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At the Sustainability Event in Pahoa today....
There was a fascinating and practical demonstration of combining fish farming and hydroponics. These folks are from Honokaa.
I will add to this post a little later. I do hope my invitation to the aquaponics folks to visit Punaweb will lead to their presence here.
For now I direct you to:
http://www.friendlyaquaponics.com
It is now later:
A very, very good demonstration today at the Sustainability thing in Pahoa.... These folks are in Hamakua. In essence they run a closed loop with fish tanks on the top. Gravity overflows take the fish water (poop) through the system of floating hyroponic decks pumping back to the fish tanks. They also raise shrimp below the floating hyrdo decks.. It seems to mimic the Hawaiian system of water use.
One report. One month: 350# of fish food produced 200# of fish and 1100# of produce. No other fertilizers. No soil required.
They do weekend visiting - except next weekend.
Punaweb moderator
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
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If they start growing fish food, then the loop will only need sunshine and water to produce food. That would make it really sustainable since nothing would have to be trucked in. Until that 350# of fish food is locally produced, they are still dependent on outside supply.
Hmm, there is a stock tank up in the backyard with goldfish in it. They don't get fed yet somehow survive on moss and mosquito larvae. They were accidental goldfish which arrived as eggs on some water plants yet they seem to be thriving and multiplying. A solar operated water moving pump (a decorative old time farm windmill?), a rack of lettuce growing in water and I'm sure the production would be less (especially since the goldfish aren't being eaten) but it wouldn't have any dependency on anything other than sunshine and rain. Once it was set up, it wouldn't cost anything to run, either especially if some of the lettuce were allowed to bolt to make more seed. I let one of our static hydroponic lettuces go to seed and we are now on generation 2 of static hydroponic lettuce although at the moment we are adding chemical hydroponic plant fertilizer.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
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If you run a light or a light with a fanblade facing the water, you can draw enough bugs to to supplement to some extent. Wonder if they'd eat coqui? Tilapia DO eat alot.
Gordon J Tilley
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Now this seems perfect for the average homeowner with limited space.
http://www.portablefarms.com/index.php
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That really is an interesting concept. I wonder if you would really need the heaters in Hawaii. Probably not.
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For the do-it-yourselfer, the Barrelponics Yahoo group has a manual in the files section with complete info on how to build a similar(?) setup yourself for small scale use.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/barrelponics/
There is also an aquaponics group (non Yahoo) that deals with larger scale integrated fish and plants, but my computer crashed and the ClickFree backup did not restore my Thunderbird e-mail where I can find it, so I cannot access the address at the moment.
Allen
Baton Rouge, LA & HPP
Allen
Finally in HPP
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Speaking of Tilapia (not my favorite fish).... When we lived in Chicago there was a story in the news that was rather unbelievable... but true. It seems that a couple of enterprising young men who lived in the projects decided to set up a Tilapia farm inside an apartment. They stole a bunch of old bathtubs out of abandoned apartments, then set up some kind of system to run heaters and aerators in the tubs and were doing great, selling tilapia all over town, until the power went out in the building during a snow storm. The kids came in and found all of the fish dead in the water and not knowing what to do with them, they closed the door and never looked back on their project. Unfortunately, the stench eventually revealed what had gone on and they were found out. I always thought it a shame that someone did not hire those boys and use that ingenuity for good. Instead they were jailed for their "crimes" against the CHA.
Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany
www.eastbaypotters.com
www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
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It looks like heaters might be necessary at my elevation, 1200 feet, I have had some die off since it started getting near 50 degrees. They also haven't been eating well since the cold. Out of 70 fish 20 have died off in the last month or so.
Those websites sound good, but they don't mention about how much spray on fertlizers, like seasol, or other kelp products, and such they use to pickup your trace minerals.
Scott
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Incase anyone needs the barrels that are used in the barrelponics I have them for sale. $25.00ea.
Jade
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Scott, could you elaborate on your system, did you start from a kit or did you build your own?
Devany, I bet with your culinary skills, tilapia would rate right up there with lemon sole. I understand Applebees includes it on their menu.
I like the portable farm idea, especially the 5 minutes a day maintenance. If they threw in that cute english spaniel in the deal I might buy one
