I've been reading BYC posts on duckponics (which I call Aquackulture, geddit?) and have a slightly different take on it. Last summer I built a small pond (50 gallons, 200L) for my pekin Wendi and black cayagu Bob. It pretty quickly was fouled up with poop and dirt. Speaking of which most people talk about poop fouling duck ponds but in my experience it is mostly dirt they carry to the pond or waterer (which they cant swim or poop in) and filter the dirt through their beaks. Initially it smelt of ammonia until I put some pond bacteria in but then it was just green and opaque. A local company (in Melbourne, Australia) sells an "Aquaponics" system which consist of a tank for fish which feeds via a pump into a "growbed" tank. The growbed tank consists of small clay pebbles (about 1/2 inch or 1cm in diameter) that comes from Germany. Bacteria in the growbed convert the ammonia into nitrates which feed the plants sitting in the grow bed. I use a pump which pumps about 2000L/hr (it is rated 4000L/hr or 1000 gallons/hr but has to pump up 4 feet or 1.25m. The water once cleaned by the grow bed bacteria flows freely back into the duck pond and is theoretically free of ammonia and nitrates and clear. The whole set up cost me about $1200 (same in USD) but included the set up and installation as well as ongoing support. I'm guessing if you bought everything and did it yourself it would cost about half that.
I've hooked it up to the duck pond. The water remains clear (we replaced the old water from last summer and it is Aussie winter (not so cold, well above freezing) now so perhaps wouldn't expect a lot of algae to grow). I have yet to grow any veges in the grow bed as it still requires some work which the installers supply. I have a FB page called "Aquackulture" if anyone wants to see pictures. You can see the growbed in this photo - it is the white round tank. Hopefully next season it will be full of veges or flowers. The pump sits in the pond.
Wendi&Bob share the fowl yard with 3 chickens. Normally the front gate is open and they free range.
Theoretically this system should be quite easy to grow veges in as it already works for fish based aquaculture.
If anyone has set up a similar system I'd love to hear from you or just comments about duckponics.
James
I've hooked it up to the duck pond. The water remains clear (we replaced the old water from last summer and it is Aussie winter (not so cold, well above freezing) now so perhaps wouldn't expect a lot of algae to grow). I have yet to grow any veges in the grow bed as it still requires some work which the installers supply. I have a FB page called "Aquackulture" if anyone wants to see pictures. You can see the growbed in this photo - it is the white round tank. Hopefully next season it will be full of veges or flowers. The pump sits in the pond.
Wendi&Bob share the fowl yard with 3 chickens. Normally the front gate is open and they free range.
Theoretically this system should be quite easy to grow veges in as it already works for fish based aquaculture.
If anyone has set up a similar system I'd love to hear from you or just comments about duckponics.
James