TCLynx's System

RupertofOZ

Nice work... as always TCL

TCLynx

Well Rupe, seeing your filter boxes got me thinking, why not use a pond convention to filter my AP system a bit.

DecalsbyJT

Hey TC

what is the size of the pipes?

jT

TCLynx

The inlet pipe is 1 1/2" and it is coming in with a little pressure from the pump.

The outlet pipes are all gravity so I put two outlets at 1 1/2" and there are two other outlet pipes (because the penetrations in the bin were already there) one of them is 1" and the other is 3/4". That top 3/4" is the last ditch overflow in case one of the other pipes gets partially blocked or something.

It seems to have worked well overnight (at least the bin didn't start overflowing all over the ground or anything.) There really isn't much to see to tell that it is working other than clearer water in the waterfall tank.

I'm just hoping that the system water is aerated enough that what the pump is sending to the bin has enough air for bacteria to colonize the lava rock. (They layer of netting I put over the filter mat and under the lava rock had been in the top of the previous bin solids filter and was well covered with bio-slime so I hope that gets the lava rock a good start since it was cleaned to death after the previous use.) Then in case the bio-filtering in the bin strips the water of all 02, I have it entering the fish tank in such a way as to splash and trickle to hopefully re-introduce more air back into it.

synaptoman

Quote:

Then place the cup in the pipe with the wicks touching the water.

Great work and very informative. I have eaten so much yogurt in the last two days I feel quite ill but at last I have enough little cups :cheers:

What is the normal depth of the water inside of the pipe and does it run continuously? I am thinking of pumping water up and in but I need to work out how high to make my outlet. Also I am aerating inside my pipe with airstones.

TCLynx

Since the wick will bring the water up into the cup, the water in my pipes is really quite low. Only 1/2" deep most places though my pipes are not perfect though so it varies a little through the pipe system. I try to keep it flowing constantly but if for some reason the pump doesn't kick in properly on the monster bed, then the header tank might run out of water. Most of the pipe retain some water even if the flow stops.

I'm not adding extra aeration into the pipes as the water isn't deep enough for most air stones to really function. As the water fills the header tank, I expect it gains some aeration as it is pump up there with some force.

Yea, if I didn't already have a huge stock of the yogurt cups, I suspect I would just buy the proper sized net pots :wink:

synaptoman

Thanks TCL, my water is quite deep and flowing strongly. I'm using a 110mm (4 1/2") pipe and the water is probably at about 2". As far as aeration, I'm using a "snakey" diffuser (image attached). It let's off very fine bubbles. The bottom of the yogurt cups are about 1/4" into the water. Is this a problem?

TCLynx

synaptoman wrote:

Thanks TCL, my water is quite deep and flowing strongly. I'm using a 110mm (4 1/2") pipe and the water is probably at about 2". As far as aeration, I'm using a "snakey" diffuser (image attached). It let's off very fine bubbles. The bottom of the yogurt cups are about 1/4" into the water. Is this a problem?

Depends on what you are growing in the cups and what the media in the cups is. I'm not an expert on NFT growing though. If it seems to be working then I guess it's ok. If the plants struggle then perhaps its too much water or the flow is too swift.

TCLynx

I pulled a dead catfish out of the system today. It was one of the fingerlings perhaps 8 or so inches long. Will have to keep an eye on things. I'll probably post a picture Thursday or Friday if work goes long on Thursday. Been working some long days here so heading to bed now.

TCLynx

Updates.
Since my last post to this tread, I did pull two more catfish from the system. I can't say for certain what was wrong with them. Perhaps disease, perhaps violence. For several days now no problems though. Around and after the fish deaths I did quite a bit of extra water testing, I'm not happy with the ammonia levels I'm seeing in the tanks. between trace and .5 ppm but post grow beds the ammonia is 0. Nitrite 0 all around and nitrates are causing the tomato plants to grow well. I just need to keep the iron and potassium supplements regular to keep the plants using the nitrates fast enough.

Had a visit from Joyce the other day. Good luck to her and the system there, I think you will be very happy with flood and drain.

