Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

There is no second and third chamber.......you just keep chucking stuff on top........so when you clean the pod out.....all the gunk comes out then you start again.......not one of the best engineered idea's, that is for sure

Did you see any larvae in there Jessy?
What did you do with the pupas?

You know Jessy we have already had some interesting DIY designs so far but with a few tinker/inventor types on this forum that may be taken as a challenge!

I have spent a lot of time reading about BSF , pods etc ,, so i talk only from what I read.
They stink if you over-feed. Simply they are a colony of agressive eaters BUT ,, put too much food in there too quick and the colony does not have time to expand , so food rots and hence smell ..... a bit like over-feeding your fish in a new Ap system ,, Ammonia peaks , water stinks from old food etc because system not matured.
Common sense needs to prevail ,, ramp up the feeding as the colony grows.

I think location/temp has something to do with it also. If it is in the sun the materials will spoil faster.

A BSF pod should NEVER be in the sun ,, well almost never. Even in winter ( mild climat) the colony itseld produces a LOT of heat.

Put simply ,, if we add a whole one pound raw fish ,, the colony is big enough to eat same in 24 hours ,, NO smell.
If we add a 4 pound fish ,, OOOPS colny cannot consume inside 48+ hours = stink.
Simplistic but I believe accurate

I think I was just breeding blow fly maggots....so I emptied the system to start again



Anouther thing I did wrong



Yep....I just made a blow fly harvest pod...gold fish loved it

So all in all...I have the TEA.....I would rather like to think of it as JUICE....emptied the pod...and I am going to restart it using bannanas and bread soaked in milk. Lets hope it is the second time lucky

I think I just burnt my pump out.

Dumped all the water from the tank yet again. Second time this week...Damn Horizon Power... ....rip off murchants.

Well pump came back on...must of just over heated it due to lack of water. Had Joels spare ready to go ( Thanks EB )...but it can stay in the box for now.

What alerted me to trouble was hearing this big splash...i thought a child got into the yard and fell into the tank....but it must of been the big Kio doing a belly flog in 5 cm of water.

All is OK....Barra must live in shallow pools of water in the creeks...cause they where unfussed by it all

Some pumps are fitted with a "thermal overload" switch Jessy... and once cooled down will reset... or can be reset... not sure what pump you have or whether or not it might have such a mechanism...

Got the spare here ....I am using the same pumps for the sump and the tank...I love them

It's an Ebara Optima

We had a power out for 2 hrs today the backup air came on and as the system runs chift pist all the water levels stayed the same
Come on chift pist

because the water is SOOOO clear here are a few shots of the fish with out focusing in They are getting there....slowly...might add a heater next year for the cooler months so I don't loose growth....but then again that adds anouther whole new diametion in HSM

Yeah, the HSM you get when the power bill arrives

Wow, what shiny pumps you have Jessy!