The Duck-ponics Experiment - Raising minnows

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OMG!! When I was a high school exchange student I spent my senior year in England. Our science project there was studying duckweed!! Man that stuff can grow!! I think you have a shot at making this work!

Mine didn't grow well and then froze...or got eaten by Bungie

From what I have read, duckweed might need chelated iron to make it grow? Is that right?

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I don't know. I wish I had paid better attention in science class.

Update...

I have learned over the past few months that splitting off the water line coming from the pump was a really dumb idea. Getting the pressure right from one side to the other was almost impossible. There were times when the "water feature" would overflow and the filter would go dry. It increased clogging issues and was just a total pain.

I finally got smart and am now running the pump right to the filter only. If I want to run a water feature in the future, I will just buy another pump later.

I also figured out a great way to add more plants to the system to help draw off some of the excess nutrients. I got two plastic water heater trays that are now being fed by the filter run off.



You could easily terrace 4 or more of these trays to increase your growing area. I put a layer of pea gravel in each tray and then placed pots with several drain holes in the bottom in the trays. The basil and the squash you can see in the photo have been growing in duck water the whole time. You can see how well they are doing. The other containers that just look like they have dirt in them have freshly planted seeds. I am going to see if I can get some zucchini growing in those.

It looks a little redneck with the poultry netting around it, but this will have to do for now. (Note: Halloween bucket is NOT part of the hydroponic system... LOL) Without the poultry netting, those plants would have been toast in 2 seconds. I will see if I can find some fancy bamboo fencing or something else cool in the next few months. End of season sales are usually a good way to get new garden stuff.

I also found some more duckweed....this time some growing locally and I will try that ONE MORE TIME. Without the duckweed in the top of the filter container, I will get bad algae blooms. Duckweed shades the water and keeps the algae from getting out of control. Wish me luck.



Oh!!! I forgot to add that I saw the goldfish (I named it Moby) again yesterday. It is HUGE...LOL. Good thing the water is a bit murky right now because the ducks are sure looking for him...

I am so glad I am not the only one completely out of my mind. This is my "grey water" reclaimation system. So far, a two year project. The water comes from the laundry (biodegradable soap, Oxyclean, and only peroxide - no bleach ever), and also from my bathroom shower and sinks. We use regular soap and shampoos in there even though I'm not thrilled about that.

I'm not sure what order the pics are in so I will as briefly as possible explain the systems cycle.

Grey water comes out of the house and into the top of the bog. The bog with catstails and papyrus filters the water and then drops into a biofilter (just below the bog). Can't see the lower biofilter as it is cover with rocks. The hoses drain out of the top of the upflow biofilter and into the lower pond. I will be changing this next year to a lovely waterfall.

The lower pond has a trash pump that pumps the water up to the top of the upper biofilter that has a feed into the bottom of the biofilter. The upper biofilter is the one in the 1/2 barrel on top of the "water tower". If you want designs and specifics, feel free to PM or email me. The clean water then drops into the upper pond which drains back into the bog.

I have had two gold fish and two koi living in the upper pond for over a year. I have a very large happy bullfrog living in the bottom pond. That was by accident when I was getting river plants I also got a pollyfrog - oops. Now I'll have to get him some company.

As far as a blacklight filter. Only if you want clear water all the time. It also kills the good stuff. But without it the ponds sometimes do get really green particularly in spring.

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By the way, this is square foot gardening. Awesome concept. No rabbits, squirrels, etc to worry about and grows faster than anything I have ever had. Yup, pond water and duck water. One thing, don't ever let your land animals eat string algae (wet or dry). It almost killed one of my dogs.



Happy ducking and ponding.

Opps, forgot to say - Two things missing. Duckweed and Ducks. Will be adding those soon - once I clip the little buggers wings.

Can you add the image tags so the pictures show?

Oh, you look like you're in Tasmania... or somewhere else in Australia... yes, Neverbdone?

Linda,

YOU ROCK!!!

I'd love to see that setup in person.. of course by then you'll have an entire backyard garden terraced with plants growing in duckwater!!!