Aquaponics Digest - Sun 01/31/99
Message 1: Re: Stupid Question
from doelle
Message 2: Re: Grass clippings
from Vivienne Hallman
Message 3: Aquaponic links
from Jim Sealy Jr
Message 4: Sprouts for the salad trade.
from Jim Sealy Jr
Message 5: Re: Grass clippings
from "Fred Chambers, FMChambers@CSUPomona.edu"
Message 6: Re: Sprouts for the salad trade.
from busson
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Subject: Re: Stupid Question
From: doelle
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 22:00:06 +1100
you wrote:
>I'm after the most optimimum level for formation of lots of heat. Anybody
>know the optimum level of O2 for aerobes (not to heavy, not too light :)..
>I was thinking of trying around 35%.. anybody know the upper limit?
>
The amount of oxygen required and thus the flow of air required for the
growth of microbes depends on the number of microorganisms. The more yuou
have the more aeration you have to apply.
The supply of air or oxygen to a medium for biomass production is still a
very serious chemical engineering problem. Maximum solubility of oxygen in
water is only 7 ppm and goes down if you have salts in it. Thus you have to
use very fine bubbles to foster the oxygen solubility that you are not
wasting air or oxygen. Most of the aeration systems I saw have large bubbles
and thus the oxygen or air is going straight through the liquid back into
the atmosphere.
If you are using chlorine dioxide, do not be surprised if the chlorine kills
all the microbes.
Good Luck
Horst
the answer to that as yet, as far as I am aware of.
Where are the chemical engineers ?
Otherwise put your question to the discussion group bioenergy@crest.org .
Best regards
Horst
Horst W.Doelle, D.Sc., D.Sc. [h.c.]
Chairman, IOBB
Director, MIRCEN-Biotechnology
FAX: +617-38783230
Email: doelle@ozemail.com.au
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Subject: Re: Grass clippings
From: Vivienne Hallman
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 22:32:29 +1000
KevinLReed wrote:
> I wonder if this could be the basis for feeding our fish and hence the
> aquaponic node.
>
> Is it more efficient to feed the fish the grasses, either as grass/pasta
> pellets or plain, or is it better to compost and vermiculture to use worm
> castings and composted material?
>
> Once again I am interested in your thoughts.
> Kevin
Kevin
>From my understanding of fish nutrition they require a reasonable level of
essential amino acids which must be available as protein in their food. In my
opinion you would be better to use your grass clippings in an earthworm system
as you then end up with more useable products.
The earthworms will give you a high protein feed for your fish (they are about
50% protein on a dry weight basis), and the resulting casts produced are
wonderful for growing vegetables in a terrestrial system. If you also arrange
your vermiculture system so that you can collect the excess liquid from it, this
liquid can be used for feeding ground growing plants, or as a nutrient for a
hydroponic plant production system.
Best wishes
Vivienne Hallman
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Subject: Aquaponic links
From: Jim Sealy Jr
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 12:48:08 -0600
I'm trying to organize some links to aquaponic info on the web and would
appreciate any links the group could send me. I'm trying to show my
extension agent what I have been playing around with is actually working
for other folks on a commercial scale. His opinion is: aquaponics can be
fun, but not profitable, and that I should stick to my proven markets.
Now that I go over my bookmarks, all I seem to see are hobby scale
projects, or vague numbers.
In particular, I seem to be short of links to sites with hard numbers.
IE: "I use 2 500 gallon rubbermaid stock tanks to feed 6 4'x8' grow
tables fed by a 1.5 hp sump growing Genovese basil (O. basilicum). This
system works best with about 250-500 lb of mixed size T.nilotica fed ~5
lb of purina floating catfish ration daily."
The above is just a bunch of stuff I just typed in as an example. Does
anyone actually have that sort of real info on the web? Similar info is
readily available for hydroponics, but I've come up short on Aquaponic
info.
Jim
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Subject: Sprouts for the salad trade.
From: Jim Sealy Jr
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 12:49:29 -0600
Anyone tried growing/selling broccoli sprouts for salads?
Mustard or radish sprouts?
Growing/harvesting your own seeds for sprouting? In an aquaponic
system?
