Water management and Strategies for water conservation

[RichnSteph]

My God! Am I the only one who is insanely jealous of Gallo de Cielo??? I mean..... er..... I don't know what I mean all I know is that that is amazing. I'm going to print it out and show it to my wife.

 

[perchie.girl]

My God! Am I the only one who is insanely jealous of Gallo de Cielo??? I mean..... er..... I don't know what I mean all I know is that that is amazing. I'm going to print it out and show it to my wife.

x 2 Yep Yep..... Hes put a lot of hard work into it.

It really depends on your climate. Tilapia can handle hotter water than most. Plus they are easy to breed.

But I have heard of Blue Gill, Cat fish, Carp, and Big mouth Bass. As well as Fresh water Prawns and Cray fish. Fresh water prawns look like Shrimp and get about the size of a small lobster But they take a couple of years to get that big. You could raise the prawns and Cray fish with the Tilapia because the tilapia are vegitarians.

Then you could also raise fish for resale. such as Koi or Gold fish.... for sale to retailers. For instance The last time I priced Koi they were around five bucks for a fish that was around an inch long.
US common fish species
http://homeaquaponicssystem.com/fish/top-7-aquaponics-fish-species/


There are other fish that are used in Aquaponics in Australia and other countries Like Barramundi, Jade Perch, Murray cod, Silver perch, and Trout.

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/guide-to-aquaponics/fish/

Freshwater Prawns are raised in the US.

http://www.aquacultureoftexas.com/aquaponics.htm


Though the larger prawns get the more space they need. I just read that they can also be grown directly in the grow beds. I imagine cray fish as well.

Here is a discussion on Cray fish He is in Malaysia.

http://www.affnanaquaponics.com/2013/05/crayfish-aquaponics.html

But before you start you need to research what species are Allowed in your state. Most of the Aussie fish may not. Or arent available. In California the ONLY Tilapia allowed is one species... Mozambique. Of course I havent looked at wether or not prawns are legal here.

deb

 

[RichnSteph]

Thanks Deb! With the ability to crow crawfish in the growing beds (I LOVE those things) we'll probably do bluegill or pumpkin seed perch in the fish tank. Both of those are legal to grow as they are native species and they both grow rather quickly. My grandmother has a house on a lake here so getting a variety of differing sized fish is as easy as an hour or so with a cast net. Also going to incorporate some of the fresh water muscles and little clams to help filter the water and give the bluegills something to mess with.

This is of course a project for the future, probably next year, but it never hurts to get starting on the information load early.

RichnSteph

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Awwww...Thanks guys, you're so kind. Yeah, just about any fresh water fish can be used. Blue gill and catfish are very popular as are koi. Lots of people here use koi and goldfish so they don't have to worry about the low winter temps. My very first thought with my upper tank was raising Malaysian freshwater prawns but I think that my persistently low water temps would be a problem. I even thought about being a distributor to cut the costs of shipping, as described in your second to the last link, but I'm not sure how much interest I could get here. When I couldn't source trout food locally (not surprising) I kinda gave up on the idea. It is intriguing though. Oh, I don't think you could raise shrimp with the tilapia. Even though they're primarily vegetarians, I think they'd eat the shrimp.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

It sounds like you did Hügelkultur or a variation of it.... My goodness you performed a Herculean effort.

When my Dad was helping manage a grove of apple trees on about forty acres. Hard pan down like you say.... The trees were beginning to drown from irrigation. Solution.... Quarter sitcks of dynamite spaced about twenty feet apart Bore a hole as deep as you can get it.... Cracked the hardpan so the water could drain..... Of course that was back in the 40s when handing over a case of dynamite to a seventeen year old was no big deal....

Was your dirt originally Decomposed Granite or a smaller grained dirt. I hesitate to say soil because here there too is very little organic mateerial in the desert. Down by the coast they build houses here and lay out about six inches of soil ontop of The predominatnly clay soils. Its a nasty grey clay and when wet will suck the shoes off you AND your horse. You dig a hole for a tree and you have essentially made a POT.

I hope you share some pix... I am reading chronologically.

deb

Yeah, it is very similar to Hügelkultur, like an inverse Hügelkultur without the big logs.

