Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

what do yall think about water hyacinth?
im tryin to find the pros and cons of havin this plant in my system or if its even worth it i got some for free

i got some for my 55 gallon system but i have it in a hyrdroponic basket that i have hanging so it doesn't multiply so what do yall think?

Well I'd love it here but it's illegal. My chickens and ducks love the stuff.
Beware that it uses up lots and lots of nutrients if it gets full sun. So if you find you are running short of nutrients for your veggies, you might want to remove it. If you find you have way too much nutrients, it may be a handy way to use up some.

Yep, it's apparently great at sucking up the nutrients, and is high in protein.

Illegal here to

I think it's possibly one of those things that it's best to stay away from, seems to be illegal in many places and is a major problem in many countries.

well i was tryin to give my 3 goldfish i have at the moment some type of plant life inside there tank. what do yall recomend for inside the tank?

Terrible stuff. Messed up all our rivers here in Cape Town. Makes good compost though. I guess if you are looking to grow huge amounts of vegetable for feed then its great but you will need a lot of surface area

ya i believe it my water was cloudy today and i think it was because of the
water hyacinth grrrr

ya i believe it my water was cloudy today and i think it was because of the
water hyacinth grrrr

Usually water hyacinths make the water very clear because there aren't any nutrients left. Might want to check the water quality.

try giving the fish azolla or duckweed instead
the only good use for hyacinth is basket weaving

Got a basket huh?
Toss some onions in there instead. Also good at cleaning water. Just get some Green Onions at the supermarket and lop off most of the green.
Watercress.
Or go to the feed store and pick up some "multiplying onion" bulbs they should have right about now. or even 1015's. You can transplant either into gravel later.

Don't know what town you're in or near, I know some feed stores in SE TX. Know some GREAT ones in/near Houston.

I'm not scared of water hyacinth, but I'm not terribly impressed either. The flowers are OK, but you might as well pick up a couple of Louisiana Iris bulbs and basket them.
I couldn't find any live Louisiana Iris for my pond one day, or anacharis, and that got me onto the aquaponics websites! Haven't looked back since.

It will multiply anyway. I think you can do better, something you can eat (like onions) or that makes more flowers to enjoy (like the Lousiana Iris).

Rick