Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've got 2 growbeds each about 150L in size, that seem to get water flowing over the top and algae build up on the surface no matter what I do.
would i be right in suspecting this is because i've got a solids build up, which is preventing water draining through the bed efficently?
one is constant flow and one is F&D, both have the same issue.

it's odd because i've never had this problem before, and these are the first beds i've used clay balls in

i've added worms to the bed - composting and some earth worms out of my compost heap in the hope they will work some magic.

i've also tried reconfiguring my in flow pipes but that seems to make no difference either. after 24 hours i've got water on the surface around the pipe again, and in 48 hours algae has formed.

photos

Yeah, could be many things.... How much water flow have you got going into there?

and how old are the beds and hows the root build-up?

Did it flow fine for a while, and the problems are just starting or has this happened since the system was initially set up? Depending on drain pipe size, you could have bacterial film on the inside of the pipe which reduces the ID and flow rate. But like everyone else said- MORE INFO PLEAZY

I've seen someone else's system with gravel get clogged up and stop flowing evenly. This is after a year or more of letting the solids collect in the grow bed. This person now says pre-filtering is the way to go. When their grow beds got clogged up with poop solids, it started to create an anaerobic system because the flow was so hindered.

I didn't know much at the time, but on one of my systems I created a simple solids separator. I attached a drawling... I have two tanks, the fish tank actually has no pump in it, the second tank does and the water level equalizes between them. The fish stir up the main tank and solids are carried over to the second tank (more like a barrel). The pump is on a cinder block. Because it's not on the ground, large solids are never lifted up into the pump, and just settle on the bottom of tank number 2. This is by no means a great way to pre-filter solids, but it's what I had at the time. Once every 2-3 months I flush all of the solids out of tank #2.

If you have the proper amount of GB area for the number of fish you have, then you should never have a problem with build up......

if your running your fish load way beyond the ability of the bacteria to keep up then you will have a problem.....

without knowing your specs and pictures.... its hard to tell whats wrong...

jT

And worms....... Never forget the worms.... As with most things there's more than one way to look at it. Your friend thinks he has a problem with clogging from solids? No way, he has a great nutrient source and a food source for worms..

Yes add lots of worms.....

If the system isn't designed correctly, it just wont work correctly...

jT

is there a right or wrong time to add worms or should they be a part of any system. My system is new & i was wondering if i should add worms even if i don't seem to have a solids problem

Todd

I forgot to mention that he had not tried worms at the time. He was going to clean out the beds and then add worms. I'll try to get an update soon.




I don't see why not add them now. The worm population will always be proportionate to the amount of solids to munch on, when the fish grow and poop more, i'm sure the worms will grow and eat more.

Yep... get them in straight away.

can't take a photo right now unfortunately.

I've got a valve to regulate the flow into the grow beds, i've tried turning down the flow to just a trickle, but all that does is postpone the build up somewhat.

I think my issue is partly solids and partly root system - both beds are about 6 months old and completely packed full of tomato/basil/mint roots

is there some design that might distribute the water more evenly so each hole is only dripping water slowly?

other then that i'll just have to see how the worms go or clean out the bed completely

Well there's ya problem

for sure i would be roots to be the problem

it took about 6 months before i had to start removing roots from the drains in my "half barrel" growbeds