Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey, whats the deal with having a special trap for solids. I thought the solids go in the grow bins along with the liguid waste and the bacteria munch on it. This is a component I was not initially planning on so I need to know.

I could see where a lot might gum up the beds, but... anyway, whats the word.

VR/
Tony

Some systems utilise solids removal... either as a means of increasing the aquacultural returns (higher densities)... or as a pre-requisite to the method of plant production and aspects of bio-filtration...

i.e NFT systems (ala hydroponics) require pre-filtering as the solids adhere to the plant root balls, leading to water channeling, dry spots, anaerobic zones and even root rot....

Other systems like the UVI model remove solids as part of bio-filtration.... because they don't use the bio-filtration that we obtain from our growbeds... and without doing so wouldn't have sufficient bio-filtration to maintain their aquaculture stock...

Properly designed flood & drain growbeds .... seldom "gum up".... and most of us utilise compost worms in our growbedsto process any excess or build up of solids....

Benefitting from the mineralisation of the decomposition process to provide the essential trace elements for plant growth....

Yep, a system designed with enough flood and drain gravel beds for the stocking density should not need solids removal. However, many people experiment with other methods of doing things or are having to cope with a system that doesn't allow them enough grow bed space for their desired fish density and they then have to come up with ways to deal with the excess solids.

In some cases like mine, the system just kinda grew and thus some of the design is not what it would have been had I know what I would decide to do in the future.

I have this pump trap that does a wonderful job of trapping solids and unfortunately this means I need to clean it a couple times a week, not what I had intended but my system isn't CHIFT PIST. In the future, I want CHIFT PIST so that the pump cleaning will be less.

As always TCL... alerts us to the overlooked reasons....

Emergency filtration.... coz your system outgrow your design.... so true.... and I do the same at the moment... for the same reason.....

I noticed on a Utube video, they were using a block of material, to capture some of the solids as they came out of the fill pipe.... not sure what it was, but looked like it would work for a while and then would have to be changed out...

JT

All external bio-filtration methods require periodic cleaning ... and removal of the accumulated solids gunk ...

Unless they're growbeds... loaded with worms....

I've thought about using something like old cotton rags to catch excess gunk and then feed the gunk and rag directly to the worm bin. Any other method of cleaning out the filter material usually involves lots of water and is therefore only good if you have lots of dirt plants that need gunky water when you do the cleaning.

The Koi afficianados use a material known as "Japanese matting"... should be available somewhere....

Works well at trapping gunk... but rinses clean...

I just don't like the wastefulness of using water to rinse the material clean. It usually leaves me with gunky water instead of just moist gunk to feed the worms, too much water is not good for the worm bins. I suppose it would be good to have a greedy plant near where one washes out the filter material and just have the process be beneficial that way.

Hum, I might have to think about using dried spanish moss as filter material though. Only real problem I see there is the black threads would probably survive a very long time in the worm bin and perhaps be a bit annoying when sifting the worm castings later.

Hey,
Thanks for all the input, I kinda thought as much. I have seen some of the bigger systems with traps... the guy from South Africa I think uses them so I wondered if it had to do with size.

And you all hit on something that I need to ask about- worms in the grow bins. How do you work that? I mean, how high do you let the water come up into the bin as compared to the surface, and what kind of compost worms like to be drown every 15-30 minutes?

Really interested.

Tony

All of them Anthony.... the water is highly oxygenated... and the worms draw their oxygen from it quite happily....

Really, cool!!
So I don't need a trap, and throw some worms in for the excess if I'm concerned. Brilliant!
T.

I have some propergating sand left over and was wondering if this could be used in some sort of passive filter, as i have a layer of dead algae that has accumulated from a tretment of phosphate blocker before i shade clothed the fish tank.

Any Ideas?

I have a 300 ltr (approx ) bath sat at ground level filled to about 240/260 ltrs feeding up to a half wine barrel filled with approx 50 ltrs of hydrorock and bits of aouarium pebbles. this is fed for 15 mins/hr (execpt at night only 3 cycles) by a 950 ltr/hr water pump which fills the barrel from the bottom until it fills to a spout at hydorock level (about 10cms from the top fo hte ballel which then pours thro several layers of aquarium "wool", back into the bath.I have five 9 cm silver perch and 3 goldfish at about 10cm, possibly 2 red clay yabbies (which have not been seen since they were put in 3 months ago ) This is arated(?) by a 950(ltr ?) per hr areator. I have had the ppm checked at my local hydro shop(Thanks hydro dude!) and is over 2000 and pH at 8.2 which i kno is too high but fish and plants so far seem pretty happy.

please any ideas would be gratefully accepted

What ppm.... did you have checked???? ... that gave a reading of 2000....

Not surprising you have an algael bloom problem.... high phosphates @ pH 8.2....

Will continue to keep pH toward that level... and rob oxygen from your system... as well as lock out trace element uptake from your plants... also likely that your bacteria aren't doing too well either...

What are your other readings... including water temp???

You need to get rid of the algae IMO... and get your pH toward 7.5... at least....

You could use the sand to filter the algae before returning to your sump/tank.... but it would be a slow filter... and would block farily quickly... and need regular cleaning...