Feeding Duckweed and Azolla growing it safely. - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-29T09:34:27Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/feeding-duckweed-and-azolla-growing-it-safely?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A337751&x=1&feed=yes&xn_auth=noHi, Michael!
I do just about…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-20:4778851:Comment:3377512012-05-20T10:42:21.855ZJoel Ghttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JoelGalgana
<p>Hi, Michael!</p>
<p>I do just about the same thing. I normally feed the duckweed tank with water straight from the fish tanks (rich in ammonia) and just occasionally top up. I also have an airlift driven biofilter that sucks in the fish solids and aerate it in one go. Every week or so (when I clean the filter), I remove the solids from the filter and feed some of it to the duckweed tank and the rest to my garden plants.</p>
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<p><br></br> <cite>Michael Wood said:…</cite></p>
<p>Hi, Michael!</p>
<p>I do just about the same thing. I normally feed the duckweed tank with water straight from the fish tanks (rich in ammonia) and just occasionally top up. I also have an airlift driven biofilter that sucks in the fish solids and aerate it in one go. Every week or so (when I clean the filter), I remove the solids from the filter and feed some of it to the duckweed tank and the rest to my garden plants.</p>
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<p><br/> <cite>Michael Wood said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/feeding-duckweed-and-azolla-growing-it-safely?id=4778851%3ATopic%3A319230&page=2#4778851Comment337447"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Joel, I appreciate your comment about adding fish solids as a duckweed fertilizer. Could you tell me more about how to mineralize the solids before adding them to the duckweed ponds? I've been putting my collected fish solids into a large tupperware tub, if I put an air-stone in there and bubbled in oxygen, would that mineralize it? How do you do it</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Mike<br/> <br/> <cite>Joel G said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/feeding-duckweed-and-azolla-growing-it-safely#4778851Comment319902"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p> </p>
<blockquote><p>As for azolla, I wonder what other nutrient I can add to the water to get the same kind of growth, that will still allow me to feed it to tilapia.</p>
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<p>Hi! You can gather all the solids (tilapia manure) from your tanks. This is all I feed to my duckweeds (which grows much faster than azolla). This way, you eliminate a potential (external) source of e. coli. It works even better if you mineralize the solids first.</p>
<p>While azolla is recommended as green fertilizer, it is duckweed that has been recommended as tilapia feed (up to 50% replacement of commercial feed is ok, according to studies).</p>
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</blockquote> Joel, I appreciate your comme…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-19:4778851:Comment:3374472012-05-19T06:40:52.941ZMichael Woodhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/MichaelWood
<p>Joel, I appreciate your comment about adding fish solids as a duckweed fertilizer. Could you tell me more about how to mineralize the solids before adding them to the duckweed ponds? I've been putting my collected fish solids into a large tupperware tub, if I put an air-stone in there and bubbled in oxygen, would that mineralize it? How do you do it</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Mike<br></br> <br></br> <cite>Joel G said:…</cite></p>
<p>Joel, I appreciate your comment about adding fish solids as a duckweed fertilizer. Could you tell me more about how to mineralize the solids before adding them to the duckweed ponds? I've been putting my collected fish solids into a large tupperware tub, if I put an air-stone in there and bubbled in oxygen, would that mineralize it? How do you do it</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Mike<br/> <br/> <cite>Joel G said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/feeding-duckweed-and-azolla-growing-it-safely#4778851Comment319902"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p> </p>
<blockquote><p>As for azolla, I wonder what other nutrient I can add to the water to get the same kind of growth, that will still allow me to feed it to tilapia.</p>
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<p> </p>
<p>Hi! You can gather all the solids (tilapia manure) from your tanks. This is all I feed to my duckweeds (which grows much faster than azolla). This way, you eliminate a potential (external) source of e. coli. It works even better if you mineralize the solids first.</p>
<p>While azolla is recommended as green fertilizer, it is duckweed that has been recommended as tilapia feed (up to 50% replacement of commercial feed is ok, according to studies).</p>
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</blockquote> Add to that the fact that the…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-05:4778851:Comment:3305902012-05-05T16:50:10.576ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>Add to that the fact that there are probably far more than just two species of duckweed and other similar plants and finding your answers may be really challenging.<a style="cursor: pointer;"><img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif"/></a></p>
