Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

for the record this is simply a fantasy idea and by no means fact. it is by no means fiction either.

disease=symptom of out of whack ecosystem.

disease does not exist in well tuned ecosystems. disease arises from life taken out of its natural habitat.

ironically it is science that takes us out of nature and gives us disease.

through mans quest to control everything it has destroyed the glabal balance and in the process created disease.

disease is natures defense mechanism which will inevitably destroy any life that wanders to far out of nature.

now unless we find a way to restore the balance quick smart us humans wont have a very long future.

how can you personally restore the balance? its simple. Create an AP system and show it of to family and friends. soon the ap virus will inoculate the planet and we might have a chance of survival.

as captain planet would say. "the powers in your hands"

i welcome everyone thoughts and ideas as i'm still trying to get my head around the whole concept. hopefully you guys can dispel or confirm my suspicions.

Wait...most diseases are caused by a parasite of some sort...
bacteria/virus/fungus/worm whatever...
these are just other species trying to get ahead in the world.

So really, a balanced ecosystem is one where nothing grows unfettered, because it would grow out of control.

When you take species out of their natural habitat, the balance shifts and disease can take control rather than being just part of the balance.
...or it doesn't, and you end up with something like cane toads...

The goal with something like ap is to create an ecosystem that promotes the stuff we like, so that controlling the pests and parasites that we don't like is easier.

I have personally spoken to a couple of hundred people at seminars and my workshop. I have a mailing list of around a hundred who want to be kept informed about the AP movement in SA. I guarantee that everyone who has been to my talks has talked AP to at least 10 people, who would have talked to 5 themselves and so on.... BF you have the right frame of mind, and the motivation and contacts to make it happen. I dunno about changing the world, but if we start on a local front, the global movement will naturally follow. Man, check out the members here, the US, Europe, all started from a Perth Backyard.

yep.

ho hum mmmm Rambeling thoughts I can help with that

It would seem to me you are close to the essence of it all and in fact have mentioned it already.'Balance' and yes when the balance is out then perhaps on a planetary scale things inexplicably move back to restoring the balance. If the balance is not restored then in comes Mr Dawin and natural selection.

When a system is out of balance then it weekens and becomes suseptible to disease or ruin until balance is restored or the system has collapsed and no further balance is needed. (hope fully not my AP system)

For example when you look at say an ecosystem that has been mismanaged over a short period of time with the possible result of key species (bees???)disappearing resulting in the collapse of a diverse system.

Greed/economics the use of gm crops and pesticides in large scale farming enterprises with an eye on the mighty dollar for an equitable return is not balanced and carries a higher price we will all pay when the balance is restored be it famin or what ever may come.

That is what is so beautiful and intriguing with AP the goal of creating a small diverse balanced system Fruit and veg fish crustations worms what an inspiring challenge

and helps restore some of the balance

Ok off to take my meds and bed now

I really like "eye on the mighty dollar" - it's like the eye of sauron, but real.

Unfortunatley evolution takes millions of years. Humans do things which tip the balance in a matter of generations. E.g. overfishing, killing off of sharks (which naturally prey on the sick and injured fish), the dissapearing bees thing. If we dissapeared tommorrow, 'balance' would be restored in ... ooh ... a couple of thousand years? Maybe a million?

Anyway, there is hope, apparently cuba is really organic and something like 20 or 30% of it's food production is actually done in back yards. This is all because of neccesity due to trade embargo's, but it can be done!

Also, I heard some anectodal evidence of natural selection occuring in aus: someone far north qld farmer was saying that he was seeing more snakes over the last 10 years than previous 10 years. Previously, the snakes would eat the cane toads and cark it. The idea here being that those that ate cane toads died, those that didn't, or the one with the genetic mutation making them immune to cane toad poison, lived on. Over a period of several decades those ones bred up and it's getting back towards equilibrium.

Of course there's lots of examples of evolution occuring in one lifetime - when they tried to eradicate mosquitos in order to destroy malaria, natural selection kicked in and beat them at every turn. So I guess it can happen quickly, but it needs lots of turnover of life. Another primo example is drug resistant diseases.

Sorry. I'm probably off topic. I rant, therefore I am.

thanks for the comments guys. you have given me more to think about.

i guess where i was going with this post is that in an ap system, over time a finely tuned ecosystem develops. my thinking is that fish and crustacean disease can be kept to a minimum and perhaps eradicated all together. ap systems seem to mimic nature and hence minimize disease. in such a system antibodies may be present in the water which control disease. the same could be said about a worm castings being fed to plants. also microscopic organisms in the water may actually convert diseases into beneficial components, perhaps even antibodies. in conventional bio-filtration these organisms are taken out of the water through water changes to keep nitrates down. with ap the organisms are kept in the system and the balance maintained.

just a thought.

with ya bf!!

Then aplane flies over spraying pesticides ,the wind changes and its all in your backyard,rainwater tank AP system etc .Sorry just having a wish i could go to sleep and not wake up tomorrow day.Colin

joking right?

i guess that perhaps the point is that you can only control systems at a local level. external factors are out of our hands. you can only do your bit in the world.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference !!

Gday Mick, hope ya doin well. BF, that new avatar is BF, Blooda Fantastico!

Mick's picture scares me, unfortunatly when he moved to Tasmania he grew another head.

so whats new!!