Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Been thinking about the use of worms within grow beds. There is a benefit of cleaning up solids from fish waste and dead plant material on top of the bed and within the grow bed media with the byproduct castings.
Worm castings are a great benefit in soil gardens, but what would happen within AP systems?

"Earthworm castings contain abundant essential elements plants need for healthy growth. Odorless and non-toxic, worm castings are an organic fertilizer that will not wash out with watering, and will not burn even delicate plants. Castings rival chemical fertilizers in their nutrient composition, providing a concentrated source of calcium, magnesium, and nitrogen. They are also rich in: Potassium and Phosphorus, but their real benefit is not the typical advertised NPK, nutrients etc., but from the microbial activity which usually includes over 380 beneficial microbes necessary for healthy soil activity and their ability to be readily absorbed by the plants." (quote from http://www.vermipro.com/Castings.htm)

A typical chemical composition : (all depends on what the worms are feeding on) from one web site:

Nutrient %

Nitrogen 2.0
Phosphorus 1.2
Potassium 1.0
Sulphur 0.4
Calcium 1.5
Magnesium 0.4
Iron 0.7

Any other thoughts on worm casts?

LB

gotta be good imo. They enrich their environment, so for us, I guess it means x fish goes so much further nute wise if you have y worms in ur gbs converting solid wastes to useable plant form. That they do this and then become part of the food chain is magnificent.

Gidday,
Great topic as I was thinking the same thing this week.

Speaking with a fish farmer on Monday was that he breeds them in the water for food.

From your suggestion it seems most likely that a handlful of worms per 1000L or so of growbed does make sense. Also then a few things from the compost heap too I wonder? the water circulation would be the thing to consider as most aquaponic users probably user closer impeller pumps rather than open impellor pumps which can pass solids more easily.

The wormies will probably keep away from the anaerobic areas of the growbed if they exist. So around drain areas they may just avoid naturally which is great.

So if water flow isnt too strong so they dont wash away and the grow medium is sorta dark and can be dug around in then the worms will like things perfectly. I dont know if the perlite I have would be that suitable in that case but NFT would work if it is packed.

Well I am no expert as I just researching now but hope that make for some help.

If you have an ideal ecology the worms will breed of course and just will be great food for fishes like you know...

Worms are cool.

cya *_^
Shaun

I have been feeding worms to the silvers in my aquarium they get sucked through the pump and end up in the filter when i backwash the filter the worms come out alive

I introduced composting worms into the growbeds some time ago to help break down the solid wastes. They are still in there, doing fine. I sometimes see them working on poo-clumps on the surface of the gravel.

We weren't able to get through all the bananas from our latest bunch - so I burried the 20 or so bananas straight into the grow-bed, to make full use of the potasium. Didn't take long at all for the worms to find them. Worms are good.

20 bannanas? thats like $30 worth!!

nah like you said Lb, it all depends on what your they are feeding on, so i wouldn't imagine they would add anything to the system (if anything take away) but i imagine they would breakdown the solids and make the nutrients in the fish/plant waste more accesable to the plants

They were only small ones, at the bottom of the bunch - off our own tree. Another 10 or so went into the worm farm.

I wonder if there might be a benefit to making use of an aquatic annelid worm. They might have access to more of the solids and if there more comfortable down by the drain where they might get sucked in to the fish tank--->free food.

thats ok then vb (i like the small bananas best, eg ladyfingers)

EffigyOfFaith in one of my small systems i put some blackworms (aquatic...) but when i dismantled the system there weren't any....maybe i killed them all or maybe they all got eaten i don't know....

Cool - worms, bananas (etc) and some other great ideas into the growbed of mine. I bet that sorta thing will cover iron deficiancy too perhaps..

Makes me think that the putting in rusty nails to create anaerobic bacteria is probably for those grow beds which dont have a few fruits lying in them.

two fruits for me ..... ahh bananas and err...
Pick a fruit for me... I discarded acidic fruits and and stopped at avocados as being too expensive in AU.

They chuck them away in kiwiland btw.

nice :arrow: 1

ta/ Shaun

What over the ditch onto mainland aussie!

Yup NZ exports some avocados but not a big market for them there so they get chucked out mostly I believe.