<p>Add to that the fact that there are probably far more than just two species of duckweed and other similar plants and finding your answers may be really challenging.<a style="cursor: pointer;"><img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif"/></a></p> I made another effort to ID t…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-05:4778851:Comment:3305852012-05-05T15:20:30.566ZBob Campbellhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/BobCampbell
<p>I made another effort to ID the small duckweed this morning. I think you are correct. I found this picture of lemna minor.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2772210247?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2772210247?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="721"></img></a> This next image shows what my larger duckweed looks like. (Giant duckweed). </p>
<p>The difference is not the amount of light as suggested here. They are definitely two different duckweeds.</p>
<p>I'm also ruling out Azolla..</p>
<p>Thanks for your…</p>
<p>I made another effort to ID the small duckweed this morning. I think you are correct. I found this picture of lemna minor.<a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2772210247?profile=original"><img width="721" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2772210247?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="721"/></a>This next image shows what my larger duckweed looks like. (Giant duckweed). </p>
<p>The difference is not the amount of light as suggested here. They are definitely two different duckweeds.</p>
<p>I'm also ruling out Azolla..</p>
<p>Thanks for your help.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2772210703?profile=original"><img width="721" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2772210703?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="721"/></a><br/> <br/> <cite>Joel G said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/feeding-duckweed-and-azolla-growing-it-safely?xg_source=activity#4778851Comment327183"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p> </p>
<p>Cant tell for sure about the "small ones", but I have experienced that the duckweed periodically "shrinks" and grows back. So it is possible that they are both duckweed (lemna minor). do your tilapia treat them differently?</p>
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<p>FYI, I also have large duckweeds, but they grow to about an inch wide (per leaf), and my tilapia refuse to eat them. I sell them to the pet shop as floating plants. </p>
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</blockquote> Darn, I looked to see where y…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-02:4778851:Comment:3284742012-05-02T02:40:33.048ZBob Campbellhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/BobCampbell
<p>Darn, I looked to see where you are located, thinking that I would send you a start, but China is a bit too far. I doubt that it would survive. I'll keep my eyes open for clues to the scientific name, and maybe I will be able to tell you exactly what it is some day.</p>
<p>I grab a handful from this 5 gallon bucket every day and the next day it's grown back. The larger more common duckweed would be depleted if I did that.</p>
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<p>I like your idea of drying it. I could easily grow…</p>
<p>Darn, I looked to see where you are located, thinking that I would send you a start, but China is a bit too far. I doubt that it would survive. I'll keep my eyes open for clues to the scientific name, and maybe I will be able to tell you exactly what it is some day.</p>
<p>I grab a handful from this 5 gallon bucket every day and the next day it's grown back. The larger more common duckweed would be depleted if I did that.</p>
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<p>I like your idea of drying it. I could easily grow this outside in larger ponds and add it to the bulk spirulina you suggested. I have to find something to mix the spirulina with because it's like dried seaweed powder. It's impossible to use the way it came to me. Fry may be able to benefit, but it dissolves into the water very quickly. I've actually been eating the spirulina in smoothies. It was intended for the fish <a rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer;"><img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif" height="19" width="19"/></a><br/> <br/> <cite>Carey Ma said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/feeding-duckweed-and-azolla-growing-it-safely?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A328398&xg_source=msg_com_forum#4778851Comment328398"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>i wonder what the dry weight difference would be between the two? It seems the small ones would make better algae (gel based/ semi wet) pellets as it takes up less volume, while the large ones maybe more suitable for drying and turning into hard/ dry pellets.</p>
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</blockquote> i wonder what the dry weight…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-02:4778851:Comment:3283982012-05-02T02:02:44.915ZCarey Mahttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/CareyMa
