Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Just curious AS, what did you cut the bottom off with?

Well-composted manure would be fine to cycle with. Do not use fresh. We get e. coli outbreaks here when the run-off from a cow pasture gets into the lettuce/spinach/green onion fields.

...and the system looks like it's going to be a beauty! Can't wait to see it grow.

On manure cycling, it would depend on where you got it from. If you are using manure where you know where it came from, you should be fine. If you are using sterilized manure, again, as long as it isn't loaded with toxic waste or heavy metals, you should be fine. There are hydro systems that use chickens, (sorry, chooks), instead of fish for the nutrient. The semi-open design has a chook pen where the floor gets pressure washed daily, the runnoff runs into the sump tank, and the nutes are cycled (similarly to AP).

Don't see why manure wouldn't work. I would just be careful of where it came from. (Nothing carnivorous, or disease-ridden)

I've brought this up elsewhere, but Dr. Rakocy uses manure in his setup at UVI. Here's a snippet found here:
http://www.i55mall.com/aquaponics/1998/02/19980201.html

>Finally I like to caution all those aquaculture people, who are using
animal manure for fish feeding to stop that terrible practice immediately,
as they only recycle pathogens and increase the prospects of very unhealthy
epidemics, particularly in the light of the ever increasing antibiotic
resistancy.

RESPONSE************************************************************
Sir, this practice has existed for more than 2,000 years in Asia and is
widely practiced in tropical developing countries. The best combinations
involve pig, chicken or duck manure with tilapia and/or several carp
species. The animal facilities are often located adjacent to ponds.
Thousands of research papers have been written in promotion of this practice
at some of the best agricultural universities in the world. Fish are
generally healthy in well managed manure-loaded systems and do not become
infected by Salmonella and other intestinal bacteria and viruses of
warm-blooded animals. There is the possibility that these pathogens may be
carried passively in fish intestines, but the high pH and dissloved oxygen
levels in waste-fed ponds rapidly attenuate bacteria and viruses introduced
with the manure. Cleaning and cooking the fish well would eliminate any
remaining microorganisms. It is often more hygienic to dispose of animal
waste in water than on land where flies can spread diseases very effectively
in crowded underdeveloped communities. Manure aquaculture would never be
accepted in developed countries. Paradoxically, organic foods are regarded
highly in developed countries. Aren't these often manure-based systems? And
what about aquaponics? By condemning the integration of aquaculture with
animal waste, you are condemning millions of people in the developing world
to malnutrition and starvation.
********************************************************************

Thanks for the advise on the seams (must use the last of the sealer on them). The overflow pipe is around 30cm long, so I filled it with concrete and then around 0.5 cm thick of bitumen in 6 coats, hopefully this should do the trick.

If not I'm back to scrounging for a real fish tank (by that I mean... one like yours )

Agreed their would be pathogens, not sure how dangerous these would be after biological filtering (bacteria, plants and later fish). After all I eat fish caught from a river near my house that livestock frequent all the time. I thought of using maybe well rotted dry sheep shit, breaking it up finely and adding it to the fish tank in small quantities over time.

My thinking is we eat sheep, and fish, and plants and ultimately some shit?

Then again... I might just go for this fingerlings, @ $1.00 each this would avoid potential problems.

Plus we may already have a wee man in AP (VB? ), we probably don't need a poo boy as well.

Pair of bloody tin snips! cut my hands up pretty good (damn AP fever!). My old grinder died when I cut a heap of other tanks I then used for raised 'soil' vegy plots - long before AP. Gunna get the Father-in-laws grinder to shorten it a bit before filling it (currently @ 1150mm, need 900mm for gravity feed).

Thanks for all your input and encouragement, Once again I have reponded before reading all of your post! Thanks (JP, bhsx, greenedo) for extra input regarding manure cycling. I think I will avoid any risks and start out with local reddies (trusted spring fed site) and feederfish, then silvers.

Nice work Asitis, coming along nicely with the bathtubs...

I've used dilute solutions of seaweed extract and fish emulsion in combination with a few feeder fish to get my systems cycling in the past.. If you've only got a few feeder fish then the extra nutrients can help get plant growth going nice and early.

Thanks for the advise EB.

Quick update: Filled the tank to 300mm on Saturday, then had plenty of rain also so the level raised to 335mm. It is now three days later and the water level remains. It appears the sealer has done the trick!

Won't know fully if it remains sealed until I can put full pressure on it (when filled completely) but it at least gives me the confidence to purchase plumbing.

Another side note: went to a wedding at a winery on Saturday night and they had a pond full of duckweed, only small plastic bag later, and I had my first batch! Must have looked a bit strange to the other guest but, what the hell

any where you can scrounge is a good place!

Nice one As, you could have acted slightly tipsy and said it was a doggy bag for Ron (do our American friends know what a doggy bag is used for?)

Wonderful that the seals are holding, and good scavenging on the duckweed. It's the dead of winter here, so I actually had to pay a few dollars for my start of it.

And yes 'Ell, we have doggie bags, too. For the leftovers from your huge restaurant meal. Whether the dog actually gets it is another question.

I'm sure for we 'western' types the idea of manure will remain unattractive for a long time.

Bio-digesting manure content, then running the sludge in algae ponds - green water and then daphnia pond, then daphnia flushed out regularly to fish would provide

- natural gas to be utilised for power
- Fish food
- Very cheap aquaponics

On a commercial scale I can see this kicking butt, but much research to be done yet to put it all together in one cohesive unit, then to scale it up.

System, imo, would need to be big enough to keep digestor regular, and producing measurable amounts, before any of the data became valid enough to look at scaling it.