Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am hoping to do a little aquaponics experiment.... sometime in the next couple of months.. but only in planning stage at the moment...

first... i want to find out if i can grow azolla fertilised by nothing else but granite dust...
(plus water)
(available from soils aint soils very cheap) (waste output -> insoluble silica sludge)


if that's successful... i'd like to feed the azolla to Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSF) as their primary feed...

if that's successful... i'd like to feed the BSF larve, and frass to freshwater shrimp as primary feed

i could recirculate the water for the shrimp and have some hydroponics going on there too...

I would love to know if anyone has done any research into this path.......
there's an awful lot of if's there... and each step is complex...

it seems it may be a path to a commercial venture if it could scale up...
I am mostly interested in the hydroponic part (i was aiming to find a solution to expensive hydroponic nutrients)

failing that.. if all i do is prove i can grow azolla with granite dust and water, I can compost it, and grow hydroponicly from worm leachate, there should be enough nitrogen fixated by the azolla, and minerals chelated by the azolla.

or am i crazier than crazy dave from plants vs zombies....

Azolla requires nitrogen which rock dust doesn't have.

no, Azolla fixes nitrogen from the air, much like legumes do.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azolla

This is not the way for commercial aquaponics for sure.

You do all this to save money on fish food ( shrimp food ).

Whatever you save on the food, loose on the space. Going commercial is all about space and labour... greenhouses are expensive to build and run ( heating-cooling ). If you add extra tasks as well, you need more employees.

I think it just depends on your market, whether there is a perceived value to the way you do things and how successful you are at them .... Some of the best restaurants make at least some things from scratch so maybe that could work in AP - why limit your options, odds are if one person finds value then others may also.

Both scotty and Xtro are correct i think.

better to move away from AP and concentrate on using that method to make food for others to use in their AP.
or just do AP.

the more things you try to do at once, the less successful you will be at each, etc.

I think running an AP system and a fish food production system as separate entities would possibly be more work than worth-wile, unless on a big enough scale. But surely there's scope for well-designed integrated systems to move away from reliance on purchased fish food, if you have enough space and are prepared to sacrifice stocking density. Worms and scuds and fly larvae process (fish) waste and provide food as well. You could also use bug zappers etc and perhaps a tank for minnows to provide a balanced diet. Such a project would be too much work for backyard AP systems, but if it was on a large enough scale, and primarily fish oriented, I think it could be done. The idea of closing loops and manipulating and exploiting ecosystems where design allows for lower maintenance is the holy grail for permaculture. I bet the fish would taste excellent too!

Even though this kind of project is well beyond most the capacity of most backyards, I think its still a helpful thought experiment for the sake of food sustainability, which interests us all at the end of the day.

Apart from composting worms, bsf, scuds, flying insects (attracted to light), crayfish(?), minnows and veg for omnivorous fish... what other food resources could be integrated into aquaculture/ponics systems? Any ideas?

I've seen that people farm crickets on veg waste out there, I bet most fish would eat them happily! The aquarium owners also raise daphnia, which can be done using controlled algae blooms... a good food source for fry in a breeding system.