Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi, I want to make a small system that uses mealworm frass as the ammonia source, and no fish, since I can't figure out an optimal fish-solution in my current situation. And besides, I guess using frass will allow me to use the full biofilter capacity at all times.

So the current plan looks like this:



Each tray is 80x40x17cm, with the upper being filled with leca, the lower front being DWC, and the lower back being the sump. The main reason for using both GB and DWC is to get experience with both. The pump would be in the sump tank. And worms in the GB.

So I will add mealworm frass to the sump tank, which then pumps to the GB, where the worms break down whatever is not fully broken down, the bacteria do their thing, and drains into the DWC, which then overflows back to the sump.

I will probably fit pipes to the holes so that I can control the splashing better.

Does this make good sense? Should I change anything?

How big a pump would this require? I assume I could get away with a smaller pump than with a corresponding fish-system?

Why don't you just go with an organic hyrdoponic solution?

There are plenty of options out there, some made from fish and so forth, just dump in the solution, and pump. Then follow standard hydro rules for turnover of solution.

Yeah I accept that it would probably be a lot easier and simpler to just go hydroponics, but one of the main reasons why I want to make it like this is that I also want to build an aquaponics greenhouse at some point, and in that greenhouse I want to use both GBs (with worms) and DWC as well as probably use something like mealworm frass to compensate for the lack of waste produced by the fish when they're small.

So I want this small fishless system to give me experience with all those things, and also, I have a lot of mealworm frass anyway, and can get lots more easily and cheaply.

There are biological hydroponic systems, similar to what you're thinking of. But without the fish, it's still hydro, or vermiculture with the worms (from memory anyway).

The problem with rotting matter in the GB's, is that it causes mold and bacterial issues. Worms work great in a growbed eating fish solids, and eating dead plant roots, but too much rotting matter isn't a good thing.

With just the way you're thinking, I don't think you won't get the plant growth you want. Keep your worms for the scraps, they'll work great there.

However, I haven't tried it, so I could be very wrong.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. What rotting matter are you referring to?

In my understanding, the mealworm frass (which I plan to add to the sump tank daily) should be already almost completely broken down, with a little bit of undigested wheat bran still present, which I assume the composting worms I plan to put in the GB could then break down, as well as break other compounds in the frass further down.

Ahh, I thought you meant using the GB as a wormfarm, and putting all your scraps in there.

So you want to make a worm tea to grow the plants in?

I still think you'd need something else to give it a boost.

See what the others say.

Ah ok it makes sense now!

Well, the mealworm is not technically a worm but a beetle larvae, so I guess it's probably different from worm tea. Also, it's completely dry.

The numbers I've found for mealworm frass are:

Nitrogen-4.17%
Phosphorus-2.70%
Potash-1.64%
Sodium-62.9mg/100gms
Iron-26.5mg/100gms

While the numbers I found for fish waste are NPK=9-6-2 (they didn't mention what fish)

So there's a difference, but do you think it matters so much that I would have to add something else?

I think it would work well. Mealworm frass is an excellent fertiliser and would be similar to adding charlie carp (liquid fish product) to your system. I think you would need worms in the growbed to break down any small solids


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you must have a lot of mealworms.

Well, currently my mealworms are in a bit of a forced hibernation as I can't give them a lot of heat at the moment. I have about 10kg frass lying around which should last a while, and I can buy it cheaply from a local mealworm farm.

..
Part of my works, consists of ordinary worm farms, processing kitchen scraps etc..

But, with a difference.. once the worms have moved up a chamber, I move the castings and the juice, to a tall drum with rain water and an air pump..
This completes the mineralisation process, ending with a rich and dark and clear liquid..

The aeration process lifts solids that cake on the wall at the surface, and these go back to the worm farm and interestingly, the worms rush it, if worms can.rush anything...

Blood-n-bone etc can be added to the wormfarms to further enrich the process..

I doubt money could buy a better hydroponics power source, but I have no idea of the NPK etc. Values...
..
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When you do go to full aquaponics, you can feed your mealworms to your fishes too! So then you've got a live feed, which coupled with bsf for your kitchen scraps could keep you mostly off of pellets. I'd shy away from the mealworms as a sole feed because fishes don't digest the exoskeleton very well though. Hmm.

BuiDoi: thanks for the info! For a long time, it's been bothering me to throw vegetable waste out with ordinary trash, and a worm bin sounds like a good solution! Especially since I could then use the worm castings in the pseudo-aquaponics system!

sparhawk: yeah, that's indeed the main reason I started growing mealworms. About bsf, I don't have a warm enough place to grow flies, living in northern Europe. Btw I read an article where catfish eating only mealworms for 8 weeks didn't show any negative effects, so the same might be true for rainbow trout. At this point I don't plan to feed rainbow trout with only mealworms, however.

The exoskeleton thing is just what I've read on aquarium forums. If you can't do bsf, you'll probably be using red worms, right, red wigglers? Just make sure you avoid meat in there because it rots and will attract rats and such, which will eat your worms.

Hej zhai, I know this is a very old post but I am wondering if its safe to add some amount of mealworm frass as a supplement to my aquaponics growbeds (which are also colonised with compost worms)
How did it go for you?
Did you add the frass just as powder or dilute in water first?
How much did you add per day etc?

Would be awesome to get some pointers and idea how it worked for ya?

All the best