Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Your PH can have an effect on your plant nutient up take, check out this link
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9133&p=265118&hilit=ph+chart#p265118

I have a bit of a problem, if anyone has any experience it would be much appreciated.

I have a 2500 LPH pump in the bottom of my FT and when i leave it on for extended periods of time the flow varies, sometimes dwindling to a trickle. I have taken it apart and cant really find anything wrong with it. something that comes to mind is the pump sucking junk up against the protective filter and therefore blocking the flow. If I turn the pump off and on it seems to be ok for a time. My tank is buried with no really easy access, and I don't have a net for skimming off leaves yet as I haven't found one with a decent handle.

any suggestions/insight welcome

Yep its probably leaves check out Clarke rubber for a leave skimmer alternatively nightingale corner Dudley and Spencer st

there's a Clark rubber round the corner from my house should be no problems

thanks

Two things...

1) Did you mention that you have a protective filter (sponge) in your pump?? If so, remove that filter... just the pump strainer or cover will be sufficient... The growbed is your filter...

2) From what I gather, your pump is continuously running... and the fact that you said that if you turn it on and off it is okay for some time... seem to indicate one thing... you need a backwash period... get yourself a timer to stop the pump for a short period... All it needs is for the pump flow to stop and allow the water to flow backwards to flush away the crap stuck there... and then restart your pump again...

thats a good ides, never thought of that

yeah thanks Ivan, I have it on a timer but I read in a few places that it "may" be beneficial to run it continuously while cycling so I thought why not.

@freo Ive removed the sponge, I think its just the sucking blocking the outside filter.

I think a net and the backwash period should sort me out

update

Ive added some stuff and cleaned some stuff up. I am thinking of putting 8-10 trout in asap

I am concerned about if trout will persist in dirty water?













I have decided to leave the possible UV unstabilised filter around the syphon until I can find something else suitable.

I also did an EC check and it was around 280 ppm, any comments on this as I have no idea what this "actually" means fish/plants/system wise?

I have a couple of glass heaters handy wondering if I should chuck one in on a low setting to help keep water closer to a optimal temp without draining too much power, thoughts?

Fabian

I wouldn't pay much attention to EC readings, might be alright for Hydro but not really AP... What fish do you have in there, is it just goldfish? If so then I wouldn't bother heating..

@ eb

I already had a truncheon so I figured there was no harm in taking the readings and yeah just goldfish atm but as I'm cycling I thought heating may allow for a better culturing environment for nitrodudes

Those truncheon are only good for holding open the fishtank lid in ap or chuck it over the fence just to see how far it will go

I had this Galvanised tank out the back, looking at using it. using my now FT (300L) as a sump turning system into a chift-pist.

I have read lots of posts to the tune of metal does not go well with fish etc...but no one will drive me to the trout farm..I figure if I can set this up I can order off livefish.




The tank has 2 holes in it 1 i would look at using for the SLO it is around 50mm in diam ( the bigger one) the small one I would cover up?





a little bit of rust in the bottom I was just going to give it a scrub with a wire brush before using that bitumen paint stuff.



sorry for the ambiguity of this photo its the length of the tank.

what kind of seal could I use for the SLO? and is ~50mm enough or would i have to drill the hole out or is that dependent on inflow.. Im still working my way through the slow concept

i dont have much experience with SLOs (yet) but here is my 2c worth.
the tank looks great but you will need to seal it (check the bitumen paint is food safe )
50mm isnt big enough, go for atleast 90mm

i believe uniseals are all the rage for the SLO seal. you could also use a bulkhead fitting

So everything you look at nowadays is either a growbed or a fishtank? AP obsession!

@ Freo

I worked out my tank should only be around 800L (bad at maths) so I'm going to put in a 50mm SLO and see how we go as you cant undrill 90mm holes, I gave the rep for the bitumen paint a call and it checks out.. Ill put up a pic of the stuff I used a little later.

@ Bill

You know it!



Couldn't find a bulkhead fitting, this is a tank fitting I'm hoping this will do the job or is the same thing?!



what my SLO looks like, I will make a bottom piece in due time all the pipework is 50mm



I have these stainless troughs maybe old school tap troughs..dunno how I'm going to use them yet they are like 2mx30cm deep x 30cm width (roughly)



and this is my girlfriend painting the tank for me.


I have to let the paint cure for a week before I can use it, so hopefully it should be fully operational in 2-3 weeks