Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well, we all know about bio slime (it's wonderful points and some of it's clogging potential.)
There are many other things that cause cloggs;
gravel, perlite, other media
Fish crap and rotting food
leaves and other stuff falling into system.
Plant roots
Even heard of frogs/toads blocking up overflows
I've found a new (at least I hadn't heard of it before) potential clog issue. SNAILS!

I just cleaned out the trap basket on my pump this morning at it was covered in small snails. A week or so ago I noticed lots of small snails on the walls and any pipes in my big tank and it appears they migrated or were sucked into the pump intake plumbing too. I would guess I'll need to put some effort into clearing other plumbing lines at some point. Hopefully not that I've put a couple catfish into the big tank (outside the tilapia cage) they will help clean out some of the snails. I've never noticed any of the snails in the catfish tank in any location that the catfish can access.

What are some other odd items people have found clogging things up

My arteries are clogged ,, well I guess they must be:)

I found a water-rat in a blocked pipe in the Thailand system.

Rat clogging pipes-ick!

TC ,, they come around the house in Thailand selling rats for food , skined and gutted,..... it was nicely explained to me they are CLEAN as they are from the rice fields ,, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I can eat near anything but a RAT ,, no way..

I suppose eating them from relatively clean wild areas would be ok with me. From a city, no way. But the idea of one rotting in a pipe sounds a bit nasty, even a small rotting rodent can cause quite a stink! Best to get them into the hot compost ASAP!

my children have managed to put green tomatoes into the standpipes
we got a fish hook and gravel out of the non-return valve from the pump