Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello everyone!

I'm new to this forum and to aquaponics! I've just recently discovered aquaponics while searching for a way to keep duck ponds clean. From what I have seen and read so far I see that aquaponics mainly serves to raise fish and plants. (And what an AWESOME way to recycle water, grow food and raise fish!) I'm hoping to incorporate my ducks into that equation somehow or another.

The catch... I don't ACTUALLY have ducks. (YET!) But I do hope to have some in the future. I plan to raise a few ducks for eggs and meat to feed my family, and maybe also some to give away. I haven't looked into selling meat, eggs or ducklings from my homestead. I fear that it may be a little more than I can handle because I don't want 50 ducks to take care of! I have WAY too many other animals that also demand my time on the homestead. I have attached a few photos of some drawings I came up with shooting ideas around. (Please try your best to refrain from any artistic critique! HAHA) These are drawings of what I have come up with so far for my little duck "habitat". If there are any members on this forum that raise ducks themselves or know anything about raising ducks please feel free to critique my ideas or point out any flaws you may see!

Back to aquaponics... I want to set up an aquaponics system using the pond in my duck pen. Does anyone know if this is even possible? Pros and Cons of a system set up this way?

I want to set it up this way so that the water in my duck ponds is always being filtered (hopes that this will keep the pond clean as everyone knows how messy ducks are!) as well as grow some great food! I still have LOTS of reading to do on aquaponics so that I can better understand the way it works. If anyone knows of some good threads I could read, please post a link to them.

I hope to be able to raise fish in my duck pond. Does anyone have any experience with this, or know if this would work out?

I hope to be able to bury some pipes that would run to a green house so that the filthy (but nutrient rich) waste water out of the duck pond can be filtered through my plants and then returned to the duck pond, providing clean water for the fish and ducks and nutrients for my plants!

I have heard of people putting chicken coops over their fish tanks to provide the fish with "food". Apparently fish like to eat chicken poo. Does anyone know if fish like to eat duck poo?

I would like to try to feed my fish and my ducks off of the land (so-to-speak), maybe by growing things in the pond that both the ducks and the fish could eat. I am trying my best to get away from commercial feed if at all possible. Not only because of the cost, but also because I want my animals to grow as naturally as possible (like they would in the wild).

So... What do you guys think about my system? Could it work?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hey AD....

Try this search result.. Duckaponics, a few people have tried it out.
search.php?keywords=duckaponics&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

I raise ducks, geese, turkey, and chickens, but I don't think I would like to integrate them into the aquaponics. They make a HUGE mess of the water. Luckily I have a 1 acre pond for them to go into that I don't have to clean. Nature does a great job of that. Our ducks just started laying eggs about 2 weeks ago, and they are already fertile. I have bunch of them under some broody hens right now and all of them are progressing well.

Thanks for the link! Lots of interesting info.

I have heard that ducks can make a huge mess of a water source very quickly. I wonder if a system like this could work with a limited number of ducks and a large enough pond? Or would the ducks make such a mess of the water that it is unsafe for the fish and plants?

I've also heard that some people would not let ducks near their fish because the ducks would scare the fish. Anyone have any experience with this?

I know if they get near my grow beds they eat all of the plants they can reach.

TCLynx does duckaponics.

Just a note... don't grow vegetables w/ duck/chicken water! Unlike fish, their feces carry pathogens! I know the above mentioned member grows decorative plants w/ it though.

If the plants are grown for the ducks to eat, not people, I think the pathogen issue would be minimized. That would be a good way to keep the nutrient cycle a little more closed. But I would refer to TCLynx's expertise on this. She is on the ball when it comes to food safety, plus she already does it.

or make sure you only grow food you'll cook (the crap out of)

What about setting up a system that pumped the duck pond water up the hill to the greenhouse where the fish and plants are?

Letting the duck pond water first go through the fish tank (for fish to eat the "poo") and then onto the grow beds..

Then the water would flow back down the hill and back into the duck pond as "clean" water.

All of the pipes would be buried and ducks would not have access to the greenhouse or the fish. It would be setup outside of their pen.

I would like my duck pond to be about 15ft long and 10ft wide across on one side and 5ft across on the other side (an abstract shape). I used an online calculator that came up with 4500-5000 gallons.

Would the pump be able to pump enough water through the system to keep the water clean without drowning the plants?

How does that sound?

If you have a hill to work with there are a lot of fun possibilities to work with, just make sure your pump can handle the head. I like the idea of having a bunch of gravel grow beds terraced, and cascading, one after the next. I would probably grow ornamental fish if the goal is to have the fish eat the poo. Again, it is a pathogen vector I would not want to risk personally. The plants would not drown as long as your drain pipes are large enough in diameter. If you are concerned about the water flowing through too fast, just add more grow beds in parrallel. The cascading idea I mentioned earlier is not parallel, but series.