Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I don't see why not - though would want to make sure it gets eaten, otherwise it would make things pretty rank. Also, chicken guts could form part of the pellet recipe - cooked.

Hey VB, you know i stuck up reetts kitchen making some "pellets"

what seemed to be a disater turned out to be wuite paletable to the fish once they got used to it. There is a lst of ingredients i ueds somewhere around here.

The problme for me was that it was very labour intensive, i even bought a sausage maker for it.

i'd love to do it again, and i feel that like any "one-off" a system and/or machine could be setup to make it worth while.

Maybe in batches of monthly feed.

Time time time.............

The sausage maker would be better off modified with the cuting blade on the outside of the die............


HA! I've just found an excuse for a tig welder that i've been trying to justify buying for the last year! Hooray!

I used 30 odd silver perch that died from low DO during a pwer out. They had been frozen, and i boiled them and added them to the ingredients.

Hi Steve, don't know if you subscribe or can get hold of the article but the recent Aquaponics Journal has an article titled

"Jade Perch and Duckweed Combined in Aquaponics"

With production of duckweed-based feed pellets as the end goal, research scientists in Australia are combining jade perch production with duckweed culture

Could be interesting as a lot of you are already doing either Jade or Silver Perch and duckweed

I have been planning on using sprouts. (grain, beans, alfalfa, etc.) I have been trying to modify my design to have a section that would wash bags of seed/sprouts as they were headed back into the main tank. I'm looking at omnivorous/herbivorous fish for that reason.

I still have a way to go before I have everything worked out....

My first shot at sprouting millet was a failure. I think I got hold of stale seed, so while a few sprouted, the rest made this odd smell in the bottom of the jar.

I can envision blending foods into a paste and then putting the paste through a pasta extruder. The other thing that I wonder if it would work is the leftovers from when my husband makes beer. He uses sacks of grains and boils them in my kitchen. (Actually smells nice.) I wonder if the leftover boiled grains would make good fish food, or if all the good stuff has been cooked out.

Janet- The boiled stuff has some of the stuff boiled out, but as long as it's not the only diet, they should be okay. My thoughts on sprouting are to have the return from an autosiphon pass through a seive-like container that would have the seeds in it. This way they would get drenched regularly, but not be soaking. I know you have some experience sprouting, so I wanted to get your opinion on whether you think it would work.

G - I have been thinking of doing something similar - takes the labor out of the sprouting process and makes it less likely that things will go bad from not rinsing often enough etc. Good one.

yep, read it, got given a subscription for christmas.

VB, the last week here, drying duckweed would have been easy. HOT!

obviously you need consistant year round "dryability"

It is amazing though how duckweed can form a layer over the top which seems to stop lower layers from drying. I reckon it would still have to be turned and stuff.

true

VB, Couldn't you use a dehydrator for that?

My intention would be to use a big solar dehydrator. Either way, not much will be produced - cause 98% or something is water. There was an article on here somewhere about a uni drying large amounts in some sort of greenhouse or something. Had to be turned all the time - okay for them as they had students as free labour.

Yea for free labor, How about a grill rotissery(sp) to slowly turn a drying bed of the duckweed?

Could do all sorts I suppose - but I would like to do it without power if possible.

Got dragged into the local nursery today by the wife and on the off chance asked if he had any duckweed he wanted to get rid of.

Got a load of azolla free - now taking up pride of place in the new system (under shadecloth )