Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The pump in the 200 litre blue drum [sump on return from grow beds ]slowed right down This pump is12 in off the bottom so decided to look pulled it out as it came up it worked better so got a net and gave it a swerl around as i was pulling it up thought this is heavy. theres a foot of live worms in the sump
So yes worms do live under water

Now you have succeeded with worms, the next step is to try growing some clams then

Are you brave enough to post the photo

No

Earthwormponics? Just throw in a bunch of dead leafs!

Are they earthworms? or some aquatic species? Wouldn't they be living underwater?

curious

No there just earthworms they would have migrated from the grow beds

The reliance of compost worms on oxygen is less than what some might think. We have theorised that they live okay in the beds immersed in water due to the high oxygenation of the water. However, when I took my last system off line, over a week later I had live worms still living in the gunk at the bottom of the sump - and the sump was full of water.

A foot of worms! :OMG:
You gota get a pic of that! Pull up a bucket full.

F&F: PICTURES!!!!!!

Veebs: i think the reliance on oxygen is as we thought, its just that AP water by design is at saturation point. when my system was tested with an O2 meter i has 22 trout near harvest at the time it came up as saturated. and thats just with the autosyphon and one air stone.

Pics or it didn't happen

Just imagine the reaction of the fish if you dump a bunch of them into the fish tank!

Steve - I'm not suggesting they don't need oxygen (of course they do). What I am saying is that the water need not be saturated or even close to that for them to survive. As I said - these worms were alive in the gunk in the bottom of a full sump that had been disconected from the system and therefor eny mechanical aeration for over a week. Furthermore, it was in the hot sun. I don't expect that the oxygen level in there would be high at all.

Have you ever tried to photograph worms

gee, now he's drying the poor little buggers