Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good to hear the k2 media flows well. I'm more concerned with the 500 gph minimum flow straight down. Trying to "measure twice cut once" sort of planning here as to where to cut for the unineals. I'm thinking now of putting the inflow uniseal at mid tank then experiment with elbows "T"s etc to cause the least amount of disturbance. Maybe a good use for my gopro to check if there is any disturbance to the bottom settled solids.



Ok, good idea. I'll give that a go. If say the k2 displaces 20% of the water, then its 20% less wasted during cleaning the SUFs.




Yup, had clumping in the RFF at about 1 week. Try to take a clump out and it falls apart. This happened often in the last 6+ months with no ill effects on the fish that I know of. The water went through 32" of media then into an aerated sump.



Yes, was planning on using bath tub drains as bottom drains on the RFF, and SUFs. Where should the waste water from filters ENTER the MT? Top, midway or bottom. I'm thinking of Decanting about half the water in the MT first into the sump after flowing through a k2 media filter. Then bypass one of the SUF, bubbling or hand agitating the k2 then drain out the bottom into MT.

If you're going to let the tank settle and then discharge at the top of the MT by letting flow into the tank, I'd probably put it at the middle level so that it doesn't stir up the bottom as much and isn't throwing solids out near the MT overflow. If your water isn't going to overflow anyway because you've lowered the level in the MT before doing the transfer then I don't think it will matter what level it's at

Yup. Plan:

1. Turn vortex off to settle solids (10-15 min)
2. Bypass filter to be cleaned.
3. Agitate filter media if SUF
4. Drain MT into sump via gravity.
5. Drain filter via gravity into MT.
6. Place filter online.
7. Start MT vortex.


Question is now will the pipe protruding into MT on side to drain mess with the vortex? Unless I use the bottom drain on the mt to drain using a standpipe slipped in place while vortex was on. After solids settle, open drain.

Next question now is will a 55-60 gallon MT be big enough to do it this way or will I need a separate settling tank (IBC) then pump from settling tank into MT.

Good plan,the pipe protruding into the vortex actually causes I think a benificial extra turbulence,if you watch you can see the solids divide to flow over and under the pipe,then swirl and mix as they get to the other side,yes it might slow rotation fractionally but not enough to worry about.
I dump my waste from the up flows to waste,I only use the solids from the RFF,this I collect now by syphoning the bottom clean rather than opening the tap,it does a better job,if I was going to use the up flow waste I would put it into a separate container and let it settle,then just use the solids,any make up of water I use from the same water I top up the system with.

+1

It's really about the aeration and mixing but the vortex is pretty cool

Picked up 4 screw on lid barrels Thursday night. Drove 3 hours one-way to get them. Well worth it to me.

Yesterday, I started plumbing them in. All that's left to do is turn the pump off, wait for the FTs to drain down to the SLO height and move the out flow of FT to a temporary connection on the first SUF. Then connect the outflow of second filter to GB inflow pipe. Finally, restart pump, check for leaks, build a air manifold for each SUF, build media gaurds, and add the k2.

Once the filters are fully online, I'll plumb the airline to an electric leaf blower and build a permanent housing for it above the SUF waterline.

Used two of the barrels for SUFs. Waiting on the local tank depot to get a shipment of conical tanks in to add a vortex brewer and RFF.

The extra 2 barrels will be used as settling tanks for the SUF waste. The SUF bottom drains will be plumbed directly to the settling tanks with an option to flow to the garden. The settling tanks will drain in a cascading style I guess. The same tank will always receive the waste then overflow to the next. Will end up with a total of 4 tanks connected in series. The idea is the last tank SHOULD have the clearest water and will be drained to the sump via gravity with a manual valve. As the solids build in the tanks, they will be pumped to the MT. The sump is aerated but will plan on increasing aeration before moving the clear to sump.

The system will have both anaerobic and aerobic Minerilization.

After the the RFF and MT are done the DWC bed will go up. Have the liner, inflow and drain pipe in place for it.


Stay tuned.

Thanks for the help and suggestion BYAP!

Sounds like a plan whats the leaf blower for

Leaf blower is to airate/agitate the the Static Upflow Filter (SUF) media (K2) for during cleaning. Its what I have on hand. If I did not have any air pump of some sort already on hand, I would use a SPA air pump.

The current upgrade is focused on Keeping the Media grow bed CLEAN and make filter maintenance EASY and a CLEAN process.

Last night after work, I diverted all pump flow back to the sump. Let the FT levels drop till the flow into grow bed stopped. Changed the temp FT to GB to temporarily flow through the first SUF. Then made the permanent connection from 2nd SUF to GB. Diverted pump flow back to FT and was happy to see no leaks on the SUF barrels or it fittings. When the conical tanks arrive, I'll put a RFF in front of the first SUF and finalize the piping.

Tonight I plan to make some k2 media gaurds then hopefully put the k2 media in. The mosquitos get bad here after 9pm so we shall see. Id like to clean the K2 before using it. I'll use the chlorinated city water in a barrel to give it a quick rinse.

Coming along nicely!

Here are some pictures with the latest progress. The tank on the right is not connected and is currently a "placement holder" to help visualize where conical RFF will be. The middle tank is the first static upflow filter (SUF) and the tank on the right is the second SUF. From the 2nd SUF, the water enters the GB. The clean out loop still needs to be connected. Working on this an hour or two everyday after work. Getting there...




