Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi emsjoflo
Was it neat or very diluted?
Neat urine will normally read way off the scale of a normal ammonia kit unless it`s well diluted 20:1 - 50:1
I tested it with a conductivity meter just for the sake of it and it`s off the scale there too (EC over 4. 4)
No wonder it kills the grass

No, it was neat. I'll have to try it diluted. Scientific research, ya know...

be fun to test it
a) after 12 hours(sealed and open to the atmosphere)
b) after 12 h with biofilm from my grow bed
c) after 12 h aerated
d) after 12 h run through a cycled aquarium filter.

hehe..the mad scientists thread, what are we like?
Here`s my thoughts on what the results might be..

(A1) Logically the sealed container would kick anaerobic bacteria into action..eeww that`s not gonna smell very nice

(A2) Open to the air will reduce the ammonia concentration somewhat as it oxides..it would also cool the air in the process if it were possible to measure it. Losing ammonia mean less available for conversion to nitrate.

(B) Bacteria convert it to nitrite and then nitrate..some percentage of nitrogen oxide gas produced in the process is lost to the air.

(C) similar to (A2) but should smell a little better
(D) Assuming the filter is of submerged variety. Similar to (B) except less of the nitrogen oxide gas escapes to the air, instead it gets dissolved back into the water column where it will react to help make more nitrite and nitrate.

I decided to check my well cycled 4ft tank for an EC comparison and it`s EC is 1.1, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrates over 50 but less than 100.

Anyone else is in mad scientist mode? LOL

I suppose the next logical question would be.... what options do we have to destroy e coli in water? You probably know where I'm going -- urine is only half of the equation....

I know composting will kill e coli in a matter of days.
Ozone will do the job. Hydrogen peroxide -- both which degrade in a biofriendly way fairly quickly.
But isn't e coli anaerobic? if there's enough aeration....
I'm starting to sound like a research scientist -- the universal conclusion of research scientists: "More research (and therefore funding) is needed."

Not an easy one,
Ozone and HP treatment wipe out every other type of bacteria too.
The high temperatures generated by the composting process does seem to kill it.
A catch 22 situation really, the temperatures needed will probably vapourise your liquid gold too hehe.

Of course, if there`s no e-coli in it to begin with, then you don`t really need to worry.

Ozone changes fairly rapidly back into O2. A system might be adapted to hold water for a certain period of time to let the 03 degrade.

To kill the pathogens in black waste a combination of earth worms and composting is a good bet. Earth worm guts and composting kill the pathogens. Worm castings can be used on your dirt garden or given away/sold to other gardners.
The worms may or may not be a good idea to feed to your fish depending on the quality of your black waste. Worms will render inorganic (in the hippy rather than chemistry sense) manure to organic worm castings. However the worms will not be organic as all the nasties will have bio accumulated in the worms. If there were no nasties to start with no problem but other wise you could end up being at the top of the food chain and have trouble laying eggs of sufficient thickness to breed.

To totally closed loop is not always a good idea.

Stuart.

ROFLMAO!!!!

In truth, large predator fish are noted to have large quantities of nasties since they feed on everything else that has accumulated them. Mercury comes to mind.

I guess the safest and simplest idea would be to grow non-edibles

I know the majority do grow veg but i don`t see it shouldn`t be used to grow everything else that soil does? .. flowers, ferns, palms, bedding plants to name but a few

I see your point -- though laying eggs is not a personal goal of mine.

I read somewhere on the internet that some people consider drinking urine healthful -- in fact there are several anecdotal accounts of people recovering from cancer by drinking their own urine. A friend of mine takes the "therapy" religiously and he's quite healthy.

But that's taking "closing the loop" too far in my opinion.

My idea was that if I needed etra organic stuff I would ge the sheep manure from my under my wifes families shearing shed or the local stable (non organic). Put it through the worm farm and use the castings to fertilize the paddock while the worms would go to landfill. Then my food scraps, straw, cow, sheep, chook manure (organic) would go into my fish food worm farm.

Stuart

Hey stuart how old is your wife's families shearing shed?
Is the dip race nearby, If it is more than 30yo I would check for traces of nasty rinses they used to give sheep somewhere nearby.
Don't think I am being a pesso, just remember what the old sheds are like. Hope it is a newish one.
Ducks for cover...
C1

Dr Paul Range uses a very simple home made methane extraction plant as a family toilet, excess water from this system goes through filtration beds using duckweed and other plants, before going into his AP system...

I agree, nice bit of experimenting.
I dont think you would really need to piddle around with drip feeding. A cup or two full of liquid gold into your tank every day or two should be alright as long as you've got a large tank i.e.>1000litres. You wouldnt be giving them a huge hit.

Good point C1 there are many contaminated land issues associated with farms in particular the old sheep dip sites. Fortunately my wifes family are the origanal owners (well after the previous ones were displaced anyway) so we know where the potential hot spots are.

Stuart.