Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Building my first test system here in south Florida just a stones throw away from the edge of the Everglades . http://groups.msn.com/Aquaponics/shoebox.msnw?Page=2

Looks like you have a really big tank

Hi Dave - welcome to the forum. Just from your pics, I have a couple of questions/comments:

1. I'd be concerned that by screening the standpipe with such a fine screen (ie insect screen) that you are likely to experience blockage issues.
2. I'd have a similar concern with your solids filter.
3. What was it that you were mixing into the gravel? Is it peat or some sort of soil. Was there a reason behind this? I'd be concerned about it ending up washing through the system and/or bocking your standpipe.

Just been having a look at the pictures... and agree with VB.... on both the screen and the filters....

I'm of the opinion that the solids filters will block rapidly.... how are you going to clean them...

And is there a particular reason for not letting the solids into the growbeds anyway???

Nice bit of building gone into things Dave... welcome aboard....

It's cocogro, a type of peat. I read somewhere, somebody was using it. My thoughts are that I would surround the standpipe with a thick layer of pebbles only to prefilter the water from fine materials before it gets to the screen and re-enters the fish tank. I agree that my screen may be a little fine and may need to be replaced if blockage becomes a frequent problem. I hope to start testing the drainage later on today. I just read that a solids prefilter is not needed and does no harm to clogging the grow beds and am going to do away with those sock fabrications on the water entry pipes. The fish tank is a 130 gallon Rubbermaid livestock tank. Do you think thats too big? I read to keep the ratio of water 1 to 1 with the grow bed. I also lined the bottom of the grow bed with coconut coir 1/4 inch mat simply to protect the liner from any accidental punctures. It's only a 12mm single waterbed liner, but it was cheap. I'll post on how it drains later today or tomorrow. Any other comments or thoughts are appreciated and welcome.

Janet P uses those same Rubbermaid tanks Dave.... or very close to them anyway...

Here's a link to a quick overview of her system..... includes a jump link to her system thread ...

viewtopic.php?p=56920#p56920

Dave - the best thing would be to do away with the screen altogether and make sure the media that is around the standpipe is coarse enough to esnure it will not block your slits. The peat is not necessary IMHO and is likely to cause you trouble. Only advantage I can think of with having it is moisture retention and this would only be an advantage if you were having large periods of no pumping between cycles.

Since that picture was taken, I have since drilled a lot more holes(20 - 1 " diameter) in the stand pipe (looks like swiss cheese now), but I think your right about the screen. I'll either have to build a new stand pipe with smaller holes to keep the gravel from entering the stand pipe or try a very coarse sceen. My thoughts were to use the peat to retain moisture, but now in hindsight it sounds that it will more likely be more of a problem than it's worth. I'll know pretty quick once I start testing the fill and drain flow. Worst case senario will be to rinse all the peat out of the gravel. I'll post how it goes later as things progress ....

Wow, I thought that was a waterbed frame liner. It is a bit shallow for a grow bed but my "nursery" bed is only about that deep. I only have my "nursery" bed filled about half way with gravel and the flood level reaches over the gravel so I can set seed trays and plant pots in to get watered from the bottom. Has been working well for starting seeds for the garden and the system.

Are you planning to auto siphon out of the bed or timer and slow drain for the flood and drain?
If planning to auto siphon, I would say the screen and your stand pipe might not provide enough flow. If slow drain, it may be ok but keep it easy to access. Either way, do you have an overflow for that grow bed? If not, you might want to set one up.

Ah, just saw your last post.
Here let me see if I can find a link to the new stand pipes I like, they are screen sort of.

http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/821/Mesh-Tubes-Plastic/RT444/0

OK...Up and running (I'm excited!!!) . The system seems to fill just below the surface in about 5 minutes and drain back to empty in 10 or 15 (I still have to put a stop watch to it for my digital pump timer). It actually drains with ease and water gushes thru the stand pipe without clogging in the small (bug) screen for now (time will tell). The water is a slightly discolored redish brown. I'm hoping that will disappear after cycling a couple of weeks. Any thoughts?

