The Duck-ponics Experiment - Raising minnows

[danielnv]

I am loving this thread! I have been reading about aquaponics and thinking it could be done with ducks instead of or in addition to fish. With the aquaponics system I read about, they use a tank of fish, a tank of the same size (if my memory serves) filled with gravel on which the bacteria grow and act as a filter, and then a tank that the plants live in.

I will be digging my pond hopefully soon, and have been thinking about going about 4 feet deep, with a drain/pump at the bottom, and a layer say half deep of the gravel. The water would be pumped into an old cast iron tub on my raised planter (this sits about 3 feet above the level where my pond will be). I would disguise the sides of the tub with plants/rocks, etc, and put flagstone on the top for the water to come out of and make a water fall into the pond below. Anyway, the plants would be in the tub, and possibly other containers.

This is my long-winded way of asking if the duckponics systems you have read about mention using gravel as a filter medium, and also how deep the water needs to be for the ducks to do their thing.

Maybe you could use some poultry mesh or some sort of grate on the surface of your plant pot so that the ducks can only eat what comes out above the wire?

 

[Wifezilla]

Gravel was mentioned at a couple of places, but I don't know if it will be enough with ducks.

As for how deep, hummm.....ducks don't really seem to care how deep, but 3-4 feet would be cool. Jack LLOOOVEESSSS his new pond. I have never seen such a happy duck before.

Today he realized some of the feeder fish I threw in there the other day had gotten away from Lana and they were still alive. I spent 20 minutes laughing at his feather butt sticking up in the air as he tried to get those fish.

 

[Wifezilla]

My back yard looked like a scene from a Hitchcock movie this morning. Birds EVERYWHERE.

The local wildlife approves of the new pond

Had a couple of these guys show up today (photo from last year...I think I am on a migration route since I don't see them later in the Summer)

In my big container, I have a nice layer of bacteria on the hog's hair filter and my water is CRYSTAL CLEAR. I think the container with some hog's hair would be enough of a filter all by itself. That means you can make a decorative filter with plant growing potential for around $25. Compare that to cheaply made filters from the garden center that people say don't work for $40-$80.

Oh..forgot to add that after I cut the hog's hair filter to fit in the round top, I took all the scrap pieces and threw them under the round piece. I am sure that is helping. Including the time it took me to drill the 2 holes in the container, I think the whole filter took me about 5 minutes to put together

 

[angora831]

I have been following this string with a lot of interest becasue we are trying to come up with some ideas for a small pond for our 6 ducks and 2 geese. I just thought of a question after doing chores this evening and feeding our chickens. Since I assume that chickens don't swim and some of you do own chickens along with your waterfowl,does the duck pond have to be fenced or off limits to the chickens. Our birds are free range because we have enough room outside of town here, so they run together or along side of each other. If we put in a pond would we have to keep the chickens away? May seem like a simple question, now, but it never occured to me while following this string that they may have to keep away from the water.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Wifezilla]

I don't think your chickens will drown. They may drink at the shore, but I can't imagine them diving in or anything.

Things have been interesting over the past couple of weeks. We have had temps in the high 60's and 3 blizzards. The pond had some nice ice sculpture effects going on a couple of days

Some of the duckweed got frostbite, but hopefully there is enough viable to start reproducing when the weather finally matches the calendar. The Primrose also got frostbite, but it is still growing.

The water is still pretty clear but I do have a lot sediment on the bottom. The ducks kick it up when they swim. I will have to occasionally suck that up with the wet/dry shop vac I guess.

I haven't found a tank I want to incorporate yet for the people food portion of my system, but I do have a couple of very large pots at work that we can't get anything to grow in. The spot they are in is just too darn hot in the summer and anything I plant there gets baked. Even my artificial flowers that are in there now took a real beating from the sun. I guess I will just have to bring those home

I will post more photos after the weather cooperates or if I add anything to the system.

 

[Wifezilla]

The "teenagers" JJ and Bungie playing in the pond

 

[oldmac]

I would like to pass on this site to you, I have recieved info from them in the past and there is a wealth of information to be learned. I have a 1/2 acre pond that gets duck weed in the summer so bad that you can not see the water and was hoping some ducks would do the trick. I realy don't want to use chemicals to treat it.

http://www.aquaticeco.com/

 

[Mahonri]

Wonder if I could do it in Phoenix Heat?

 

[Lolliegee]

Thanks so much for this thread Wifezilla...We're in the process of building our duckies their pond and I really want to make it look good too. Especially since I don't plan to stay in this house forever...I really want a place with some property attached (we've only got 1/4 acre)...and I want it to be an attractive selling point when we're ready to sell. I can't wait to see what else you have to tell us.

 

[Wifezilla]

My only ongoing issues so far are the sediment and, now, pump pressure. A few times the big container has overflowed. When I get that flow corrected, the basin starts overflowing. I have it stable now...drilled some extra drainage holes in the bottom of the basin...added the tube to the drainage hole which is helping keep it from becoming blocked...but I still have a little work to do.

I can either add and extra drainage hole in the front that goes in to the pond, OR I can add a hidden overflow hose to the back. I think if I do the hidden overflow hose, I will lose less water to evaporation when our weather heats up.

As for the sediment, well, I have DUCKS! They LOVE to drag things in to the water. After all, you HAVE to see if something will taste better when seasoned with pond water. Us silly humans just haven't figured that out yet.

Other than that, I am really liking the pond and the ducks are LOVING it. Once I get the water outflow worked out, I can start giving serious thought to the people food portion of my duckponics system.