Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hopefully that wood is not leaching something into your system, Fred. Being new myself Id suggest keeping the system as simple as possible.

You mean these peices of wood? Could they add something bad to the water?
This is spruce, I use it for my 'water level captors' system. Still in project, I'd like to automatize the water renewal.

Hi Fred

Nice work.

All wood will affect your system but some much more than others.

Treated wood is NASTY! Cadmium and arsenic being two contents I can think of off the top of my head.

Untreated wood affects pH but this is not necessarily bad. It may tend to drift down with wood. If you plan having algae eaters etc in your tank wood is an essential especially for plecostamus - they suck/chew on it as an integral part of diet.

Keep up the good work.

Hi Fred

This is a double post cos my familys dial up thinks refresh means repost....

Thanks! An encouragement always welcome
Okay, I put in my mind to put some paint cover on that wood, but I aloso have a chance to put a hand on some vigourous snails. I give Mr Gup a chance with this. maybe too much ammonia, but the store i rushed in didn't have ammonia tests.

Yeh, fred

theat wood has a destinct green golour to it. indicative of being treated with CCA copper/chrome/arsenic. bad/bad/bad

painting it might cause other probs. remove it if you can and keep it simple

Thanks for the pics Fred, keep at it!

You scare me about the arsenic! I can remove the wood. There are so many factors. Also I may have done a mistake rinsing the pump's filter most bacteria were there.

With the filter...

Many filters must be cleaned as they reach a certain level and don't work anymore due to being clogged.

It is noted in fishkeeping that a dirty filter filters cleanest. This is due to even the smallest particle sizes being caught up - till it's full, then it stops functioning.

Filter cleaning should be done in your system water. Remove your filter insert and rinse it in a seperate container containing system water. This way you can't kill the bacteria with chlorine. A large portion of bacteria will be removed, but the filter will still be prolific with them.

Use the dirty water for your garden - it will love it.

It sure will.. when my tank cracked last week i put a lot of the water onto one part of my veg garden... a week later the toms in that part look a lot hapier and 'greener' somehow

i agree 100% with the filter washes, using system water in a bucket is the best way...........Just another reason to get a bigger fish tank, fred, if you take half a bucket of water out of yours it will be half empty

Or Half full, Steve.

pessimist v/s optimist

i actually struggled with which phrase to use.......guess i'm in a half empty mood, tickers been playing up a little and its giving me the shits.