Worms in a greywater system to keep a gravel filter flowing?

17 years ago

I have gravel hydroponic beds that use pond water with fish effluent as nutrient solution. After the pond water filters through the gravel hydro beds it drains back into the fish pond to be cycled through the gravel beds again. This sort of hydro system is called an aquaponics system. I've been using worms in my gravel beds for over a year now. They seem to have no problem surviving in the highly oxygenated water in the gravel beds. When I go digging around in the gravel I always find very large healthy looking worms. I put them in there to help break down solids that get trapped in the gravel.

So a project I've been wanting to work on recently is for reusing the water coming out of my kitchen sink. This sort of greywater is a bit problematic because it contains lots of grease, fat, bits of food, etc. I want to run my greywater through a sand filter before I distribute it to the garden. Well with all the grease in there it would clog the sand filter... so i was thinking I could run the water through a 5 gallon bucket filled with gravel and composting worms.

Think this would work? I've read not to put meat/grease into your worm bin but I've thought this was due to animals digging in your worm bin. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Another thing I'm curious about. Can worms like in sand?

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Comments (6)

mndtrp
17 years ago
I can't answer all of your questions, but I can tell you what I've done in regards to meat. I have put a lot of meat in my worm bin.

I've put half eaten steaks that the girlfriend forgot in the back of the fridge.
I've put whole turkeys that I've picked as clean as possible.
I've put buffalo wings that were picked over in the bin.
I've also put in old salsa, spaghetti sauce, other pasta sauces, and basically everything else that was once destined for my own consumption.

The only thing that has ever stunk has been beef bones from T-bone steaks. I don't know why they stunk more than chicken bones, maybe due to the marrow being exposed.

As far as your other questions, I have no clue. Sounds interesting, though.
susanfromhawaii
17 years ago
I read the reason for not putting meat and fat in is the smell. I've occ put meat (or rotten eggs) in buried deeply and I've told myself not to dig around in that bin. No problems at all. There was no noticeable difference in the compost produced.

I'm not sure about a large quantity of fat. It would coat their skins. I don't know if that interferes with breathing or not. Anyone else?

I have read something about 'protein poisoning' and have no idea what it is. It seems to kill worms. I don't know if that would be a problem. I'm assuming you're using biodegradeable dish soap?

If you do try, let us know how it works. It sounds like you've got a great system there! I've read about hydroponics, but not with worms in the gravel. Brilliant. (Not very practical in my studio apt!)
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african
17 years ago
I found masses of tiny red worms in the filter cloth I use at the overflow of my koi pond. The cloth is below a waterfall and it filters out sludge, before the water reaches the biological filter. The water is highly oxygenated from all the splashing of the waterfall.

I took some of the worms and set up a mini worm farm in an ice cream bucket. Its been a few months now and they've thrived. I'm pretty sure they are esenia foetidae, but didn't know if this species of worm is native to South Africa (Cape Town). I wonder if anyone knows?
fosteem1
17 years ago
A few years ago when I had a pond i read about a guy in England who used gray water in his pond system. He put in a 1000 gallon tank that the pond water flowed through. The gray water slowly flowed into this tank. From there the water was pumped uphill into a series of bog systems. The first bog was cattails the next mixed bog plants then a gravel stream to the pond. By the time the water got back to the pond it was clean enough for the fish to live in it.
dontsleep
17 years ago
Mrgrackle and African: Could some of you post pictures of the worms in this filter environment? I am having a hard time picturing it. Are they completely submerged in water? Is it a flood/drain situation or continuous? I have never heard of this before.
fosteem1
17 years ago
It may be tubafix (sp?) worms. They live in water and eat detritus, left over food and such. You can buy live tubafix worms at aquarium shops.