Worms in aquaculture aka vermiponics
Via Bentley at redwormcomposting.com, I discovered vermiponics. Basically, vermiponics is similar to aquaponics, but instead of using fish as the animal portion of that system, you use some kind of composting worm. Here’s an introductory article talking about Bentley’s experiments.
This kind of integrated system fascinates me (which is why I drew up a chicken chart for redworms), so I went looking for other information. Someone has registered vermiponics.com, but there’s not a lot of information on that website. (His thesis, “Ecologically Engineered Primary Production in Central Queensland, Australia – Integrated Fish and Crayfish Culture, Constructed Wetlands, Floral Hydroponics, and Industrial Wastewater”, does look very interesting, as PhD theses go.)
Someone named Phill from Australia has posted some diagrams of vermiponics systems, on his blog and in a powerpoint presentation (starting on page 18). He’s also posted a video about it.
There also appears to be some discussion about vermiponics in at least one of the Aquaponics forums: here’s a thread about redworms for solids removal and a general vermiponics thread.
I haven’t had time or space or weather to experiment with this type of system. Do you have any experience? Success stories or failure stories?
Add comment March 12th, 2010
