Dear aquaponics experts, I'm planning an experiment, input required.

[DownDrome]

Dear aquaponics experts.
I want to do this experiment where I set up an aquaponics system and support a live rodent indefinitely for a bachelors thesis. Now I know there are a lot of pages here on the subject and I will read them. I just though it would be much easier if some people could fast track the search somewhat. So I know the basics of aquaponics systems and the principle of operation, what I need to know right now is more a question of scale, so I can plan my system properly. And of course ill be growing hey or something with a fast cycle, not that I wouldn’t want to feed the wee thing weed for a diet but perhaps that is another study.

So one rodent (Gunney pig)
How much grow area? I’m thinking at least 1 metre squared.

Light for 1 metre grow area is probably at least 400w hps, but I would like to try those large ESLs because this is an environmental study and I should think of all the energy inputs.

Volume of tanks for the proposed area? There I am quite stumped.

What was the fish to plant matter ratio?
And id rather have a larger than smaller fish tank as I’m not one for punishing fish and packing them in there, but still I need a high enough nutrient concentration.

Size of worm tank ?

I basiccly have to establish the system and build up my worms and dry hey and when I have a sufficient cache I can insert the rodent. Any idea how long that might take to establish?

Well that’s the bare balls of the operation. Please any comments, and also people who know about rodents and things please contribute.

Peace.

 

[MrFista]

From what I gather there's only one aquaponics expert here, and it's me. I'll help if I can.

Get the tank cycled first with some mature biology from another tank to help.

Do not use drippers.

Grow a bed of salad greens like - spinach lettuce cress bok choi parsley etc etc. fill it up with seeds so it grows like a carpet and cut the top off regularly to promote new growth and to feed the guinea pig.

150 litres to support 1 - 1.5 kilos fish will easily grow 1 m2 garden.

With the system started you are looking at only weeks to get the seedlings started and should be feeding the guinea pig after one month.

Keep the water temp over 20 and the garden in the sun (some lettuce hate full sun replace them with something else.

If you want a full eco-system to really impress them with

Grow Black Soldier Flies and feed them to fish. Have an azolla/algae culture running to catch nutrient excesses in water (and feed fish).

Raise fish on BSF pre-pupae and algae and azolla. Use the fish wastes for Aquaponics. Use the remaining BSF waste and anything filteres from your fish water for worms. Feed excess worms to BSF - fish don't like red wrigglers.

For the above ecosystem you feed the soldier flies garbage and they supply fresh maggot meal to your fish. The rest of the things grow from the results of this feed source.

 

[DownDrome]

Thanks alot, i never thought about flies before. Yes its a true thing that fish eat maggots.

Do you think that 1 m2 of greens will support a gunney pig? And i read somewhere that gunney pigs need dry feed for the most part and greens would be supplimental. Anyway i have to think and absorb the content of your message and then a little more reasearch on some of the things you brought up, then i will have some questions. So please do check up on this thread from time to time.

Thanks MrFista

 

[MrFista]

Hey you're welcome I love aquaponics people!

1 m2 for a guinea pig sounds fine but check... Dry food - where in nature are they getting this. We had guinea pigs they ate salad and grass and bred very well so no nutrient problems there. Sounds like someone trying to sell you feed.

 

[growsmall]

^^exactly wheres a guinea pig gonna get dry food in the wild aquaponics is a good enviromental thing i grow veges NFT from my pond and also flood and drain a small patch from the pond too if you follow mr. fiestas rule of thump you should be right 150litres 1-1.5kg fish and probabily 4 or 5 square ft growth area happy growin hope your project turns out well i tried with a 5 litre gold fish tank simple flood n drain for chieves as a sort of ornimental windowsil piece for the kitchen make sure you have a way to get rid of excess ammonia if only using a small growing bed peace

 

[DownDrome]

Well i read it somewhere about the guinea pigs (I'm not a pet keeper), and i thought that gunney pigs came from the arid reigons of south america or is that chinchilas. But if you say so Mrfista, that they eat whatever, then whatever will be my grow. Yea i'm still pissing around getting the information together so i can apply for a grant. Well i got like a year to complete it and im a lazy bastard at heart. Thanks for the feedback all. The great thing is that i might have some good lighting left over for a microgrow after i've finished with this project.

Be well all

 

[Kenny Lingus]

Talk to Bong Song and Shipperke too I think, but you should maybe research this deeper on your own to fully get the understanding of lifecycle-systems that are near self sustained.

Coll project I must admit. Good luck on it!

 

[growsmall]

try barrelponics most likely have to add plenty seasol (liquid seaweed) but that should work nice and is a cool way to use the aquaponics method on a smaller scale
http://www.aces.edu/dept/fisheries/education/documents/barrel-ponics.pdf
hope this helps

 

[MrFista]

Very stoned rant time

Very stoned rant time

The trick to making good eco-systems, ie, efficient, is never seeing waste as waste, but as a potential input for something else.

With the input of the suns energy it is entirely possible to create a food chain seemingly from 'nothing'.

Moving water contains air, dust and microbes arrive. Add sun, and soon you will develop an incredibly diverse community. It requires no input at all, but it may take considerable time to be appreciable to the human eye.

Bacteria fungi and yeasts arrive, diatoms, algae, protozoa, gastrotrichs, rotifers, nematodes, naidid worms, water mites, copepods, cilliates, amoeba, more and more species form and begin to fill in function.

To greatly accelerate life within some water, add some organic matter.

Manure, brewers waste, agricultural, horticultural, industrial wastes...

Household rubbish, your rubbish, any rubbish within reason, can be used, if you look at it from the right angle.

Lets take kitchen scraps.

1. Feed them to freshwater crayfish, grow duckweed with the crayfish. Feed the duckweed to omnivorous fish. Use the wastes of both the crayfish and the omnivores to grow food plants. Use the offcuts from veggies to feed the crays. Add a worm farm to the side (not red wrigglers, toxic to fish!) that gets some kitchen scraps and garden scraps and you got fresh protein for your fish as well.

Inputs - garbage, running a pump.

Outputs - Vegetables, worms, worm casts, fish, crayfish.

Pumps can be very cheap to run if you set things up smart, and the option of solar is always there.

By putting the garden on top
then the crays and duckweed
then the pond - dug into ground...

you only have to pump the water once to satisfy all 3 stages. Rig the pump to a timer and set it up for ebb and flow, and you've got a VERY cheap system to run.

You could get whey or brewers wastes and breed plankton to directly feed fish. Hell, you can breed plankton merely by throwing cowshit in a barrel of water... maybe even guinea pig shit... BTW they might eat dry stuff in the desert but I'll put money on it that only happens when there's nothing fresh available.

Start with paper and cardboard, grow fungi and bacteria that feed worms, feed fish...

Start with half digested compost sludge, feed shrimp culture and duckweed...

Always take it easy with the inputs, or food source, it takes time for the biology to mature.

Got too much poo and nowhere to chuck it - get a bucket and breed some fish food.

 

[G33k Speak]

...(not red wrigglers, toxic to fish!) ...

My googlefu doesn't show that.... got a source/study???