Permaculture Aquarium or Pond

Was initially inspired by a user mentioning Spirulina growing,
which is a mono-culture environment,

A permaculture aquarium has a diversity of edible plants,
like water-lentils(duckweed) and water-cress.

you'll have larger overall biomass, and more balanced diet,
as each plant is optimized to varying conditions,
with a diversity of plants, and plant-types.

Spirulina is very high in protein, 56%,
however mice live longest in studies with 10% protein.
So a minority of your calories can come from spirulina,
water-lentils are also very high in protein and prolific breeders.

watercress is considered to be one of the first additions to the human diet.
it's also a very good source of nutrients and easy to attain locally.

balanced fat is essential to staying warm and having adequate brain function.
so recommend growing some kind of nut or seed plant for fat, like water caltrop or water chestnut.

Note that the majority of a humans diet is typically starchy carbohydrates,
so can grow something like duck potato or reedmace.

I already have an aquarium with some Elodea for air-cleaning,
watercress for vitamins and waterlentils for protein,



still gotta get carbohydrates and fat.
probably some anti-oxidants to,
not sure what aquatic plant would be best for that.

on the diet that I've been on I limit my  net carbohydrates (carbs - fiber and sugar alcohol)..to 20 to 30 grams a day..that isn't very many, I can get all the carbs I need from a large salad and an ounce of nuts, I eat no starchy carbs at all and no grains .

I do however eat more meat and fat than can be supplied by vegetables alone..so I am doing the pond on a much larger scale and hope to plant it to fish in the next year or so for proteins

we also have wild bird and animal proteins available on our property

I'm working toward a permacultural aquaponics system for raising bluegill and various edible water plants such as duck potato, water chestnut and taro.  I'm not far enough along on the project to have much to show, but should have the basic setup in a couple months.

The book Perennial Vegetables offers a varietes of aquatic perennials plants and ideas to make a water garden with good edibles

Elspru:  I have a 1000 gal stock tank in the yard with cattail, watercress and fish.  The watercress is now in a raft and hopefully will keep on growing in the cold.  The primary function of the tank is to provide nutrient rich water to the raised bed gardens.  A second tank of 150 gal. holds another raft of watercress and 2 dozen goldfish.  The larger tank has a gravel bed biofilter with comfrey and more watercress.  The comfrey dies back in winter so I planted the watercress to continue the biofilter action.  It has not grown out enough to make a difference, but I only planted in September.  Will they at least double in the summer?  I supplement the turkey's feed with the comfrey and trim watercress for salad greens.  Do water chestnuts freeze and die?

Oh hey, thanks for the replies everyone.
I've really enjoyed reading your posts,
great to see so many permaculture activists.

Brenda Groth wrote:
on the diet that I've been on I limit my  net carbohydrates (carbs - fiber and sugar alcohol)..to 20 to 30 grams a day..that isn't very many, I can get all the carbs I need from a large salad and an ounce of nuts, I eat no starchy carbs at all and no grains .

I'm rather confused why you'd do that.

historically humans have always had starch as the main component of the diet.
it is what gives people energy to do things,
also nuts are mostly high in fat.

I do however eat more meat and fat than can be supplied by vegetables alone..

meat is mainly a source of fat, good for keeping warm.
vegetable protein is much easier to digest.

so I am doing the pond on a much larger scale and

it's true that herbivores require less space.

hope to plant it to fish in the next year or so for proteins

Fish is a good source of Omega-3 fatty acids,
though so are flax seeds.

Also 10 percent protein is considered optimal for maintenance,
only really need more if you're straining your muscles.
Lentils and beans are near 30% protein.
Sprouts and greens frequently over 20%.

mice fed diets of 30% and 50% protein died younger than those with 10%.
from the "beyond the 120 year diet" about the CRON-diet,
calorie-restriction with optimal-nutrition.

we also have wild bird and animal proteins available on our property

that's nice though they are likely to be more of a contribution while alive,
since they can fertilize, reseed and prune plants.

As a forest-gardner main task is to get species established,
then nature can do much of the work of maintaining them.
As long as there is a food source and predators,
generally a balance is achieved.

spiritrancho wrote:
Elspru:  I have a 1000 gal stock tank in the yard with cattail, watercress and fish.  The watercress is now in a raft and hopefully will keep on growing in the cold. 

what's youre hardiness zone?

The primary function of the tank is to provide nutrient rich water to the raised bed gardens.

personally I prefer permaculture gardens,
though I agree with adding some good soil on top to help establish plants. 
am currently making compost piles from kitchen waste, rabbit poo and hay.