The concept is the same though, with maximizing the amount of organic material in the soil. In fact, I first read tangentially about Hügelkultur when I was researching how the original gardeners here in the southwest gardened. They used swales and oxbows as natural depressions to fill with organic material to improve the soil. These depressions would gather water during rain and hold it the longest. Today people here usually dig 4' wide trenches as deep as they can and as long as needed and fill them with compost so that the top is just below the grade and mulched heavily to preserve moisture. They now teach this method of gardening in several elementary schools around Tucson and the gardens are truly impressive. Our local Food Bank is also teaching people to garden using this technique.

I'm not really sure what the common name of our soil is, I just know it as Aridisol (desert soil). It can make hard pan through the deposition calcium carbonate. I have many of those "pots" distributed around my yard. Pretty soon it will be so perforated with them that there will be more good soil than bad. That's my plan anyway.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I am planning on doing the aquaponics above ground. My house was built with a green house attached to it. I replaced the glass with a real roof though. 140 degrees in the summer time there was too much. So now I have a room thats about 20 x 14 with a concrete floor and floor drains. Also access to a bit of dirt in the corner about 2 x 4 space. I think the idea was to put a bathroom there once... dont know.

The room has water source drainage and a good place to start the Aquaponics. The concrete floor will make it much easier for me to get about with my walker or eventually a wheel chair. I am thinking of doing a sump arangement to lift the water up to a water only tote setup maybe six feet off the ground. Then using gravity for the rest.

I am thinking the gray water should not be mixed with the Aquaponics till I know its safe to use for edible plants. So Access for Bathroom and Kitchen are on the opposite side of the house. I will slate that for growing fruit trees. Dad said he had a peach tree that had Softball sized fruit... Juicy and very very sweet. Because it had tapped into their septic tank.... LOL But I want to grow some Hyacinth with the water before it gets to fruit trees.

Sketching is almost done....

deb

Your space sounds perfect for aquaponics! I can just imagine how hot it got before the roof. Even in the winter my greenhouse might get that hot if I didn't have vents and fans to control the temperature. I can only imagine how hot it would get in the summer with the poly on, I don't think the vents and fans would keep up with the heat.

Yeah, I'm not so sure about using the gray water for the AP, but it seems fine for trees.

 

[perchie.girl]

OK here is how I envisioned it first go round Waaaaaayyyy too complicated



After reading a little Thoughts still not quite there


And after reading a bit more.... Much better


Here is a diagram of my front yard. It has a stucco fence that is basically cinderblock with stucco over it... There is a patio next to some really big rocks and in the middle is the remains of a water fountain.


I want to grow:
To start with:
xeric After first year of growing they probably will need little to no irrigation at all
Mesquite
Pomegranite

Citrus that can handle a few days of 30 degrees the ones I have researched are below
Not so xeric but low water enough I wouldnt mind supplementing with fresh.
Oranges
Lemons
Limes
Kumquats
Tangerines

On my list of wants but can live without
Apples
peaches
Apricots
cherries
Fig

If i could only choose two it would be Apricots and Figs. There was a fig tree here once So I know they can grow.

The floating plants will be Hyacinth.... Great polution processors. They can be dried and used in the fireplace.... Or used for making paper.

The Mesquite produce a bean that is edible. The beans are harvested and dride then the whole bean Pod and all is ground into flour. It can be used for a flour substitute. And has properties which work with glycemic values for people with Diabetes or who need to avoid Gluten.

All of the citrus can be espaliered.... Matter of fact all of the trees with the exception of the Mesquite can be espaliered. Makes it easier to tend and harvest for someone with limited mobility. So I would be starting with one or two gallon pots and bare root where applicable. Which will make it easier for them to naturalize? um er acclimatize.... or adapt to a Xeric lifestyle.

Oh and I have a bandini mountain of horse maneur to start....

My girl Katee has made one.
deb

 

[niqueie]

I wish I could see the diagrams better. Are those 55 gallon drums linked together? It will be great I'm sure. I have realized too late that simple is always the best approach. I would do something's different now. My tilapia have had babies and it looks like 3 more are swirling eggs and babies in their mouths. So we are in full baby mode now.

 

[perchie.girl]

I wish I could see the diagrams better. Are those 55 gallon drums linked together? It will be great I'm sure. I have realized too late that simple is always the best approach. I would do something's different now. My tilapia have had babies and it looks like 3 more are swirling eggs and babies in their mouths. So we are in full baby mode now.

Yep.... double click on the picture and it will enlarge for you. I just drew generic drums.... just ideas. Pipe sizes are larger than normal so you can see....

deb

 

[niqueie]

My backyard chicken app has always been screwy with the pictures. I can zoom in on pictures I post but not others. Irritating.