AP with fish and earthworm wicking beds

[Cyara]

Hello Everyone,

I hope this is the right place to put this. Couldn't find one more suitable.

I want to build an AP system where I can use algae to feed my fish. Algae clogs pumps so I will not be able to use a pump within the system to re-cycle water.

The sequence is of the water flow is ..... top- up water into fish pond ........ Solids Lifting Overflow .... gravity fed............ into base of wicking earthworm beds...... fibrous material wicks the water up to the plants.

I figure I will be able to use both the nutrients of the fish water and the nutrients created by teh worms for the plants and perhaps in this way not need to add anything to the system... ie. chelated iron... or seaweed plant food.

Ihave a design pic I can upload if interested.

Anyone done anything like this before?

Chelle

[JCO]

Pictures are always received with great interest as would be a diagram of your set up

[Cyara]

How do I upload an image from my PC?

Chelle

[davidstcldfl]

Click on the FAQ's button at the top of the page.....Frequently Asked Questions

Found the following under the heading....Formatting and Topic Types



Can I post images?

you must link to an image stored on a publicly accessible web server, e.g. http://www.example.com/my-picture.gif. You cannot link to pictures stored on your own PC (unless it is a publicly accessible server) nor images stored behind authentication mechanisms, e.g. hotmail or yahoo mailboxes, password protected sites, etc. To display the image use the BBCode [img] tag.

I use photobucket.com it's free to use. Just have to sign up first.

Hope this helps

[Cyara]

Big help. Thanks I should have thought of that.

Chelle

[francois]

[quote="Cyara"]nutrients created by the worms for the plants and perhaps in this way not need to add anything to the system... ie. chelated iron... or seaweed plant food.

that is all i use in my system

worms/vermicastings and vermitea i brew and the fish food and waste
add calcuim and iron every now and then
worms go very well with aquaponic's
never used anything else

[Cyara]

I like the sound of all you are doing there, Francois. Have you ever made compost tea to create more Efficient Microbes and sprayed it on your plants? I have bought everything so far and want to try when it warms up again.

I am hoping to avoid adding anything to my AP system that I cannot sustain from my farm.... even iron. I want to teach this to the very poor who will not have access to any extras. Maybe pieces of iron can be added to the system somewhere? I know if you cook on an iron skillet you never get an iron deficiency.......

Of course this is idealistic theory at this stage... many learnng curves ahead I am sure.

Chelle

[Cyara]

This is a SketchUp design of what I hope to do......



All water in the system is gravity fed. The long narrow pebble pond between the Fish Pond and the Wicking Beds is to store water and disperse via gate valves as needed into the reservoirs beneath the worm beds.... additionally also help in further breakdown of solids into nitrates. Once in teh reservoirs this is then wicked up as needed by normal water tension. I have been told it can wick up 300mm easily.

The reservoirs are 200mm and the wormbeds on top are 300mm... I will build up another 100mm higher just to keep soil in place..... soil will only come up 300mm. Mulch will be used at all times to save water and protect the worms. There will be an inspection pipe down into the reservoir to check water levels.

I will need to be sure to add enough wormbeds to be able to offload enough top up water to the fish to keep their water quality good. No pumps needed within the system... so no jam-ups with algae that feeds the fish.

What do you think? Any problems you can foresee?

Chelle

[francois]

Have you ever made compost tea to create more Efficient Microbes and sprayed it on your plants?
I am hoping to avoid adding anything to my AP system that I cannot sustain from my farm.... even iron. I want to teach this to the very poor who will not have access to any extras. Maybe pieces of iron can be added to the system somewhere? I know if you cook on an iron skillet you never get an iron deficiency.......

Of course this is idealistic theory at this stage... many learnng curves ahead I am sure.

Chelle

We are aiming at the same target

[Cyara]

Great!