Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey Jono
Luv the red and yellow swimmers!
Joel just so you know jtjf_1 is looking after the Childrens Home in Bali that you donated your CD towards. Jono has put together a rocking system that has cought the eye of a few donor who want to hel us inlarge the system.

On the topic of tea I had made a system that consisted of a 200lt drum with a hole cut in the top that a square plastic basket fitted into. I filled this with composted cow manure and rice husk. I cycled the water thru the basket, it soaked thru the compost to drip down to the surface of the water. Which airated the tea. I added palm sugur to encourge the good stuff to grow and then I added a small flood and drain system that grew one tomato plant.
The growth on the plant was not awesome but it has produced. But more interesting is the tiliapia that I added to the system just to see if it would survive. ( it disappeared in the brown solution not to be seen again for several months when I drained out the drum.) Was fat and health which was a surprise because I hadnt feed it much. ( I thought it had died.)
Tiliapia can eat algy via its gill rakers.
I think that a hybrid system like this could really help with replacing some of the difficencies. Using nettle would be ideal as it has heaps of just about every think you want in your system. Google nettle and you will be blown away how good it is.

I like the idea of incorporating compost tea as both a foliar spray and a drench in the grow beds. When I've made compost tea in the past I would get: a 5 gallon bucket, a set of nylons, scissors, air stone and bubbler, rubber band, worm castings and molasses. Using rainwater or de-chlorinated tap water I fill the bucket up about 3/4s. I cut off the foot of the nylons, fill up half the foot with worm castings, stick the airstone inside the nylon and rubber band the nylon foot closed around the air tube. Stick the filled up and sealed nylon foot into the water, add three tablespoons of molasses to the water and turn on the airstone, leave in a cool dark place to bubble away for a full day and voila, use within 8 hours. Basically creating an aerobic bacteria buffet for them to feast on and multiply. Great stuff.

The best part is that the tea is pre-filtered by the nylon so it is a quick clean up too.

Has anyone here tried to kick start the setting up the bacteria stage of AP by innoculating their system with compost tea? Perhaps spraying it onto the grow beds between each cycle? Seems like it would be worth a shot.

We have been using comfrey tea in our hydroponics for years with good results. Recently one of our large goldfish became sick and was covered in fungus,so I removed it from the tank and put it in one of our floating beds that has comfrey tea as the nutrient. The bed is aerated with a bubbler and that is all. The plants grow through a styroform sheet into the water. After 7 days all the fungus had gone from the fish and it was very lively and I put it back in the fish tank with the others. It has no further fungus on its body although it had lost a lot of scales.
Comfrey is great if you break a bone.
Might help.
WD