Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

You are as wild as I am man - those where my guesses too. Thanks Duinui.

I am still at the stage of planing the plumbing and a question developed. The filter I am presently using to remove solids, at present, flows back into the FT. Would it be better to have this filter empty directly into GB's first and then the FT or just leave it as is?

I was reading today that back pressure on the water pump can be avoided by adding a water return back into the FT. This allows the pump to run at full speed as it was designed to do. Can someone explain to me how to do the plumbing? I plan to fill five or six GB's from one pump. The pipe will run past each GB. There will be a ball valve at each GB to regulated the incoming water. Where do I place this return pipe? At the end of the series? Beginning? Have two pipes coming off of the pump, one for GB's and one to return the extra water? Please explain. Thank you, Johnra

Page 7 of your first thread.
It was explained there how to do it.
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=11159&start=90

Thanks Duinui. I thought we had covered that but I couldn't find it earlier today.

What about the question before that one - about the filter for removing solids - leave it where it is or empty it into the GB's directly instead of the FT? I have thought about adding the discharge from this filter to the waterfall water. I just don't know how to fit it it.

If it's a very good filter and removes all the solids, it won't matter where you put it.
It there are still some solids coming out of it, then feed it into the GB's.

Thanks Duinui. Maybe some more photos this coming Monday or Tuesday. Some plumbing has been done and the cement man is to come Monday, I hope. I am getting some progress but it is slow when you can't do all of the work yourself and have to rely on others. I have all of the plants out of the system and most of the coir - 4 beds to go to remove coir and patch.

I think water should go to GB first.
Solid will store there at the GBs. Worm has something to eat. GB act like filter
Then water from Gb return to Filter.

Ao
You are right, but john doesn't really have enough GB's and is using the filter to remove the excess.
The best option would be to have more or bigger GB's and throw the filter away, but in his case it's not really possible.

I have thought about giving up some dirt garden space and adding more GB's but I first need to get this basic system up and running. I am not sure if I would want to add some floating rafts or pipe with holes for plant cups, I guess a NFT system of sorts or maybe just more cement GB's. I like, NO, I love greens - lettuce, kale, collards, chard, and musterds to name a few. I have heard before, I think, that one should have three times the GB area to pond FT area. If that is correct I only have about 1/3 of what I could do. After this is up and running I plan to cover the top with 30% or 50% sunscreen. Then on to expansion planing.

Recently i changed the feed that I give to my fish. I have Tilapia but have been feeding floating catfish food for small fish. My brother-in-law said that it was ok, no problem. The salesman said it was ok. NONSENSE. My fish always seemed to eat way too slow and ignore the food. Hardly ate anything. Even looked like they were not growing much and in the past I had a problem with fish - a few a day dead. A week or so ago I changed to floating Tilapia pellets. At first they continued to ignore the food, but, now it is unbelievable how fast and how much they eat. Fish are growing and no more deaths.

Concerning placement of solids filter. I have been giving some thought to what AO+ said. "Water to GB first and let solids settle in GB so worms have something to eat." Then if I get a big build up of solids I can add in the filter, but only when needed for a short period of time while the worms catch up with the supply of worm food. I can plumb in a connection at the back of the pond for when I need the filter and let it drain into one of the beds on the back of the GB's.

I am up out of the mud now. Cement work finally finished yesterday. Had to get my brother in law to pour the cement. The cement man has disappeared-probably in a wine bottle somewhere. My part time yardman just got out of the hospital for a few days and then will have to go back in for awhile so I have been busy doing many other things. That's why no photos yet as promised. I may be slow but I am working on it. The crew that is to develope the large fish pond have not called yet and with the yardman being sick I have had to do some of the work there where we are developing what I call "large flower pot gardens". We dig the soil out to about 20 cm's deep in a 120 cm wide garden bed however long you want it. We dig out this clay (cement type) dirt and replace it with our own mix. Goat poop is part of the mix plus I plan to water the beds sometimes, as needed, with the pond water. That way I can boost the growth of the plants and empty out some pond water when needed. So far on my dirt garden this pond watering has worked well. There really is something in the pond water that the plants like.

My fish are eating at least twice as much as they were 2 weeks ago, jumping out of the water to get first dibs.
Same bag of feed.
Night time temperatures are 10 degrees C higher than 2 weeks ago.
Changes very quickly here.
Average temp of the water is about 10 degrees higher.
The big Koi seems to grow daily.

My fish eat more now too. It must be the weather. I only have top teem tilapia in my AP pond. We have a Koi pond, my wife's babies, and we also have a leak in that pond. Another repair job to do but with the products you and AO+ told me about it should be no problem to repair. Low water in there now so I took a photo with the old camera. No new camera yet, my wife purchased the lot across the street, cheap, so the camera has to wait.

Photo of the small pond we built earlier this month. Looks better with the plastic trimmed. Also a photo of my small top teem. Also a photo of Willy, my catfish. Not really a fish, more of a pain ....when trying to work.