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Thread: Lake as FT?

  1. #1
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    Re: Lake as FT?

    I'm just a beginner as well so take my thoughts with some grain of salt...

    Murray Abraham talks about in his dvd "aquaponics made easy" about people that want to use their existing swimming pool as a FT and why it is not advisable to do that. The minimum FT/GB-ratio is around 1:1. For 1000L you need 1000L of grow beds.
    A olympic size swimming pool, 50x25x2 meters, is 2,500,000L. So a straight up aquaponics system won't really work. Besides, a fish to water ratio of 10l to 1 fish is usually standard. That's 250 000 Koi Karp in a olympic sized swimming pool... :P

    But in nature the fish waste lays on the bottom of the lake and creates soil, very nutrient rich soil.
    A more practical solution might be to have a fish farm in the lake and 2-3 times a year pump/dig/remove/drain the sediment at the bottom of the lake under the fish farm and use it to fertilize the land.

    If I owned a lake I would introduce and raise high value fish like rainbow trout in the lake and plant a lot of fruit and nut trees around the lake and just sit back on the porch and enjoy my life. =)
    Off course nothing would then stop me building a green house with a aquaponics system in it beside the lake...

    By the way, if you're planning on buying some land with a lake on it, google the name Sepp Holzer for some inspiration.

  2. #2
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    Re: Lake as FT?

    it's murray hallam..
    in most lake/pond systems, there are plants already in the water.. i would imagine that if you test for nitrates, it will come back pretty low..
    but.. if i had a pond, i'd set up a cage culture and draw water from near the cage to water a few beds..

  3. #3
    Moderator JCO's Avatar
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    Re: Lake as FT?

    The minimum FT/GB-ratio is around 1:1. For 1000L you need 1000L of grow beds.
    This is not necessarily so. I have a 4,400 fish pond I built and my one and only grow bed is approx. 500 gals give or take. My Koi do just fine and so do my veggies. You can see my system here:- NOW YOU'VE GOT DUCKWEED !

    The main thing you have to have is a bio-filter that will handle the fish tank volume regardless of how big the grow beds are. Fish can stand a high count of nitrates but not nitrites. I also grow duck weed in my grow bed and fish pond which helps eliminate some of the nitrates.

    As for pulling water from the lake, just for grins, why not get a test kit and test to see what the make up of the lake water is. PH, nitrites, nitrates etc. That will answer that question for you, however I do not recommend piping it to a fish tank attached to your system due to unwanted parasites such as dragonfly larvae and leeches. Also be aware of any pesticide spraying of field crops and also for mosquitoes in your area because those chemicals will be in your lake water.
    JCO
    Irish eyes are always smiling but
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