A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

My first ebb and flow system just finished.

Thank you for welcoming me to the community! I am located in SW Florida. I have been a long time koi pond owner and only recently learned of aquaponics for food. We have an 8' x 8' x 16" deep extra pond that I used to have water lilies in. It has a wire top to keep out the racoons. I added a few goldfish to eat any mosquito larva. We pump the water from it up about 4' into the growbed which is about 2' x 8' x 12' deep and filled with river gravel. To get the bacteria started in the gravel bed I dumped the filter debris from the koi pond into the aquaponics pond THEN I realized I had a bacteria problem with a couple of the koi. Will the koi bacteria make me sick when I eat the lettuce from the growbed?

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Permalink Reply by Jon Parr on September 15, 2012 at 2:10pm

I think you're safe as far as fish bacterial infections or parasites not harming your plants or you. At least I've not heard of such trouble. Usually warm blooded and cold blooded creatures do not share the same ailments, even without the plants to remove the vector. Salt will take care of most fish problems. Can you post any pics or descriptions?