish can eat the greens...???

 

*Peppers. seem like a possible crop. but i know little about it and hydroponics.

 

*strawberries. seem great but i dont like it cause of the sensitive nature of teh final product and the speed in which it needs to be sold. also takes a lot of surface area without much yeild.....

 

*rice....its already being done this way in feilds!!!! seems ideal!

 

 

Plant foods

*"Dirty" water from fish.

 

*Left over from worm composting (castings)

 

*Left over from fly cultures (fly poo?)

 

I am really not sure what nutrients would be lacking in their diet as i am nto sure what kind of nutes these animals sources leave in their feces....thoughts?

 

Concerns

I am not a hydro wiz, so i am obviously worried about root rot...you guys know some good crop plants for hydro grows that are resistent to this WITHOUT chemicals?

 

Plant Pests

we are trying to keep this organic, so no chemicals....some of the pests here include:

*aquatic and land snails

*catterpilars

*scale bugs/mealy type bugs and mites

*beetles (mainly only woody plants and soft fruit)

*rats/mice

*birds

what to do without chemicals? water, ripe fruit/veggies and lush green leaves.....i think many things will like to come on over for dinner!

 

 

 

 

Animals

fish of course in the main pond.

*Fish Foods possibilities. i am also thinking that drying and freezing all foods is the best way to keep disease and infestations out of the pond. making your own food is easy enough, and can be sold if have too much.

*fly larva (used for composting already)

*earthworms (used for composting already)

*blood worms (Easy to culture with little space)

*black worms(Easy to culture with little space)

*mosquito larva(Easy to culture with little space)

*garden greens not suitable for sale/humans

The diet will all depend on what specie of fish of course, but there is teh beginning of a list for the meat sources.

 

 

Fly

*Decomposes plant and animal waste not used for anything else.

*Larva are fed to higher animal cultures (fish)

*If composted well can be used as a fertilizer for plants.

*easy to culture and are palced in with already existing plant waste.

 

 

Earth/redworms

*Decomposes plant and animal waste not used for anything else.

*Fed to higher animal cultures (fish)

*Poo can be used as a fertilizer for plants.

*easy to culture and are palced in with already existing plant waste.

 

 

Bloodworms

*Easy to culture in warmer areas

*Great feed for fish in small amounts (frozen chunks for example)

*small, non premium (shaded area nto good for plants is ok), area needed to culture a lot!

*clean

*eats waste from other waste products produced

 

Blackworms

*Dirty!

*easy to culture

*culture in non premium areas, they grow anywhere

*risk of infesting pond, so feed dead.

*cheap and fast to produce.

 

 

Mosquito larva

*easy to cultivate anywhere.....just place a large bucket in shade with a fine mesh net onthe bottom. every few days pull it up to cathc larva and freeze.

*mosquitos are bad bugs, so need to keep "harvesting" them all the time

*did i mention they can be cultured almost anywhere?!

 

 

 

 

 

Fungi

The biggest problem i find with using a 3 step style system (fish, plants, decomposing bugs like worms/flies) is that animals are HORRIBLE at breaking down woody items (cellulose). i mean we, and they, really suck at it! Mushrooms are amazing at it! so i think the use of them is beneficial to speedeverything up, get pbetter product, and seel some fungi.

 

left over woody plant matter such as stems of corn for example takes for ever to compost. mushrooms make it easy. they will break it down quite well, and the left over can be placed into the worm/fly bins to be broken down to very rich fertilizer with little debris in it! and you can sell fresh mushrooms, a very LAGRE market world wide.

 

Advantages:

*sell mushrooms

*compost plant waste VERY fast!

*have a fine cleaner finer waste product to be used in fertilizers

 

 

Disadvantages

*must be clean=$ and time

*takes space

*takes a bit of knowledge to get used to it

*cleaning everything is not energy efficient (ie fire for sterilization)

 

 

Good mushroom species

*I think Oyster mushroom is the best selection for this.

*Ganoderma sp may also work well if you have woody plants such as corn.

 

 

 

 

what are your thoughts?

[Ganoderma]

ahh hope i didnt kill this thread :cool:

 

here is a good link

Information on Fish Culture in Recycle Systems