Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Is there any record of applying aquaponics concepts to a forest ecosystem?

It was the open or closed loop topic that made me think of this:
What if a forest area was planted upon a prelaid tile of gravel channels and viens to focus water return to a central point... an AP system perhaps...nudge, nudge.
In a semi-open system, water is used to irrigate large areas of trees, along with beds of food crops. If solids handling was done properly, large quantities of fish could be raised, while creating a very healthy, vigorous forest, capable of drawing large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. (This was the motive for my mind to think so big)
High efficiency carbon sinks, harvestable trees, plants and food.

Poke away(hopefully with not too long a stick )

Hayden

I want to see the earth bloom. ....we need emoticons of plants

i think that aslong as its like a system and u can get most of the water back or manage it in a way that dosn't use a huge amount of water that it would work, it would basically just be a huge ap system

sequential systems would be a piece of cake. Basically just run drippers directly from the tank and keep adding water.

This sounds a bit like Mesoamerican chinampa systems, raised beds with food grown on them, and fish below. Water from canals used to wet the plants, etc.

The biggest porblem is that a scal that biug would lose a lot of moiture to evaporatioin and transpiration, so would need to be rainfed, which makes it more like the larger system. Also, the energy required to move that much water would be substantial.... but, theoretically, it is possible.

When i was first researching the wonder of aquaponics, i came across a simmilar thing. It was a video online somewhere, i think called the hope project. It was in a desert somewhere, and they were channeling in water from the sea, growing fish, and then growing mangroves. The mangroves were used for animal fodder (leaves) and the wood for housing, and burning, etc

But They did mention that it was a huge CO2 sink...ill see if i can find it...

Christopher, if the trees were irrigated via drip, then the only substatial time of evaporation would be during seedling/sapling growth, until sufficient shade occured from the branches.
The notion of it being large was kind of a given here.
While it would definitely take ample power, it is not really a problem if addressed right. There would be plenty of biomass for power generation by biofuel, while the high output would generate conciderable funds.

As of now this is just my mind creating a theory/design that is no-where within my reach at the moment....Just dreams right now.
Thanks for the input and discussion.

Daniel, that sounds kind of the idea.
Being in Canada, my mind's eye is seeing forests of pine

One hurdle I see is attracting and managing the wildlife. Doing ground maintainance would have to be very low key, but may be important to ensure pathogens to a sensitive system don't become an issue.
With the huge area it might not be a problem though...

"You might say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one".

Hayden

Umm, couldn't you just get hold off a lake/pond/stream/waterway stock it with local fish as appropriate, and plant heaps of trees? With some food plants in between?

Indeed that would seem logical...
But concider that most forests are becoming diseased and are dying around the world, from drought, insect infestation, etc. Not to mention intensive logging and slashing.
Weak trees are weak carbon sinks, creating strong trees is the idea here, while creating a large scale food production system at the same time.

I know what you are talking about back home in BC Pine Beetle is takng its toll. I am afraid next time i come back we won;t have any green pines left all dead and dieing when i left in August.

They got pine bearles her in Belize, tooo/

From memory most pines tend to suck the life out of ground nutrients.

Sadly and worse from an AP stand point most drop needles which lead to acidic soils... that's why you don't see any ground cover/regrowth under pine trees.

Would be hard to maintain the pH balance required for bacteria growth ala AP I would suggest.

Good point. There could be potential buffering from gravel tile and channels though. Enough to balance the ph?
Doesn't have to be just pine too.

Plus minerals could be added in the form of rock dusts, kelp fertilizers, etc.

I cant seem to find the video, but from memory they didnt use pumps, and the video was longish, 20 min or something, but if i find it i will let you know

so i had a thought that i dunno if its possible but what if u used water to power generators ,could u generate enough power to power the pump to return the water to the top to keep producing power?

endlessly recirculating water