Tilapia love their algae treats

[Chris McMahon]

It's too hot for duckweed here in the desert so I decided to grow some algae in a kids pool. I added water, a little ammonia (a cap full a day), a little sea weed extract (a cap full a week), some aquaponic water from the system. I add a liter a day. and a lot of sun. I went hiking and found some algae in a pond. It took about a week to get going but now it's really cranking out the algae. I put some in a plastic bag and freeze it. Just to make sure I am not adding anything live to the system.

 

The tilapia go crazy for it. Even the little fish seem to get energized to eat it. 

 

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Chris,

I love it! Do you happen to know what type of Algae it is? Looking forward to hear some more later on growth rates and how long it take to double in size, and how it responds to and varying ingredients in your nutrient solution.Please keep posting.Thanks. I think you got something here to help approach sustainability! Good going Chris!

[Chris McMahon]

I think it's a spirulina because we have that kind of algae in my area. I only started feeding it to them today and was surprised at the reaction compared to iceberg lettuce. My friend went to Sea World last week and they tossed a head of lettuce in the cichlid tank as food. He called me and I tied it. They seem to like Iceberg better then other types. Now with the algae they all were interested.

I didn't see much real growth in the algae for a week. Now it's growing on the side of the pool. I am going to keep feeding the algae the same way and see how it goes.

[Conrad Chin-Yee]

Was the algae the filamentous kind?

[Chris McMahon]

Yeah it looks like filamentous algae.

[Conrad Chin-Yee]

I must look in ponds around for some

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Chris,

Chances are its a SP variety. There are over 40 thousand strains and most are complete proteins. To inhibit the growth of other types of unwanted algae(as they can overwhelm SP and eventually replace it) though, PH should be kept at around 10.3 ppm and not below 9.5ppm. This is very exciting to me Chris! Please keep posting.

[Carey Ma]

Yes very interesting.

[Chris McMahon]

I expanded today and added two more kids pools. The fish where eating it faster then one pool is putting out.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Chris,

So, does it look like they will eat this as an only diet? If you want to tailor algae feeding solution to grow more, TC has a post pdf here  http://aquaponicscommunity.com/group/feeding/forum/attachment/downl...

 

 

 

[Chris McMahon]

Thanks for the link I will read though it. Yeah if the algae provides the tilapia with everything they need to grow healthy and strong I would use it as their main food. There are some factors to play with like how much I can produce in the winter when the water is colder. I expect it will be a supplement for now until I can boost production.

[Chris McMahon]

The one small kids pool is producing plenty of algae, especially after reading that pdf. It said to disturb the algae every four hours and it works really well. I just stir it up with a shovel. The algae comes off the side of the pool and is ready to harvest. So far I have been able to make a new algae treat as soon as I feed them the last one I made. It is producing more than I am able to use so far.

Going forward I am going to freeze the algae into small wafers. Then dry them out and store them as fish food for the future.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Chris,

Think you'll eat it yourself? You know all the benefits which comes this algae for humans too!