Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

If i use river gravel from the local stream. will it auto start my bacteria required?

I'd say that it would be better than nothing but i doubt that it would speed you up much.

Best bet is to pinch the top 1/4 inch layer of gravel from a mate with an established aquarium and get them to squeeze out their filter sponge into a container for you. Both of these items will have alot of bacteria and at a higher density than you'd find on river rocks.

Welcome to the forum

Steve

The other thing with river rock, if it's smooth, then it won't be as good a home for bacteria as a courser rock would be. Although it is nicer on your hands.

As for looking for a bacteria jump start, if you don't know anyone with an aquarium or better yet an aquaponic or aquaculture system, there's always the local fish store, as in aquariums. They have large filter systems. Just find out when they will be cleaning their filter and go buy with a bucket and lid and get a bucket full of gunk! OR, if you have a pond and garden store that has an operating koi pond, that's another good source. And unlike a stream, the bacteria you'll get, will be beneficial... even a clean running stream can house some nasty stuff!

I would personally steer clear of getting anything out of an aquarium shop's filter. Aquarium shops are without doubt the best place to pick up every disease known to fish.

agreed

hmmm, I guess it depends on the LFS, the one near my old place was great. They were really careful with their suppliers and quarantined everything that came in for at least a two weeks. But then I've known of others that would get fish in and they would go out that day.

But it is a valid concern if you don't know the shop.

i was around a local fish shop at closing time, each batch of tanks was being carefully dosed with methelyne blue and various other things.......... Gotta say the two times i got ich in my tank were both after adding fish from that shop.

the river nearby has a gunk buildup on much of the rock. similar to what you'd find in a pond. i need to wash it through a screen to get rid of the sand though. and then i can see if i grabed enough to fill my gutter.

you guys are evil and got me addicted to hydroponics

i took one of my many 10 gallon fish tanks. and found a 4 ft section of gutter that was laying around and went to lowes and got some pvc parts.

basicly drilled a hole in the front side of the gutter and ran the pvc through the hole to a T and then it splits to pipes that run the length of the gutter with holes drilled in them.

i took the pump out of my small wetsaw (im a tile setter/contractor by trade)

i hooked it up and it has enough head to pump from the tank to the gutter thats sitting on the back of the tank.


now i just need to grab a little chunk of hose and see what i can do about making an auto syphon

Valduare, welcome to the wonderful world of AP. Yes it is addicting. I hope you have land to expand, as once hooked you will be dreaming of more ways to set up.
If I remember right in past posts, there was a comment that getting rocks and water fresh out of rivers could introduce harmful things into a tank. I would suggest if looking for rocks in a river do not get them where water stands still.

noted. i got them from a fast moving area wich was the only area there was rocks the rest of the river/creek was sand. i just washed my 5 gallon bucket of gravel from the river and ended up with maby 1/16th of a bucket of gravel just used some hardware cloth as a screen heh

maby i'll just go snag some pea gravel from the in-law's today.

i just went out and tryed to set up a auto syphon system for use in my gutter grow box

couple questions... i got it to auto syphon first try no problems

at first i used the same hose as used from the water pump it worked

then i thought hrmm i think i should have a larger diameter syphon then the water thats going into the gb?

so i got a chunk of old garden hose to make a syphon from.. it ended up being just big enough to stick on the outside of the waterpump hose for relation.

so its not all that much bigger i suppose. its filling up and draining but its keeping a inch or so of water in the botton as the syphon cant outmatch the waterpump intake.

so what im thinking of doing is.. going to lowes

and getting some elbo peices and making a hardline syphon out of pvc instead of tubing?


and last but not least... does the exit portion of the syphon that goes below the bottom of the growbox have any affects on the pull of the syphon.

logic in my head would think that the tubing flush with the bottom of the grow box would not create as strong of a syphon as if it extended past the bottom of the grow box by like 5 inches?

If the garden hose is working well (and not collapsing), why mess with PVC? I actually tried to improve on a looped siphon by adding an elbow at the top and mostly just made a mess.

I do believe that the length of the vertical drop affects how well the siphon draws. I cut the verticals on my siphons a bit shorter to try to get them to break more easily. I think that helped, but I haven't run an scientific studies.

im considering stealing one of my fiance's small rubber maid totes to use instead of the gutter

what do you think the best setup would be if all i have is a pump and a 10 gallon tank. with no money for a timer or such.

i was hoping that i could do an automatic syphon

Autosiphon would be the ticket, then. Run the pump continuously. That's how my system runs now--I started out with timers.

can you post a drawing of how to get a goose neck siphon to work out of a gutter?

I don't use a gooseneck. I use looped. Take a look at my Janet's Jungle thread to see if that helps. See the summary here...http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... 6920#56920