Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I did a bit of research on worm casts and found a lab report detailing the benefits and the composition of the worm casts and i put what i found to the test. i have a new ibc system that wasn't not cycled at all and i had added the fish (due to getting a bargin on the fish prices), i noted the ph, ammonia and nitrate levels and obviously there was a big fat zero and a nice neutral ph. I added 1.5 litres of liquid worm casts into the system (2000 litres) and overnight the nitrate levels went from zero to 40ppm, the ammonia and ph were the same as before the adding of the worm casts. the water ended up a bit discoloured, but i reckon it will settle out in a few days. i wont add any more casts to the system and over time i will continue to monitor the levels and see what happens naturally. not a bad way to kick start a new system i thought....

worm castings are fantastic

They work wonders

save a step and put worms in your growbeds

Natures little growbed cleaners they are!

That worked out pretty well. Just so someone else can try this, what's your method for getting liquid worm castings?

as worms process their "dinner" they convert it into a solid material (like dirt) and also a liquid form, the liquid just falls into a reservoir at the bottom of the worm farm and can be collected from there as required. both forms are very volatile and WILL burn your plants, I use both forms at a 20:1 ratio will excellent results. I only feed the worms leaf matter veggie scraps etc, no meat, onion or citrus. I tried to do a nitrate test on the liquid castings prior to adding it to the system but due to the colour of the castings it will be very inaccurate, so I added the 1.5 litres of castings into the system and tested the results from there, as it turns out its AWESOME to get the nitro cycle into full swing, I call it "nitro" cause it went from zero to warp speed in no time at all. in just 3 days I have seen a massive spike in growth and the system appears to be at optimum levels. I usually add worms to the system, but since the system has only just started, there isn't any need to add worms, their food source wouldn't be sufficient as yet, once their food supply is at a decent level I will introduce them into the system and the can do their magic. as a side note, I have been feeding the worms the heavier solids from the swirl filter I have on my system, it sure don't last long, I put roughly 1 kg into the worm farm and overnight its gone. hungry gutted little buggers, it takes a week to get that amount of solids from the filter and they eat it overnight.......all in all, a good way to get a new system up and running and in a very short period of time.

Some people brew worm tea in a bucket with water, vermicompost, some molases and lots of aeration. That's really why I asked, everyones got their own way. Thanks.

At least you guys have worms to make tea... here in the Bahamas we don't have worms that I'm aware of and aren't allowed to import 'em. Bought a 15 lb. bag of dry Earthworm Castings off of Amazon from a company called Pure Organic.. Hey! For $10, how bad could it be?

I may be wrong about this but I am sure that I read somewhere that the liquid that runs of from say a worm farm is called "leachate" and while it does have very beneficial nutrients it wasn't necessarily a great idea to add it directly to your AP system without first doing what scotty435 described above.. aerating for a few days and perhaps adding some molasses to help the bacteria breed (this was due to the fact there could be some non beneficial bacteria in the leachate as it is so anaerobic).

I could be wrong but worth looking into

Check this out:
http://community.theaquaponicsource.com ... m-leachate

Aside from worm casting, is there any other way for cleaning the fish tank?