Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Can you add a little Chook poo at the base of your plants in your AP system to give it a little kick? Will it have an effect on the system, being that is is above the high tide mark.

any faecies is a good idea to keep out of your system imho, due to possibility of nasty bacteria.
I'm looking after a mate's dog atm... and guess where it is using as a toilet? That's right! A growbed!
Growbed is disabled until dog goes home. I wont risk that in my system.

Dont they feed chook poo to farmed fish in Thailand ?

yep, and other poo. Chine uses human poo too So remember that when you buy walmart tilapia, lol.

If the poo is well and very thoroughly hot composted, then it is compost and not poo anymore I guess but that is the only way I would really want any poo other than fish poo/worm in my ap system. There are risks of pathogens with bird poo. That said, millions of people eat tilapia raised in pond waters that are encouraged to algae bloom using manure.

With all the issues with e. coli and salmonella around the world lately, I'd avoid adding the chook poo to an AP system since it is one more thing that is hard to control.

Now your comment about putting it around the base of the plants above the "high tide mark". Think about this, if you place it on top of the gravel where it won't get into the system water, the plants are really not going to benefit from it unless rain washes it down into the system water at which point you are contaminating the system water and have defeated the point of putting it above the high water level.

All pathogen issues aside, adding such a strong nitrogen source to your system could very quickly overload your bio-filter capacity if you are anywhere near balanced on your stocking of fish. Also, think carefully about what other substances could be in chook poo and be careful about what can hurt fish and bio-filters.

Putting it around the base of the plants was so it only gets a little washed down to the roots when it rains. I use it on the ground plants and even after the last three weeks of rain the little dobs of poo are still there and haven't changed much in size, but the plants have taken off well. I wonder if you put it in the microwave for 5 min would it sterilize any nasties???
Probably best to leave it to the dirt veggie patch where it is needed more.

Heat will kill e. coli and salmonella but do you really want Chook poo in your microwave?

The dirt garden wants it more I'm sure.

I think so, yuk chook poo permeating through your food doesn't sound all that nice.

Acording to the book "aquaponic food production" -Fish do not carry the pathogens such as E-Coli and salmonella, which warm-blooded animals do.

So why add it

Asian countries use pig and chicken manure to feed greenwater ponds that raise mostly grass carp and tilapia. They use it straight from the animal and flush it into the pond with water or even haul it in buckets to feed the pond. Surprisingly, in all the of reading I have done, the issue of e-coli has come up once and the bacterial count was low, due to the quick process of conversion into algae. None of the articles stated that this growing system made their farmers ill when they caught and ate the fish for themselves. Since most of these articles are from the scientific community and WHO, they would have be unbiased in their assessments.

On a similar vien, I am planning on building a brood stock catfish pond for my breeder catfish and I was intending to place my ducks and geese there as well; bluegill would sustitute for tilapia and a few bass to control the bluegill population. I also wanted to build a chicken coop over the water with an outside walkway to access the floating waterfowl nesting sites and have easy pond access for checking on my fish. I'm running into interferrence on the chicken coop though because my fiance thinks that it will ruin the aesthetics of the pond, which I told him that it could be constructed to look nice and the water quality could still be maintained. This pond is also intended for double duty, as it will also eventually be a water reservior for irrigation purposes for the permenent orchard crops we plan to put in later.

Thailand , Vietnam , China and Cambodia I can confirm from personal experience.
Actually i found sitting? on the squat toilet in Vietnam with hungry fish swimming below somewhat intimidating ,,,LOL.
Chicken coop's are built over the lakes so the poop drops straight in etc.

For me , I'd prefer the poop went through the compost with worms , or onto moringa tres before being added to the system.

I never did eat the fish at the restaurant where I could see the fish swimming under the toilet:)

Hi rainwatertanksdirect,

I used a chook poo teabag to start my system off, but I don't intend to use it again.

It seemed to work well as a start up fertiliser to grow algae and provide some nutrients for the bacteria growth in my system.

Now my system is cycled the fish provide the fertiliser. The odd dose of seasol gives the system all the trace nutrients required.

God bless froggo.

Wonder whats still growing in dynamic lifter?

One point to keep in mind about the difference between aquaponics and green water pond culture. In aquaponics you may be growing lettuce and carrots and other things that people often eat raw while fresh water fish are usually cooked before eating. Cooking kills e. coli and salmonella.

In countries where night soil is used on the gardens and in the fields, you cook all veggies before eating. Salads are not a good idea. Properly composted manure is quite safe to use around the garden but if you are using manure that has not been composted, you need to be far more careful about where, how, when your use it and what you do with the veggies from where it has been used.

Excellent point.

I was also wondering if the greenwater method also means there are far fewer fish and thus far more micro-organisms in the water and if the ok MOs might tend to eat most dangerous pathogens. But cooking is a much surer safety measure. Sweet corn, beets, and squash, anyone? Sorry about no salads....