Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am interested to know who else has worked with red worms (eisenia fetida)
in their growbeds, and more importantly, focused upon fully utilizing the worms to take care of waste buildup in the grow beds.

With intensive operations the amount of waste material can be great, including root material left behind from frequent harvesting. The excess decaying material may become a food source for pythium, which can bring on disease symptoms.

I have worms in my beds, every once in a while I see one or two but they are definitely not propagating as much as in the compost bin.

My other curiosity is if they mind coir, as it has some attractive traits as a grow media in aquaponics.

Hi,

In Australia, Eisenia fetida are called tiger worms.....and they are compost worms (as distinct from earthworms).

Worms go fine in coco coir.....we use coco to grow vegetables and then give it to the worms to clean all of the root and other decaying matter out of the coir.

I agree with you......coir does have a role to play in aquaponics.

raimiuso - today I removed some large plants from my grow-bed to make way for some other things. I found several worms - not sure what type but they are composting ones (don't think tigers though). They are clearly breeding in my sytem as I saw today, just in a small part of my bed, more worms that I put in. I only put 4 in from my worm farm a few months ago. I think this will prompt me putting more in. I agree the role of the worms will be to help clean up decaying matter such as old roots.

Gary - good to see you back, you been on holidays or something. Would love to see a picture of your system to see the progress.

errr. not to put a dampner on your party BUT

Worms are not a good sign mate!...........

stop feeding

Are you talking to me crusty? If so - what is the basis for this claim?

Not sure veggie, just replying to the situation..

Got a private message that did not really substantiate anything, but hey I am apparently wrong.....

Aquaponics I thought you guys would have known about worms.......

As you are well aware Crusty the PM has not relationship to this thread. This is all I will say.

The Pm has no relationship to anything mate. Your bacteria does though.....

For those reading this thread who may suddenly be concerned about compost or earth worms in their systems - these types of worms are a good thing. They are simply another postive part of the whole ecosystem we are creating in our aquaponics sytems.

Mmmm one has to wonder about the security of worms yes?.

Bio boy has the word of it really folk when thinking about it....

Short tip: Worms of any form are the first indicators of poor water quality. I think this topic started about redworms yes?........ From memory it says something about enrichment or something...

Crusty - my water quality is outstanding. Crystal clear, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and nitrate levels sufficient to grow plants at a phenominal rate, but at a level that does not bother the fish (about 80). One of the beautiful things about a well run aquaponics system using methods that many of us here use is that the grow-beds can be quite dirty with fish poo residue, but the fish tank water is very clean. This means happy plants and happy fish. The reason why we would like to see worms in out beds, adn why we introduce them, is that they will help to break down organic matter left by the plants (and the fish) keeping the beds from blocking up in any way.

Out of interest - can you just describe for us your current aquaponics system.

Errr. no you can not see my current ponics system, as I dont have one.

Ok worms are good worms are great!!!!!

hey my first post wasnt going to post till i have my first aquaponic venture set up, but this topic got me really interested, so i thought id throw my .02 cents in

crusty, just wondering why u would consider red/composting worms bad in AP? i understand there are many 'bad' worms that can harm and infest fish, but the composting worms are harmless to fish and cannot harm them, so i am wonderin why it would be bad? disease concerns?

actually jsut thinking now, from memory redworms can secrete a slime that predators dont like when frightened, but i duno if this stuff actually harms the fish in any way... anybody have a definitive answer?

i have a few planted aquariums, all have been set up for over 2yrs so there is plenty of debris (i call it nutrients ) in the gravel. anyways when i do vaccume the gravel (maybe once a month), sometimes i will see a blackworm or 2 (escapee's from my live food feedings) come up from the gravel, and they dont seem to be causing any harm

anyways hi all!

I think it was the tiger worms with the secretions, apparently it makes them "unpaletable" to the fish..............some one should tell this to my fish........LOL

Personally i was stoked when i found some earthworms in my grow bed when re-arranging it, they called it home of their own accord. I've since dropped a few composting worms (tigers) in too.

Also regarding a post that stated that worms are the first sign of poor water quality, i know for a fact that they will not tolerate very low DO yet will quite happily survive months under water when there is high DO. I guess it all depends on what you term "water quality".

If water quaity means the sterility of some aquaria with their UV clarifiers and incessant waterchanges to keep NO3 as close to zero then NO my AP system would not qualify.

But if water quality mean zero ammonia zero nitrites high DO and marginal NO3 to support plant life and a host of mircro flora and fauna then you're talking about AP.

Thanks kinda cool, putting redworms in the gravel. I bet they would break down the bits of roots left over when you pull out old plants. Maybe I could dig some up come spring.