Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

i'd say they would and are part of the reason EB hasn't needed to clean his beds out

Yep, I figure worm play an impoertant part in keeping the gravel beds clean and adding nutrients to the system.

Thanks for the input. As for the safety of them I have no concern.
I have been speaking with a researcher, Dr. Savidov here in Alberta who is of the opinion that gravel beds are not so appropriate for intensive output due to the cleaning labor involved. So their choice was to use DFT with rafts. However, concern arose with longer term high feeder plants like tomatoes that as the root ball stays compact, inner material may start decaying offering a home for pythium, possibly infecting the whole bed. They are now looking at coir as a yearly throw away substrate so decaying matter can be removed quickly.

Gary Donaldson, it is interesting how you actually put the coir in the worm bins. We would be talking large worm bins for commercial operations, no?

Have you noted how fast they will clean up a given quantity of coir, taken an estimated quantity of worms? (I guess there are many variables here...like how much decaying matter is in the coir as well)

An issue I see is that the worms will not consume hard material, it must be softened first by decay. If this time period of decay provides a window for pathogens, then it may pose issues. In fact one way I have found to dramatically increase the worm population in my bin is to give them pulp (we juice in our household, creating veggie and fruit pulp). They consume it very quickly, and multiply rapidly as well.

I've found it also to be a great way of harvesting many worms from one area as well, by putting sweet pulp in a mesh sack in the bin. They will swarm to it provided there is not too much other food elsewhere in the bin.

Note: I'm not against gravel beds, I like them and favor them over raft. It seems more natural (to an extent). The question is how suitable it can be made for intensive food production.

Coir seems to be a great option here, especially due to its wieght.

Maybe sometime we will learn to breed worms with teeth to breakdown their own food....maybe not

Worms essentially use sand and non-digestible particles, as 'teeth' to help break down the organic matter, like sand and egg shells for example. Natures thought of everything..

Thanks for reminding me, I've got to throw some rockdust in my worm bin

Bloodworms have teeth, and they bite. Learned about them on Dirty Jobs with Mike Roe. They're a fishing worm, and a big industry in Maine (Northeast USA)


YUCK!!!

my understandimg of the worms is that they will only eat dead or decaying material so would make a GREAT addition to the growbeds. Whe you chop your tommy plant the "Joe's diner OPEN" neon light gets turned on for them

Janet.. We used to dig for bloodworms in the Swan River in Perth (somewhat illegally)... They love really muddy, decaying areas. We'd dig down and pile up the mud and pick them out by hand.... when we left we would joke that they were 'woggle turds'. A woggle is another name for the Rainbow serpent which comes from Aboriginal dream time, it was said a giant serpent made all the rivers and lakes, as it traveled through the country...

And yes they do bite... try and get them on a hook... takes a bit of practise.

What, its illegal to catch them?

Hi all compost worms are the most beneficial thing you can have in AQ system,great fish food and good house maids in grow beds.
jim.

Whole heartedly agree

I'm glad you explained what a Woggle was, Tim. I like the legend--that's a cool explaination for rivers.

Oooo, I just though of another thing to put in the growbeds. In the aquarium trade here, they have a Malaysian Trumpet Snail. They are used in aquariums to aerate the gravel and to remove decaying matter from the gravel. I used to have a whole colony, but I can't remember where I got them. I normally didn't see them except in the early morning or late evening when they ventured out of the gravel. Since they breathe via gills, they are more likely to stay put, but I would be concerned about them escaping from an outdoor system in a warm climate. I might have to make a few calls to see if I can locate another source.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_Trumpet_Snails

Hmmmm, wait, maybe not. I just found a reference to Malaysian Trumpet snails being the hosts for things like liver flukes. Yuck!

I've had a worm farm going for a while now and think it's great! Worms eat my Garbage and all. There are probably 2 or 3 different species in the initial batch that I got.

Anyway, I had a little hydroponics gurgle garden sitting outside but with no nutrient in it. The bubbler on it is solar so it only bubbled when sun was hitting the panel. I would not have expected there to be enough DO to support a red worm in there but when I emptied it out, there was a worm wriggling around in the little bit of gravel that had fallen into the water in the bottom tank. Wow. That one and a few others have been transfered into the soon to be AP system.