A second tank of 150 gal. holds another raft of watercress and 2 dozen goldfish.  The larger tank has a gravel bed biofilter with comfrey and more watercress.

from literature I read for optimal growth of plants,
it's good to have a source of nutrients for the plants such as clay or soil,
in nature gravel is usually only on top, with more nutrient layers on the bottom.

  The comfrey dies back in winter so I planted the watercress to continue the biofilter action.  It has not grown out enough to make a difference, but I only planted in September.  Will they at least double in the summer? 

water-cress is really light-intensive and typically only semi-aqueous.
a stemmed fully aqueous plant generally reproduce faster.
can add in some duckweed surface-layer it's also effective at filtering water and minimizing evaporation, the goldfish can also use it as a food source.
can probably get some plants from a wild pond nearby to make sure it's cold-hardy variety.

 I supplement the turkey's feed with the comfrey and trim watercress for salad greens.  Do water chestnuts freeze and die?

water chestnuts have a hardiness zone of 5, just like the comfrey
as long as it's warm enough they'll live.

what's strange is that watercress is hardiness zone 6,
yet you implied that it didn't die back in the winter.

so I'm not sure if it's the temperature or something else.
based on my PFAF database comfrey grows in damp areas near water, rather than in it.
It's likely it can get by for a while in a flooded condition, but may need to be out of water for part of lifecycle.

I am in zone 8 and have been down to 22 deg. F. so far this winter.  The gravel bed has a syphon arragment that will drain down the bed once full.  This allows air to plant roots and is an aquaphonic trick widely used.  I lift the rafts of watercress out of the water for a couple of hours a day.

elspru wrote:

historically humans have always had starch as the main component of the diet.

Some people find they develop health problems with eating starch as the main component of the diet, such as overweight or diabetes.


A thread for this discussion:  https://permies.com/permaculture-forums/6100_0/cooking-and-food-preservation/questions-about-eating-paleo

elspru wrote:
historically humans have always had starch as the main component of the diet.

Historically, but not préhistorically

spiritrancho wrote:
I am in zone 8 and have been down to 22 deg. F. so far this winter.  The gravel bed has a syphon arragment that will drain down the bed once full.  This allows air to plant roots and is an aquaphonic trick widely used.

It's just you were saying that you were using a portion as a biofilter,
if you have fully aquatic plants, then can just leave the filter to do it's thing.
 

I lift the rafts of watercress out of the water for a couple of hours a day.

I'm fairly sure that watercress can grow in shallow water quite effectively, as I've seen it doing so amongst cattails.

Ludi Ludi wrote:
Some people find they develop health problems with eating starch as the main component of the diet, such as overweight or diabetes.

A thread for this discussion:  https://permies.com/permaculture-forums/6100_0/cooking-and-food-preservation/questions-about-eating-paleo

Diabetes and overweight can be cured by raw veganism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0Le4VjQPlg

permaguy wrote:
Historically, but not préhistorically

Prehistory is just what some scientists theorize about what happened before the flood.
Though I'm sure you're aware of the major cover-up of star-being information,
star-beings have been around for millions of years recording history,
contactees have diligently been writing down their teachings.
So we can have historical accounts of preflood times.

Here is info from a race of beings callings themselves the Thiaooba,
you may know them more traditionally as Jehovah.

‘Most of the flora and fauna on Earth was totally different from that on Bakaratini - both from a nutritional and ecological point of view. Numerous experimental farms were established in an endeavour to acclimatise plants such as sunflower, maize, wheat, sorghum, tapioca and others.

‘These plants either didn’t exist on Earth or else existed in such a primitive state that they couldn’t be consumed. The goat and the kangaroo were both imported, for the immigrants were quite partial to these, consuming them in great numbers on their planet.

...

‘The yellow race had settled, as I said, in the hinterland of the Bay of Bengal. Most were in Burma where they too, had established cities and experimental farms. Principally interested in vegetables, they had imported from Bakaratini cabbages, lettuce, parsley, coriander and some others. For fruit, they brought the cherry tree, the banana and the orange trees. These last two were difficult to establish, for the climate of the time was generally colder than it is now. Thus, they gave some of the trees to the blacks who, by contrast, had enormous success with them.

‘In the same way, the yellow people had far greater success in the growing of wheat. In fact, the wheat from Bakaratini produced enormous grains, around the size of a coffee bean, with ears measuring up to 40 centimetres in length. Four varieties of wheat were grown and the yellow race wasted no time in establishing a very high production level.’

‘Did they also bring rice to the planet?’

‘No, not at all. Rice is a plant absolutely native to Earth, although it was greatly improved by the yellow people on its way to becoming what it is now.

http://rune.galactic.to/thaoeng2.html

to make a long story short,
several world calamities later,
with a few more star being races,
we are here.