Giant River Prawns

Maker Talk
1

I’ve just added 14 giant river prawns, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, to the sump tank of our aquaponics system. At this point they are anything but giants measuring only about 1/2 inch in length.

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With a little reconfiguration the sump may serve as a decent refugium. The main grow bed just got a new larger LED light with the smaller light being moved to the sump tank. All water is returned to the right side of the center baffle with the left side acting as calm water for floating plants and settlement.
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Note: The water hyacinth are free floating plants but I had to add the foam life vests so they would remain upright until they grow out a little more.
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The new grow light is being run at partial power and has been mounted close to the ceiling. The elephant ear, taro plants need the additional space and light. The banana, musa is also well adapted to life in a soilless system.
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4 Likes
2

Interesting updates. Thanks for sharing, as always

3

How fun! That is pretty cool.

I love that last photo and it reminds me I’ve been meaning to ask if we can move the big leaf guy (I think the label says taro?) to the back. At night, the leaves condensate and make puddles on the floor. It took us a while to figure it out one day but we finally looked at the leaves and found the source! They are beautiful and with the new LED light will hopefully help them do well further back in the bed now. I imagine the leaves might have been getting burned by the light previously.