A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Arizona Aquaponics

Information

Helping each other to learn and grow big nutritious plants and fish to help feed the world.

Location: Phoenix
Members: 230
Latest Activity: Oct 7, 2019

Thank you all for joining my group, I hope to do a lot with all anyone interested. Please
tell me any event suggestions you would like us to do.

Started by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. Mar 21, 2019. 0 Replies 0 Likes

Started by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. Jan 4, 2018. 0 Replies 0 Likes

Started by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. Jan 4, 2018. 0 Replies 0 Likes

Comment

Comment by Holly Curtis on March 2, 2012 at 2:01pm

String algae needs only three conditions to grow and become overwhelming in a pond: clear water, sunlight, nutrients. Owners of back yard ponds want nice clear open water to see their pond fish, which allows the sunshine in to provide the means for the algae to rapidly grow and multiply. An abundance of nutrients present in the water---from using tap water for the pond's water needs, as the by-product of feeding the fish and from natural organic matter that gets into the pond---can give algae the foothold it needs to overtake and colonize the pond.

Comment by Holly Curtis on March 2, 2012 at 1:58pm: So, no thoughts pro or con on trying a rain gutter with hydra-ton and circulated aquarium water on the south facing wall to grow my squash in? I might do it either way, as it seems feasible...and feasible is the difference between action and no action.

Comment by Holly Curtis on March 2, 2012 at 1:54pm: Hmm. I wonder if I put an open bucket of water under the orange tree where the chickens roost, and just leave it there, if it will grow fish food algae. Any thoughts?

Comment by Dave & Yvonne Story on March 2, 2012 at 1:52pm: Errors.. there have been some good discussions about this problem on a posting not involved with Arizona. I watched a guy on YouTube show how to propagate pineapples.. he had done one and was giving a demonstration on his second.. later I discovered his second attempt did not survive. So it is not just Arizona postings. We all need to be leery of people with no experience. Now "no experience" is great.. We can learn with that person (Jacques and Bob are fantastic examples) , too. As long as they inform us that they are trying this for the first time. Murray's bell siphon just did not work for me.. I developed my own and have used it several times successfully, before I showed it at the Tucson Tour.

Now I am off to look up "Spirulina."

Comment by Kent Biswanger on March 2, 2012 at 1:42pm: What I've heard about algae is that it has a voracious apetite and the amount required to feed your fish will consume most if not all of your Nitrates effectively stunting your plant growth. This is not from personal experience though.

Comment by Jacques L. on March 2, 2012 at 1:03pm: The algae debate seems to run like this..

Bad: You curb algae growth in your system because it has a tendency to gunk up your plumbing and can take up nutrients that should be going to your plants.

Good: Can help supplement your fish's nutrient intake and consumes nitrates.

Spirulina is a great algae alternative because it will never reproduce in an Aquaponic system.

The reason?.. the Ph is way too low for it to survive. You need Ph around 11-12 for Spirulina to thrive.

But, if you grow it in its own separate system, then harvest as needed to help supplement your feed to your fish, it can be beneficial.

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on March 2, 2012 at 12:40pm: Holly, you didn't miss the post; I posted it today. I had just heard of the class and had my dates of. Thanks, Chris, for the update! It sounds like they have good ideas, but need to get the word out more. Maybe we can schedule a Skype event one day and all meet online to learn. :)

Dave, you're right, we all are learning and experimenting. Even college textbooks get things wrong sometimes, so it stands to reason we will too; but it's nice to have a group that can correct errors; even it the error is the date of an event. LOL!

Tilapia are algae eaters, so I'd like to hear more of the anti-algae argument. Fresh algae makes sense to me. If we count algae in as some of our nitrate-consuming plants, we should be able to grow it and include it in as part of our feed.

Comment by Chris George on March 2, 2012 at 11:38am: Well said Dave Story - Life is indeed an Experiment - living is learning every minute of every day....I do my homework and don't take every word here as gospel. As they say, every system is unique, as unique as every person in the group. I've been studying aquaponics/aquaculture for a few years now and have only experimented with my little shelfponics system that is still problem free after a year and a half, it's just goldfish though and I do want to raise some actual edible fish. I think everyone here has to do their own studying and research, and when someone posts they will be using a galvanized tank...share with them the downside of leaching, etc. The jury is still out for me on the algae, only my own experimentation will sort that out. Some are pro-algae, some anti-algae. I saw that small tilapia (5") at gardenpool eat 6" or more of the string algae in just the 40 minutes or so I was there....so I'm game to experiment. Spirulina, is a commodity in herbal nutritional world....so why not kill two birds with one stone. I have to head out of the house, but do you know Dave Phelan?

Comment by Chris George on March 2, 2012 at 11:14am: Holly - I will be happy to share what I learn as I go....I am going to buy some spirulina from Dave Phelan when he gets his next shipment (whenever that occurs, no idea of the timeframe). At that time I will pin down the details on growing the 'clean' culture for my herbal consumption. The aquaponics side will be to just throw some in the tank and see what happens. I have chickens also but am 'not' planning to put the chicken manure in my system. My shelfponics system is a 2 shelf system, over a settling tank (small cement mixing container), over a 25 gallon fish tank with goldfish. I have gobs of string algae growing in the settling tank and zero chicken manure in the equation. Also, my wildlife pond (2 part waterfall pond) also has 'loads' of string algae in the upper pond, it is thriving! Again, just goldfish and some 'new' gambusia fish in that pond, so just their poop feeding the algae. I loved watching Dennis' tilapia munching on the string algae, makes me want to get a couple for each of my string algae tanks just to see if they will reduce the volume of the algae growth which is substantial.

Comment by Dave & Yvonne Story on March 2, 2012 at 11:14am: Holly,

come-on-down.

I take the algae out of my duckweed tank and put it on my plants. I have UV in my aquariums to kill the stuff. But, Now I will have more respect and see if I can use as suggested here.