A Complete Food Chain and the 12 Permaculture Design Principles

There is an interesting post over on Backyard Aquaponics. It's called Complete Food Chain

In the thread Daniel wrote two posts;

once i have quarantined my shrimp long enough to go into the tank with the fish, i could probably achieve this, but only with a very small stocking density of fish.
Farming fish in farm dams extensively rely on this, and they fertilise their ponds before adding fish to increase algae growth, which in turn supports more microorganisms, and so on

and

wait, if i did what was mentioned in my post above, i couldn't have any plants growing aquaponically with only an input of CO2 and sunlight

well i have confused myself, i have a feeling that there would need to be an input of fish food/nutrients to grow plants aquaponically as well

ah well someone else probably has some more helpful insight, and i will check this topic with eagerness to see if its possible

I'd like to add two comments about Daniels posts.

Firstly, about fish growers fertilizing their dams to increase algae & intermediate organisms before adding fish. This fertilizer is effectively embodied fossil fuel energy. In the systems we are trying to build, we can do these kinda things, but the way we do them means the scale will differ. Our processes will require more labour, land/water area, time and/or capital/materiels so that we can embody solar energy. We can play with the mix, but it won't be the fast easy fix of cheap fossil fuels.

Secondly, Daniel commented about growing algae precluded growing plants aquaponically. True, but another way to think of it, is that the fish components of the system produces a certain amount of nitrogen. It's your decision as the designer/maintainer to determine how much of the nitrogen flow goes to plant production (for human/animal use) and how much goes to algae production (for internal system feed stocks).

After I made my initial post, I was looking for a better way to express additional idea threads.

Then I hit upon the idea of using David Holmgren's 12 design principles as a lens.

1. Observe and interact
   

   Na

   
   
2. Catch and store energy
   

   Developing a system that captures and stores solar energy in usable/valuable forms

   
   
3. Obtain a yield
   

   Developing a system that captures and stores carbon, nitrogen etc as high nutrition food stuffs

   
   
4. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback
   

   Using large ponds, with caged off sub ponds and 'side' ponds to for produce feed stocks for the main fish speices. Thus using some of the nitrogen produced by the fish stocks to produce their own feed stocks. The system can also comsume excess output of Terrestial systems.

   
   
5. Use and value renewable resources and services
   

   Produce high omega-3 fish meats, with commerial value.

   
   
6. Produce no waste
   

   Using food stuffs that are in excess (roosters) as a feed stocks for a system that produces food stuffs that are in limited supply (omega-3 rich meats)

   
   
7. Design from patterns to details
   

   Na

   
   
8. Integrate rather than segregate
   

   Meshing the aquaponic system design with terrrestral systems.

   
   
9. Use small and slow solutions
   

   Use many sub pond and 'side' ponds rather than a small number of large ponds.

   
   
10. Use and value diversity
    

    Using many feed stock source to ensure more stable system dynamics.

    
    
11. Use edges and value the marginal
    

    Ulitize and manipulate pond surface & pond walls/floor to increase cumclative total production.

    
    
12. Creatively use and respond to change
    

    Na

    
    

Is it time to draw a mind map?


Gnoll110

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