Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi, I am now, so forgive me if I am a bit unsure in asking question here. I have a very simple biofiltering system. I keep about 2100 bioballs suspended in water in a blue plastic barrel. It is part of a new system (3 weeks old) that is consist of one IBC filled with 250 small tilapias of about 9 cm size currently, with inverted siphon feed into an Radial Flow Filter made from 100 ltr bucket, overflowing to the simple biofilter I mentioned above. The biofilter is fed from the top, through a piece of foam to filter out small solids that is not catched in RFF, into the drum filled with water and 2100 bioballs, then, an inverted siphon draw the water from the base of the drum out to the sump tank for the pump, which pump the water back to the IBC through an NFT system to grow lettuce (plants are not put in yet due to the pH still not desirable yet). Now, I notice that there is some algae grow in the bioballs. Won't that plug the flow and can reduce the nitrification process, even cause de-nitrification process to occur? Now, I am thinking of putting my hand into the bioballs and give them a good stir and shake, which I am sure will loosen the algea which then will go to the fish tank that the tilapias will gobble them up happily. However, I am worried that the good bacteria will be lost from the bioballs as well. What do you think? Can I do that (give the bioballs bed a good stir and shake) or not?

Thanks.

you could probably clean your Bio Pecker in there too if you wanted

very funny BF, best to keep your balls out of the sun and the algae should go away.

No problems agitating them but as Slowboat said try to keep the sun off them.

I have already kept the bioballs in the blue barrel, and keep the black lid on top of it (though I put some 1 inch pvc pipe in between the lid and the barrel to ensure some flow of air), and no direct sunlight comes in at all. And it still have some growth on it. It does not look too greenish, but it is a growth. If I shake them, they detach themselves and flow into the sump tank. By the way, I live in tropics, temperature is between 20-30 deg C. I wonder if that makes a difference.

If I agitating them, I would not loose the good bacteria, right, Sleepe?

No won't happen. Possibly not algae but bioslime on the bioballs, however any light will allow algae to grow and the bacteria will get their O2 from the water flowing through so I would just put the lid back on.

+1 Yes maybe is it just bioslime?

OK, I may be at lost here being newbie. So, what is bioslime? Good, bad?

Good.

Great!