G'day. Grey water to duck poo ponix to AP

[Mullum]

Hi All,

I live in Mullumbimby, Northern NSW.

I love the site and already have learnt so much. I have always been interested in sustainability, ecology, permaculture and gardening. so gotta say AP seems perfect - embracing the motto that waste is just an under utilised resource

I have bastrdised the AP theories before to 'clean' my domestic grey water to gravity flow through biological filters (wheelie bin/bath of gravel with vetiver grass) into a chain of ponds (more bath tubs) with fish and plants. I water the vegie garden with this water and it flows thru an old school bubbler trough for a GB meant for vegies. the system works great at all stages but the food growing trough was too shallow and grey water too infrequently pumped in.

so now i am adapting the duck pond (old spa bath). I am sick of changing the stinking water. so hope to substitute your fish and their resource water for my ducks. Hoping plants are easier to keep alive than fish. if i can get this system going ok will take the plunge into a true AP set up with fish and all.

I look forward to the AP journey

cheers

Dave

[Castaway]

Hi Dave - Good luck with your AP journey. I would caution you about using grey water in an AP system as that would definitely kill your fish not to mention your bacterial colony. Maybe start off with two bathtubs and create a closed loop system first (no grey water) and get the system cycling properly and the plants established. For your grey water concerns - Maybe a real pond system with reed beds and sand would be a better choice and have the water feed a traditional kitchen garden might be a better choice. You have a slope so a swale system would be a good choice to consider if you want to go the Permaculture route and soak the water into your land and grow some raised garden beds with vegetables grown in dirt on the down slope. The two systems could co-exist just fine. I dont know if you could mix the two systems together without creating problems. Someone better qualified could advise you on that point.

[Mullum]

Thanks Castaway for your feed back.

I should have made myself clearer.
the grey water system is an open draining system through filters and baths then onto the garden. i do have fish in this but they are just little blue eyes - not table fish - and they seem to handle it ok. this water will not enter my AP set up.

system 2 which i am now building will be a closed system just a usual AP set up substituting the FT for a small duck pond, so no fish in this set up.

one day i will get to making the Ap set up with fish!

Cheers and thanks again for your info

Dave

Hi Dave - Good luck with your AP journey. I would caution you about using grey water in an AP system as that would definitely kill your fish not to mention your bacterial colony. Maybe start off with two bathtubs and create a closed loop system first (no grey water) and get the system cycling properly and the plants established. For your grey water concerns - Maybe a real pond system with reed beds and sand would be a better choice and have the water feed a traditional kitchen garden might be a better choice. You have a slope so a swale system would be a good choice to consider if you want to go the Permaculture route and soak the water into your land and grow some raised garden beds with vegetables grown in dirt on the down slope. The two systems could co-exist just fine. I dont know if you could mix the two systems together without creating problems. Someone better qualified could advise you on that point.

[organicusrex]

G'day Mullum,

I'm intrigued about your treatment of greywater. I'm setting up a new little homestead in America and I want to process my greywater sufficiently to use in a standard garden of raised beds. We have some none table fishes and such that might substitute for your blue eyes, if I knew what they were.

Please elaborate on the subject if you don't mind.

Dean

[Mullum]

hey organicus,

pacific blue eyes (pseudomugil signifer) is a small (6cm) local native australian fish endemic to the area of coastal New south wales where i live. I reckon it is best if you get a hardy local native fish from your area. if you can learn which local species can survive in degraded areas such as golf course ponds and drains a good chance they will survive in a grey water pond. (my grey water has been filtered several times through planted out gravel beds to remove nutrient before the fish get the water.

cheers

dave

[organicusrex]

HI Dave,

Thanks for the insight. I just recently moved and I have my son with me assisting in getting my little homestead established and he is up on all the fish since he loves to catch them.

My brother and I share 3.5 acres and he was concerned about the wasting of grey water so he just recently channeled his into a raised bed. The end goal is to landscape with edible plants galore. There are native wild blueberries all over the property so I can safely assume I have pretty acid soil.

I firmly believe in responsible stewardship of the land for the future generations to come. Everyone's greatest inheritance to pass on is the good Earth.

Thanks,
Dean