Jim
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Subject: Re: Grass clippings
From: "Fred Chambers, FMChambers@CSUPomona.edu"
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 12:33:52 -0800
At 11:42 AM 1/30/99 -0800, KevinLReed wrote:
>
>Is it more efficient to feed the fish the grasses, either as grass/pasta
>pellets or plain, or is it better to compost and vermiculture to use worm
>castings and composted material?
>
Hi Kevin,
It depends on what fish you've got. If you have grass carp, common carp,
or goldfish, it's probably a good idea. If you can cut out the step from
cutting the grass to feeding the fish, it would take less of your energy
and time. Once these fish eat the grass, they process it for feeding the
pond's bacteria, phytoplankton, and zooplankton. The green soup of
plankton is what feeds your filter feeders like tilapia and silver carp.
As of January 1, 1999, you can now order triploid grass carp for culture in
all counties of California. Until this year, they were a controlled
species, restricted to a few water districts. To order, or find out more
information on triploid grass carp, call
the California Aquaculture Association
760-359-3474
or the Coechella Valley Water District
760-398-2651 (and ask for the hatchery)
Grass does have protein, and I've read a paper (Journal of the World
Aquaculture Society sometime in '97 I think) where farmers fed catfish a
diet of protein extracted from Bermuda grass clippings. The fish grew
faster on the plant protein than the standard fish meal or renderings.
Fred
FMChambers@csupomona.edu Agricultural Sciences
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Black Walnut Alliance is one of many campus groups encouraging Cal Poly
to explore environmentally responsible uses of campus green spaces. Visit
and post at sites urging alternatives to golf:
http://www.csupomona.edu/~jmikeda/la401/CAP/ ("Clean Air Park Proposal")
http://www.regen.org/bwecc.html (BWA's "Energy Center Proposal")
http://www.intranet.csupomona.edu/~muse/ ("Multi-Use Development Strategy")
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Subject: Re: Sprouts for the salad trade.
From: busson
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 19:53:50 -0500
At 12:49 PM 1/31/99 -0600, you wrote:
>
>Anyone tried growing/selling broccoli sprouts for salads?
> Mustard or radish sprouts?
> Growing/harvesting your own seeds for sprouting? In an aquaponic
>system?
>
>Jim
>
I have about 3 years experience growing sprouts for salads. I grew alfalfa
and some mixes, radish +alfalfa and broccoli+ alfalfa and some others. My
method was this: first soak the seeds in warm water for 3 hours or so,
drain and rinse well then spread the seeds out in the bottom of a clean
10x20 plastic greenhouse tray/flat with drainage holes. We had a (self
built) system with lights and misters. The trays sat under the lights
with watering that was about 7 seconds or so out of every hour and a half.
The water did not recirculate, just drained away. They need a humidity of
near 85%, which the misters coming on that often provided. The favorite
temp of a sprouts is about 72F Grow out takes about 8 days. The seed to
finished product ratio is about 1:8 The main problems are rot from over
watering and poor drainage and uneven watering which produces dry places
in the flats where germination isn't as high. The reason for the mixes was
that alfalfa is a sprout that a lot of folks have tried and the broccoli
isn't as palatable and quite a bit more expensive. Radish sprouts had a
limited audience, sold better in mixes. The only real problem with them
was the marketing. If they are packaged in any way you need a commercial
kitchen site to pack them in, they are then considered a processed food,
subject to all the rules and regulations in that venue.
When all the stories about tainted sprouts began to hit the news I really
believed that the comtamination must be coming from the water lines
somehow. Now that I have heard here on this list about the possibility
that the seeds themselves are contaminated. . . . hmmmmm. One of the
companies who sell seeds suggest soaking them in water with bleach, but
that is contrary to our organic certification so I didn't ever try it.
A company called American Health and Nutrition in Ann Arbor MI has a good
selection of certified organic sproutable seeds. Just about anything can
be sprouted and put in a salad. One of our best sellers was a bean mix
with about ten kinds of sprouted beans and some almonds.
I am hoping to start some yellow perch soon but haven't found a source yet.
Any suggestions?
Carol
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