Aquaponic Gardening

A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Here you go Harold.

An Algae culture topic.

 

So I'm looking at Spirulina. Its easy enough to grow and its a 99.9% complete food. The methods and inputs aren't costly or complicated and it runs on Urine(welcome news for TC I'm sure), sunlight, oxygen, and at 10.3 and over PH, it is germ free. This is the last key, freeing AP to finally become self sustaining. As hobbyist we can supplement with worms, larvae, food scraps etc, but to answer the question of human sustainability we really need to get more serious, don't you agree?

 

Kobus I know you have been experimenting with this for some time now, if you'd like, design a simple model, I sure we can persuade Sylvia to market it for AP use. We have to start somewhere, how about here?


So I've done a bit of looking into this topic but haven't had much time to really get into it. A wider range pH test method is needed than what we in Aquaponics are used to but aside from that I expect it shouldn't be too hard.

Here is a link to a web site that is already selling kits and starter culture
Algae Lab

And here are the pdf instructions for the kit they sell.

Views: 1136

Replies to This Discussion

Here is a PDF I can upload here.

 

Attachments:

Hi TC,

I am glad you decided to start this topic, especially since i know from your discussions with me some time ago, that you were looking into making a kit available for AP use. Spirulina production exist at all levels worldwide. The corporate world has seized upon it with huge profits commercially, so instead of making them more wealthy than they are already by buying it from them to use it as one of the ways to make our AP sustainable, why can't we do it for ourselves? I don't want to seem to be in a rush TC but I fell as if AP needs this as of yesterday!

 

I am aware that the Spirulina needs of the the average AP are small especially since it is highly nutrient packed and that we only need small production kits but information on growing Spirulina is widely open source so I'll also include a PDF with larger production scale.

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/15556625/Micro-Algae-Spirulina 

There is a book recommended in another Aquaponics group I am part of:

 

"Plankton culture Manual"  by Frank H. Hoff & Terry W. Snell

 

These guys sure seem to know this stuff ->

 

http://florida-aqua-farms.com/secure/agora.cgi

 

Look at their link here, I don't think it would be too hard to build..

http://florida-aqua-farms.com/secure/agora.cgi?cart_id=9279223.6963...

 

 

 

I have not made it this far, ( still consumed with othe other projects ) but it is on my target list.

Message from an person who grows it ->

 

 

>Michelle.......If you want to grow your own fish food, Zoo plankton and algae will make a complete feed for tilapia....you

>will have to grow it in seperate tanks and manual feed or pump  the desired amount to the fish tank on a regular feeding

>schedule.  Florida Aqua farms has for sale 183 page Plankton culture manual (Scientifically written) and I recommend it >as I have a copy.   You will have to supply         the zoo plankton culture the necessary nutrients (fertilizer or

>nutrients) for massive growth and is explained in the manual.  It also tells of all the zoo animal life that colonate the >plankton cultures and the types that grow in freshwater and          salt water. 
>This is the way I would go for feed independence.
 

 

 

Hi All,

Most everything you need to know about Spirulina. Page after page of great information. A science called Algaculture.

http://www.spirulinasource.com/earthfoodch1b.html

you eat this algae? -what are other uses?

 

look on instructables.com for several DIY algae bioreactors like this one:

http://www.instructables.com/id/An-Algae-Bioreactor-from-Recycled-W...

instructables.com is also a spendid source for all kind of otner DIY projects

Frank

Hi Adam,

This was from a discussion that originated here http://aquaponicscommunity.com/group/feeding/forum/topics/self-sust...

You'll see the whole picture after reading it.

Adam Shivers said:

you eat this algae? -what are other uses?

 

can we avoid quoting the full post of others while answering it?

just quoting the essential sentence with the answer between the lines seems to work better for readability.

Frank

Yes you can eat Spirulina, it is highly nutritious and being used to treat malnutrition in famine ravaged areas.

Spirulina is also used in feeds.

 

Some handy benefits of Spirulina are the fact that it's shape (spiral filament strands make it easier to separate from the water and by monitoring the pH you can keep "bad" algae from contaminating your culture)

 

Thank you all. Something to look into.

TCLynx said:

Yes you can eat Spirulina, it is highly nutritious and being used to treat malnutrition in famine ravaged areas.

Spirulina is also used in feeds.

 

Some handy benefits of Spirulina are the fact that it's shape (spiral filament strands make it easier to separate from the water and by monitoring the pH you can keep "bad" algae from contaminating your culture)

 

if you reply to the person -it is automatic that it quotes... most likely for clarity.  If I answer something vague like "yes" or "no", more than one person may feel I'm responding to them. Just my thoughts.

Frank De Block-Burij said:

can we avoid quoting the full post of others while answering it?

just quoting the essential sentence with the answer between the lines seems to work better for readability.

Frank

But you can go in, whithin those quotes and delete what isn't needed.

Adam Shivers said:
if you reply to the person -it is automatic that it quotes... most likely for clarity.  If I answer something vague like "yes" or "no", more than one person may feel I'm responding to them. Just my thoughts.

RSS

© 2024   Created by Sylvia Bernstein.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service