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Helena, MT

So i know very little about compost tea but I do have access to the waste water from my fish tanks. Quite a bit. and weekely when i clean the filters and ring out the filter sponges there are high amounts of waste trapped in them that is broken down into what looks like compost tea. Very dark, rich in nutrients for sure, I know this makes my house plants grow like wild fire any reason it wouldnt work for pumpkins? Could it be safely sprayed on the leaves? Just curious because this could be a cheap and effective way for me to get extra nutrients to my plants in my first season. :)

3/13/2014 12:07:48 PM

Colorado

If you grow more than one plant ,run a trial on a plant.May be good to use fish water-wont know unless you try.

3/13/2014 12:40:32 PM

Helena, MT

tnx the main reason i am wondering about this is the waste water has an abundance of nitrate in it at about 40-200 ppm depending on how much I Ffeed the fish and how long I wait between water changes. The concentrations in the filter sponges will be many, many times higher than this and the rung out water is nearly black. In essence it is fish waste compost. I am curious if this is too much for pumpkins and would it maybe be better used as a folier spray?

3/13/2014 1:41:18 PM

Helena, MT

I know a lot of hydroponic growers will have their plants plumbed directly into a plant filter. so the plants filter the water fir the fish and the fish waste privides all the nutrients for the plants in a sybiotic relationship. The growth on some of these plants is pretty crazy. Not sure how it would work for pumpkins though

3/13/2014 1:43:58 PM

Paradise Mountain, New York

Fish water from your fish tank is very good. I several years ago found a link about the waste is very good for garden plants.

3/13/2014 2:36:13 PM

President - GPC

Yup, I use mine to make compost tea....

3/13/2014 3:02:36 PM

Helena, MT

thats great guys. :) i figured it would be ok just wasnt sure of any special considerations for AGP. Does wonders for my housebplants.

3/13/2014 9:23:14 PM

Central Illinois

My wife cleans out a filter pad from our outdoor fish pond in the yard the grass growing there always grows faster and has great color, could be due to the added water it gets, but the darker green color must be from the fish poo.

Ive never made tea but you may want to keep the aerobic activity going from the tank to the tea mix

3/14/2014 8:17:36 AM

Mnt.pleasant ,tennessee

Algae a big role in tank messes.algae made from the sun in water.chlorophyll at its finest

3/14/2014 8:33:35 AM

Helena, MT

lol yeah. I am excited to try this now maybe use the fish tank water to make compost tea with since the beneficial bacteria are already present and the added nutrients also. Should make a good tea. Wonder what tea fish water would work best with. Then I can also clean the pads and the water from that can go on the patch. I have a 100 gal aquarium and a 400 gal tropical pond. I change roughly 250 gals of water weekly all together. So will the bacteria present in the water transfer to soil and do magic there also? My tanks get about 3 lbs of food weekly.

3/14/2014 12:16:27 PM

West Paris Me.

Just a thought. I remember adding a small amount of salt to my fish tank in the past. If I remember correctly, swords and mollies do better if you add a little salt. If you do as well, this should be a consideration.

3/15/2014 8:24:34 PM

Peru

I have 65, 000 tolipa fish feeding my kins now. Don't know if it will work but I'm doing it to see . The plants look great

4/2/2015 5:06:26 PM