Now I am in search for good pickle recipes that I can preserve. I have lots of cucumbers, squash and zucchini. I am in search of a sweet gherkin recipe that I can use for any or all of those. (Most of the plants are not growing in AP though there are three yellow squash plants surviving in AP as well as a few cucumber plants in the systems.

TCLynx

Found another dead catfish this morning.

So that is 4 dead ones in a little over a week.

I decided to do a water test on the water in the big tank.
Interesting
pH 7.5 (well that is pretty normal here)
Ammonia trace to .25 (at least that has come down)

Nitrite .25 (wow, first time I've seen a nitrite reading in quite a while!!!!!) :shock:

Nitrate 40 + (I'm never really sure how high the nitrate is once it gets above 40 unless I do a dilution test)

So perhaps my added filter is having an effect!!!! Perhaps I am actually just comming off the Nitrite spike after that ammonia spike I seemed to be having. I probably need more air into that filter but I'll keep an eye on things and see if that nitrite is comming down, going up or just staying the same. :cyclopsani:

There is salt in the system, still around 1 ppt.

If things don't level back out again, I'm not quite sure what to do to sort it out.

TCLynx

Ok so water tests on the big system this evening show.
pH 7.5 (good, not fluctuating)
Ammonia only trace
Nitrite now only a trace

I'm still a little worried about the fish deaths. So far when I've found these fish their mouths have been open and their gills are flared hard open. One had it's eyes looking really bugged out (don't know if that is normal after a time with dead catfish.) The fish also look like perhaps the other fish have started trying to eat off their whiskers or they are suffering from a wasting disease around the mouth and whiskers. The fish in the tank are not looking bad though I can see some of them with exposed barbs in their side fins and often upon lifting the lid of the tank, the fish will look like they are swarming something. Probably them just trying to be scardy cats and escape whatever is looking in on them.

Anyway, will keep a close eye on things but I'm hoping the deaths were due to ammonia/nitrite spikes that I didn't witness but perhaps that new filter is improving things and all will be well.

TCLynx

Ran Ammonia and Nitrite tests on water in the big tank of the big system this morning.
Ammonia almost 0, just the slightest trace which is to be expected in the fish tank with fish eating well.
Nitrite 0 ok we are back to normal I guess at least on that score.

DanDMan

Just cant go wrong with extra filtering!

TCLynx

Too true! Too true.

Now I am a firm believer that flood and drain gravel beds are the most efficient trouble free way for a backyard AP system to get most of it's filtering. However, I have come to believe there is a place for other methods and options when a specific purpose or situation calls for it.

My catfish told me last summer in no uncertain terms (to the point of me changing some major plumbing to meet their demand) that they wanted a constant flow through their tank. When that flow was only small or intermittent, they went off their food!!!!!!!!! I had been feeding the constant flow to them through the sand filter but the sand filter needs regular backflushing to keep the flow rate up. The catfish were only really happy with the sand filter flow rate for about a day after backflushing. So I had to plumb them a bypass direct from the pump instead of putting it through the sand filter first. This worked as long as my stocking density stayed relatively low. This spring I have more and larger fish.

I've been trying different ways to filter out the solids that are going back into the fish tanks from the pump and so far I'm liking something sort of like what one might do for an ornamental pond waterfall type filter. Water is pumped into the bottom of a container with a bit of a dispersion grid. Over that is some filter material and a good layer of lava rock. Then some more filter material and then I've filled up the rest of the space with gravel. With the amount of solids being moved in my system, I decided I'd better add a bit of aeration into that bin as well. Currently there is just a little air pump connecting to the plumbing. Bubbles can be seen rising up through the gravel. I'm not pumping much air in but it seems to be working.

Before hooking up this new filter set up, I'd been getting more than just trace ammonia readings since the temps warmed up and I've been feeding more. With my system pH and well water, I don't like ammonia to read much more than trace. And I lost some fish!!!!!! (actually the fish deaths happened after hooking up the new filter but before it had fully cycled up.) Now I don't know for certain that they died due to water quality problems but generally water quality plays a big roll in stressing fish and letting diseases kill them.

Just today I filled the bin the rest of the way up with gravel. Now I can leave the lid on if I wish or I could remove the lid and plant in it as if it were a continually flooded grow bed.

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TCLynx's System

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TCLynx's System

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Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics