Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was watching the national geographic channel the other day and they were doing a bit about Hawaii and how all the islands were formed.

So first there was just this mountain that came out of the ocean, the volcano, and became the island. This was just a big piece of ash and solidified lava. There was no organic matter to contain nutrients and hence no plant life. However one plant, I forget the name, was able to thrive there, and its droppings and all formed the compost which gave Hawaii's rich flora and fauna a place to be.

Now this plant survived by evolving long roots which would hang through the lava into underground tunnels which had been formed due to lava flow and now had water and nutrients in them, thereby evolving so as not to need dirt.

They din't mention the term aquaponics or hydroponics in it but I immediately made the connection. Was quite an interesting watch, so AP is thousands of years old

The chinese used carp in their rice paddies to clean up bugs and fertilise the rice.

What you're describing doesn't sound like aquaponics at all - where are the fish? What you're describing is survival of the fittest, adaptation, etc culminating in evolution.

Here's another tidbit like what you describe - did you know that the soil of the amazon is really poor? Essentially all species are thriving on the stuff which all other species are shedding, which is why after they've burnt it down, it's only good for one crop.

Thats friggin scary gemmell. I wonder where we will be after they have cleared the whole of the amazon, like they are intent on doing it seems. That along with fishless seas.
Maybe we will have a massive algal bloom in the oceans to produce the oxygen we need

I remember David Attenborough ... saying that the salmon arrive in great numbers swim up the rivers mate and die the nutrients from their decaying bodies help to fertilise the soil, sustaining the forests of tall pines in North West US

The amazon thing is the same as composting

What I said is like the hydroponic part of AP ainnit

It's not the same as composting, it IS composting.

Another interesting tidbit on the same program was that the indians native to the forest would slow burn stuff to improve soil. Slow burning keeps the nutrients in the charcoal, rather than forcing them up into the atmosphere when you do "slash and burn" style clearing. But the interesting thing is that the researches found "deep spots" where the soil was really quite good for a good depth, and it was because the indians in there had cultivated that patch for hundreds/thousands of years, actually improving the soil.

Ah potato potato

Has anyone seen the discovery channel on the deep sea fish farming though? Only caugh a bit of that and really want to see it.