Media gaurd. Made the cuts with a sliding miter saw.





First SUF got 2 cubic feet of K2 media for now. Got dark. Will put 2 more in this tank and 4 cu ft in the second tank tonight if I don't get bored of rinsing the K2.

All is well with the static up flow filters. Yesterday was the first time I cleaned the first SUF. Was very easy and quick. I plumbed my air pump to both filters via a ball valve. The airline is plumbed with 3/4" pvc, through the barrel via a uniseal, then finally into a PVC square PVC manifold. To clean, I bypass the filter, turn the airline valve on for the tank being cleaned. The k2 media boils, The crud is loosened up, then drained to where ever I choose. For now it goes into buckets to disperse into the garden. The air is left on until the filter is empty. After turning the air off, the normal flow is resumed and the filter is static again. GREAT FILTER so far.

Still waiting on the local tank depot to get the conical tanks in to put in a RFF. Meanwhile, i'll be burying some settling tanks this week. When the settling tanks are in, I'll make another video update.

Melon vines are going nuts. The cantaloupe vine is going nuts with some fruit forming that are about less than a golf ball. Water melon vine near the exit of the GB, is not huge but fruit is growing quite rapidly. Everyday I see a noticeable increase in size. Right now in about one week, a watermelon formed and is now bigger than a softball. Biggest I have grown. This vine is a very nice dark green doing very well. Pulled a pineapple last week that tasted really good! basil is doing well and huge, went to seed and is growing new leaves again. chives great. mints great. oregano great. strawberry great.

Thats the good news....


The bad news is....

The fish in one tank would always stay on the bottom. They would not come to the surface to eat. But when the pellets sink to about mid tank, the fish would go nuts over the food down mid tank or lower. 2nd FT the fish would destroy the feed at the surface. Anyhow, the fish in the one tank were not behaving normal and ran the numbers..



My Ammonia level is 4.0!!

Ammonia 4.0 (No Further Feeding)
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 20-40
TDS 135
Iron. 2.22 (Added 2 Tablespoons)
pH 6.45
Temp 87 F
Water clarity: Clear, light yellow
Calcium 0-20
Phos >10
DO: Sump - 5.0
FT Exit 0.8-1.0
GB Exit - 0.3


No dead fish yet. I attribute the high ammonia from tank out the net tank offline for the new filter arrangement. I probably removed quite a bit of biofiltration by doing that. I didn't think it would be an issue since my media grow bed is 32 feet long. I'll give keep an eye on this mini cycle for and stop feeding till ammonia and nitrite are zero.

Meanwhile, I need ideas to increase aeration short of adding another air pump.

How high DO can I get with typical air bubble increase? In other words, without using those commercial like oxygen injectors.

Right now, aeration is all in the sump. GB water falls into a perforated bucket creating a trickle water fall beneath and the pump bypass goes to a pvc pipe over the sump that has slits in it again creating a trickle water fall. This is apparently working well but need more obviously. How high can I realistically get the DO in my sump?

thanks.

I'm not sure you can achieve these levels but it should give you an idea -

http://dnr.mo.gov/env/esp/wqm/DOSaturationTable.htm

This might also have something you can use - http://www.waterontheweb.org/under/waterquality/oxygen.html

Scotty, thanks for the link. Today, I improved on my sump bucket trickle filter. I rechecked the DO after several hours and it seems to have increased DO in the sump thus increasing DO in the FTs. I'll recheck DO for the next several days and make sure it wasn't just a fluke. Still, FT DO needs to be higher.

I'm thinking I will need to increase water flow thru the FT to refresh the water with higher DO water from the sump. Only issue is the media grow bed can't handle the extra flow (overflows). So Im considering adding a "T" after the filters to divert some flow back to the sump while FT get more flow.

After the DWC bed is built, That extra flow will be taken by the DWC. The DWC will have aeration every 4 feet which then would dump into the sump. hopefully this will increase overall system DO.

With that, I also think I should replace water pump for a more efficient model. Currently, I have a FloTec submersible that flows 1470 GPH and uses 375 watts according to my watt meter. After looking at pump on websonline.com, it looks like my pump is a power hog!!

Id like to get a higher flow rate pump to have the option to add venturies if needed in the future.

Any opinions on submersible vs external pumps?

Todays numbers

7-17-16 0740

Sump DO 4.6
FT DO 1.4
Ammonia 2-4.0 (no feed)
Nitrite 0

Improved the sump bucket trickle filter for increased aeration.

1400

Ammonia 4.0 (no feed)
Sump DO 5.8
FT DO 3.0
GB Exit DO 0.5

Didn't feed the fish yesterday with an ammonia level at 4.0. Today, ammonia was down to ZERO so the fish got 530 grams of feed today.

Also, noticed one of the static up flow filters waste drain has sprung a steady leak. On the next day off, I'll bypass that filter, scoop out all the media and replace the fitting with a uniseal. Small setback but thats what happens when you try a different way to put a pipe through a container. Not sure why I didn't use a uniseal to begin with. I haven't had any unusual issues.

I think it's time for a drawing of how your layout is going to be when you're done since it's become tough to visualize your setup. The ammonia levels have me thinking about an MBBR. I know you planned one earlier, is there already one in your setup on the fish loop or is it in the works?