Why not grow duckweed in a sump tank?

[John Leschorn]

Assuming you can somehow keep the pumps from pumping it all out by stopping them before water gets too low?

 

Would love thoughts on this...

 

I put it in the Fish section thinking that it was related to fish in the sense that I would use it as part of their feed...

[Keith Rowan]

i've not had much luck with growing duckweed when there's lots of surface movement of the water

doesn't need lots of light either

[John Leschorn]

So since the sump has lots of movement, that is a bad idea... OK makes sense... You say it doesn't need lots of light, so do you think I can grow it on "waste" light from a nearby grow bed?

[Keith Rowan]

yup;

in my basement i have a 30 or 40 gallon "yard pond" on the floor.. it's getting light from a pair of t8's that are mostly over a 55gal tank with rosy reds.. the dw even overtakes the water  lettuce - the scuds eat the water lettuce after it's dead, and the tilapia leave it alone as well, so right now i'm kind of over-run with it

[John Leschorn]

Keith -  A couple of questions...

 

What are Rosy Reds?  What do you grow water lettuce?  What are scuds?

 

As for tilapia leaving it alone?  Shouldn't they eat it?  Let me know...

[Barry Post]

As far as not pumping the duckweed through your pump goes. If you have a sump pump ( the kind they use in basements ) you could set the float so that there is alway enough water in in it .What is duck weed any way.Can you eat it. or does it have to be smoked. As you can tell I'm just getting into this. So far its been a lot of fun.And learning.

[Barry Post]

Just thought of something .How bout growing it in the clarification tank

[Keith Rowan]

rosy reds are just a color morph of "fat head minnows" that will reproduce in tanks..

scuds are "Gammarus" -  a tiny fresh water shrimp that i grow to feed fish and to break down solids.. i'll put some new pics in my system thread this week - i have to take a couple pictures tonight of the leaves that i put in yesterday for the scuds..

water lettuce is a water plant that i use in my fishtanks to consume nitrates.. i would like it if the tilapia ate it, but unfortunately they don't..

duckweed is a tiny water plant that floats on the surface,  i grow it as a supplement feed for tilapia

[Barry Post]

Thanks Keith That it very helpful. I'm still in the planning stages of Starting my system. I'm going to do something small to kinda get the feel of it.I would like to get a 500 gal fish tank But I guess my 50 gallon will do for a start. At the moment  I don't even know what fish I can grow.  Here in BC it is very tightly regulated. Because of the sport fisheries. I have been told that I may only be able to grow trout..That brings in another problem of keeping the water cool.But its all fun.

Keith Rowan said:

rosy reds are just a color morph of "fat head minnows" that will reproduce in tanks..

scuds are "Gammarus" -  a tiny fresh water shrimp that i grow to feed fish and to break down solids.. i'll put some new pics in my system thread this week - i have to take a couple pictures tonight of the leaves that i put in yesterday for the scuds..

water lettuce is a water plant that i use in my fishtanks to consume nitrates.. i would like it if the tilapia ate it, but unfortunately they don't..

duckweed is a tiny water plant that floats on the surface,  i grow it as a supplement feed for tilapia

[Keith Rowan]

you could probably find a bluegill species to start with

[John Leschorn]

Barry - Thanks for the information....