<p>i wonder what the dry weight difference would be between the two? It seems the small ones would make better algae (gel based/ semi wet) pellets as it takes up less volume, while the large ones maybe more suitable for drying and turning into hard/ dry pellets.</p>
<p>i wonder what the dry weight difference would be between the two? It seems the small ones would make better algae (gel based/ semi wet) pellets as it takes up less volume, while the large ones maybe more suitable for drying and turning into hard/ dry pellets.</p> Well I've been calling sporad…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-04-30:4778851:Comment:3276192012-04-30T00:59:18.639ZBob Campbellhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/BobCampbell
<p>Well I've been calling sporadically for a few weeks,and finally with tenacity I made contact today. </p>
<p>He says it Azolla. But it does not look like any Azolla I have seen on the internet. </p>
<p>Maybe it is a species I have not found a picture of. I will admit Azolla has some similarity, but I have still not found anything that looks quite like this. I wish I could show you a better picture, but that first example is about as good as my camera (phone) gets.</p>
<p>Anyhow I like it,…</p>
<p>Well I've been calling sporadically for a few weeks,and finally with tenacity I made contact today. </p>
<p>He says it Azolla. But it does not look like any Azolla I have seen on the internet. </p>
<p>Maybe it is a species I have not found a picture of. I will admit Azolla has some similarity, but I have still not found anything that looks quite like this. I wish I could show you a better picture, but that first example is about as good as my camera (phone) gets.</p>
<p>Anyhow I like it, and will continue to propagate it. He did say that it will winter better than the standard duck weed. I believe it. This stuff would be a plague if it ever got out of control. But I feed more and more to my fish everyday and they leave nothing behind.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help, I guess I'll just call it Azolla and quit being so exact.</p> I've had the larger one for m…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-04-29:4778851:Comment:3275302012-04-29T20:42:45.832ZBob Campbellhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/BobCampbell
<p>I've had the larger one for many years, the small one is from a guy who got his start about 2 years ago. He does not live by me and has been difficult to get a hold of, but he told me the name of it when I got it from him. I'd like to ID it so that I could find more information about it. I see the larger one everywhere but the small one is kinda rare.</p>
<p>The two are completely different. root length, leaf shape, size, color, growth rate are all different. </p>
<p>If you ever get a…</p>
<p>I've had the larger one for many years, the small one is from a guy who got his start about 2 years ago. He does not live by me and has been difficult to get a hold of, but he told me the name of it when I got it from him. I'd like to ID it so that I could find more information about it. I see the larger one everywhere but the small one is kinda rare.</p>
<p>The two are completely different. root length, leaf shape, size, color, growth rate are all different. </p>
<p>If you ever get a chance to pick up the small one I highly suggest doing it. The fish like it better, and it grows way faster.</p>
<p>The small one has a root of about 3/16", There are generally three leaves each about 1/16" long. They are long not round</p> Hi folks. I strongly suggest…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-04-29:4778851:Comment:3270992012-04-29T15:09:59.383ZCarey Mahttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/CareyMa
<p>Hi folks. I strongly suggest not using "wild" sources of duckweed due to the possibilities of contamination. Contamination can be on the surface or internally.Internal contamination can include heavy metals and chemicals.</p>
<p>Hi folks. I strongly suggest not using "wild" sources of duckweed due to the possibilities of contamination. Contamination can be on the surface or internally.Internal contamination can include heavy metals and chemicals.</p>
Cant tell for sure about th…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-04-29:4778851:Comment:3271832012-04-29T12:43:30.456ZJoel Ghttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JoelGalgana
<p> </p>
<p>Cant tell for sure about the "small ones", but I have experienced that the duckweed periodically "shrinks" and grows back. So it is possible that they are both duckweed (lemna minor). do your tilapia treat them differently?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>FYI, I also have large duckweeds, but they grow to about an inch wide (per leaf), and my tilapia refuse to eat them. I sell them to the pet shop as floating plants. </p>
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<p>Cant tell for sure about the "small ones", but I have experienced that the duckweed periodically "shrinks" and grows back. So it is possible that they are both duckweed (lemna minor). do your tilapia treat them differently?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>FYI, I also have large duckweeds, but they grow to about an inch wide (per leaf), and my tilapia refuse to eat them. I sell them to the pet shop as floating plants. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>