Tropical Fruit > Tropical Fruit Discussion

Macroalgae -> Fertilizer Trials

(1/3) > >>

elouicious:
Hey All-

I wanted to use this thread to document another hair brained idea- turning the excess macroalgae from my coral reef fish tank into a "seaweed" fertilizer. I do not recommend this for people to try- I am concerned about the salt levels and very likely will kill some plants before dialing this in, but currently this is a waste product for me that I would like to try to recycle back into my system rather than throwing away.

I have a 110 gallon reef that is a split style tank with the bottom functioning primarily as a refugium for said macroalgae and various invertebrates. Here is the main farming patch right now-







The known species are

* Chaetomorpha spp.
* Caulerpa spp.
* Halymenea spp.
And there are a few unknown/hitchhiker species. In the long term I may incorporate asterina starfish and other pest aquatic species into the mix as well.

For now I only had an overgrowth of the Caulerpa and so I trimmed some, washed it, and have placed it in the sun to dry.



I will then powder it and apply in small quantities to test plants that I have a multitude of the species.

pagnr:
The seasalt minerals in the algae are beneficial. The excess seasalt on the outside of the plant is possibly a problem. I believe it is washed off kelp before it is processed into plant fertiliser.

elouicious:
This was one of my questions-

I thoroughly rinsed the outside to remove those salts, but they themselves have a lot of internal water-

presumably this is maintained at ion concentrations the plant can handle but when you dry them those concentrations will go up-

The Caulerpa is crispy after 1 day in the sun

JCorte:
Here is an interview from a few years ago with Spot Oliver from Exotica Fruit Nursery.  He shares his experience of a seven year project using saltwater aquarium waste from propagating coral reefs to fertilzer tropical fruit trees.  He's had success with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b75rjAsvEdM

Good luck with your project!

Janet

elouicious:
Janet!

Always coming in with the best resources- I am still going through that edible leaves book

This is some great inspiration!

thank you

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page