Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Guys,

Sorry if this is already answered somewhere on the forum. I don't have time to look as I am averting a disaster.

I went to stir up the compost because I was getting some mold on top. There were a lot of larvae present but no where near the numbers that should have been in there.

I lifted up the filter and there were hundreds under there in the "tea" that hadn't drained out yet. Some were dead but most were very much alive.

Upon inspection of the filter, there were hundreds of grubs in the filter. Many got themselves stuck and died. I spent an hour surgically removing a couple hundred of them and saved most.

What kind of filter material do other people use? I thought they would leave it alone as it is not a natural fiber material.

PS I was using a furnace filter.

Thanks for any help and advice.

I realize that this is probably not the best forum for this question. Sorry I was a little panicky yesterday. If you had told me 6 months ago that I would spend precious time rescuing insect larvae from a filter medium, I would have told you that you were crazy! Perhaps I am the crazy one now.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, I ended up using a piece of corrugated plastic and landscaping cloth for a bottom and filter. So far, so good. I have good drainage for now anyway.

Glad to hear that you seem to have found a solution. Don't know much about BSF but I've done similar rescues for suicidal worms. That makes at least two crazy people, then!

That is why I plan on just using gravel on the bottom of my composter.

That is so cool. I actually considered using gravel! They can burrow down into the gravel but won't get stuck. But you still need a filter so they don't crawl out. Maybe a slotted pvc pipe?