I decided to just put a 2-3 inch top layer of gravel only in the bed and leave the mix of gravel/peat below for the plant roots. I think that the thick wall of gravel only surrounding the stand pipe did the trick and allows the water to filter thru normally without the peat getting thru. I still need to cut the center overflow pipe down to the correct level. See piks here on page 3 and 4... http://groups.msn.com/Aquaponics/shoebox.msnw?Page=4

Also, I read that I need to introduce beneficial bacteria to get the system going. I also read that beneficial bacteria is simply pond sludge. What if I just fill my system with pond water that I have 30 feet from my back door? I thought I may just catch some minnows with a net or hook a few small Bass or perch to put in the fish tank (after I cycle and test the system properly of coarse). And what about adding a small amout of amonia to the system to get it started? Anybody have their cat using these as a litter box? It hasn't happened yet, but our cat likes to hang out in the pool area where the system is at and it would look mighty inviting to me if I were a cat. Any thoughts on all this appreciated. Thanks in advance. More piks and updates tomorrow....
Dave

Hay, sounds like you are doing well so far.
Do you have a test kit yet? What is your source water? Do you have to deal with Chlorine or Chloramine? What is the pH of that source water after it outgasses any CO2 (it will be different than right out of the tap)? Why am I suddenly asking all the questions? Well because the peat or coco peat may have an acidifying effect on the water in your system. I would be interested to know how much it affects the system. Be prepared to get a big bucket full of sea shells or shell grit like used for chickens (feed store should have some) to help buffer the pH if it gets much below 7 and definitely if it drops below 6.5.

The pond water would probably be a good idea, especially if the other option is city water with chlorine or chloramine treatment in it.

As to adding ammonia. Yes, provided it has no detergent added or anything else. I personally support the use of hummonia (pee in the tank or if you don't want the neighbors to see, pee in a bottle and take it out to the tank, if worried about pathogens, just leave the pee sealed in the bottle for a couple of weeks before adding to the system.) It does not take much ammonia, humonia, or urea to cycle a small system. Fishless cycling this way is pretty quick and stress free. You just need a test kit for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate to monitor your progress.

The tinting of the water by the peat, might not go away any time quick but it shouldn't hurt anything.

Clorine??? Very heavy in the tap water...The water has a strong taste of it every time I drink a glass from the faucet. No test kit yet, but now I know exactly what I need...Thanks. I'm in Florida, so crushed sea shells we got! Forgot about the humonia thing...Lot of info to absorb on these things but I'll bet I wrote that down somewhere in my notes (can't beat the price either). Thanks for reminding me. I'll post on the PH as soon as I get a kit next week.

What do ya think...Should I dump all the existing water in the system now and refill with the pond water? Where should I put the crushed shell if needed (in the fish tank, below the downspouts? One of the dvd's I bought said that they put the shells right in the fish tank. Tomorrows goal is to tidy things up in the way of wiring and plumbing. I also have to install a new outlet outside next to the system and eliminate the extension cord. Thanks again....

"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it"

If you have heaps of water, a quick change wont hurt. The pond water will help you to cycle quicker, and your water will be cleaner too.

There will most likely still be a bit of colour in the water, but it will clear after a few months. The algae tends to get rid of most suspended particles and colour in the water.

Putting the shells in a onion bag suspended in the water near the return from the growbed, will dissolve them and buffer better.

You might also want to find out if your tap water is treated with chlorine or chloramine. If it's just chlorine, you could let it cycle through the system for several days and it will dissipate. If it is chloramine, it will stick around unless you use an ager or filter that will deal with it. If your water is treated with chloramine, I would definitely dump it and put in pond water. If it isn't too hard, pond water all the way for now would be good. Rain water is also a good choice if you can collect it for top ups.

Don't pump much in the way of shells in until after you test the pH to see where you are starting from. If you wind up using mostly pond/rain water then you will probably really need the washed shells. Well water in this state is usually quite hard and less of the buffering is needed but generally a aquaponics system will pull the pH down over time and buffering is often needed.

Placement, where most if not all of your system water has to pass thought it. A bag or bucket with holes that will catch the water comming from the grow bed so that water has to pass through the shells will be most effective. I made the mistake of putting washed shells all though my system, my pH stays a little higher than desirable at 7.6. Had I just kept several buckets on hand to place in the system as needed, I might have been able to get my pH between 7 and 7.4 Oh well.

OK AP folks...It's been cycling now for 24 hrs at 45 minute intervals. The source pond water PH tested at 8.0 PH and after cycling it thru the system with a 50/50 mix of cocogro peat mix and pea pebbles it's now at 7.0 (see piks...sorry a little blurry)http://groups.msn.com/Aquaponics/shoebox.msnw?Page=4

Shall I add a bit of Humonia today or wait till it cycles a few more days and take daily PH readings to make sure it's stablized? What da ya think ?