Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

In larger systems where the initial fish stock would be minimal compared to size of the system (large ponds, pool), wouldn't it be easier to just start with fish and have the system adapt as it needs to? Wouldn't the extra tank water dilute everything so much that quick (and drastic) changes are unlikely to happen with fish and plants?

I'm lost, what are we referring to here?

Are you commenting on the use of hummonia to fishless cycle a large system? Fishless cycling is something that many of us do so we don't need to worry as much about having huge Ammonia and Nitrite spikes after we put live fish into the system. Fishless cycling can shorten cycling time a fair bit since water changes are usually not needed since there are no fish to kill yet. Still it usually takes three to several weeks to fishless cycle while it usually takes several to eight weeks to cycle with fish depending on the situation.
I personally think fishless cycling of a system is far better than the nerve racking cycling with a batch of new fish

who so want to eat yet if you feed them you could kill them so you do water changes which slows things down and if your source water has a high pH it makes the ammonia more dangerous and you add salt for the nitrite but you need more air and ya better test the water before you feed the fish, oh but the other half already fed the fish and now the numbers are way high, better do a 50% water change again.

And having a system all cycled up when you get the fish means you already have plants growing and ready to use nitrate and probably a pretty stable pH before you go risking the live creatures.

Granted, a cycled system doesn't stay cycled if you quit feeding it for very long. Keeping a system ready for a new batch of fish after all the old one were harvested can be good.

Granted, if you have a huge body of water and are planning only a small amount of fish, then cycling might be a moot point, you may never get readings if it is a well balanced system. If you want to harvest more and stock more, fishless cycling has benefits.

I've always figured my wife WAS the greatest risk involved with kissing my girlfriend/boyfriend.

One can always avoid root crops, cook all your AP produce, or use other precautions when using more biologically risky nutrient sources.

Very interesting thread. The high nitrogen content makes it worth investigating. You seem to be getting some very good results TC.

Came across this article....
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 093608.htm

How long do you bottle it?

Used in compost it is supposed to get it hot quickly. Not good for worms then maybe? What about diluted for vermicomposting? And add vermicompost (earthworms remove pathogens) to feed algae and zooplankton in fish pond which then feeds tilapia.

I won't be recirculating on such a system. Seems like algae causes too many problems.

Saw a guy on discovery use it to "mark territory" in a survival situation to keep predators away from where he was sleeping. Only male pee works with this. Keep monkeys away? Might just try it and see. Going to be fun selling the idea!!

DW keeps reminding me that she wants an inground pool, yesterday I joked that people could swim in the new AP setup's in-ground sump, as long as they promise to pee in it!

I usually leave the pee bottled for a month before using it either in the pee ponic system or diluted and used around the gardens instead of miracle grow.

So, we have now moved the barrel pee ponic system over next to the new duckweed pond frame. I've plumbed it so that I can leave it operating as just the barrel system for now and when I have the larger pond all set to go, I'll put the siphon loops so they drain into the 3" pipe that will drain into the larger pond. The far end of the larger pond will have a stand pipe that will drain back into the "barrel fish tank" which can act as a sump and has the pump in it. For now the barrel grow beds are draining directly into the "barrel fish tank" sump.

The Cook got a little carried away when he went out to get the duckweed. One or two small buckets would have been plenty but he came back with 6 and only two of them were the small buckets. I hope the chickens like duckweed.

Anyway, here are a couple pictures from today.

I tried giving the duckweed to my chooks, but they didn't seen to like it.

Tony

It took mine a while to get used to duckweed, when I had it.

What does this storage add to the pee-power?

We don't seem to have Miracle grow here. Did see a video where the woman kept mentioning it. Main constituent is Urea?

You give it dried or wet DDM?

I find that the chickens take a while to get used to some kinds of new things while other things rarely even hit the ground when we throw them in.

I am curious how best to use the duckweed as a feed supplement. And what are the best ways to dry it?

I've decided that a separate thread is called for since I now have a Duckweed PeePonics set up going rather than the simple PeePonics. so here is the new thread which will probably make a good place for exploring more duckweed specific stuff.
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5199&p=180960#p180960

That tread is linked back to this one for those who wish info about using the hummonia, urine, pee and the safety of such.

As a home brewer and a lover of beer, I can supply a lot of pee!

I firmly believe a large pee ponics system could greatly benefit any family that hates fish. Starting an aquaponics system off pee ponically is also a great way to get the grow beds cycled and keep them cycled and keep the plants going when you may not have fish. I've found that my pee ponic system seems to need about all the same supplements that my regular aquaponic system needs. Probably because they both use the same source water.

FYI
Though I still believe that PeePonics is great and all.
At this moment I do not have a pure PeePonic system running. I just have too many fish to be adding any of my own Pee to any of the systems. However, starting up a new system with Humonia is the way to go and it is how I will be cycling up the new 300 gallon system once I get some gravel into it. And hook up the plumbing of course.