Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Spray bar is like a fountain on a pond then and what I call an on/off valve is a ball valve. I think I have added about 500 new words or expressions to my vocabulary since I left the USA. All English words but words that I am not familiar with having lived my life in SE USA.

Today I started removing the coir/rice hull mix from one of my GB's. Seemed like it was wet enough and messy but as soon as I dug into the surface ants covered the tank. No wonder nothing wanted to grow. Ants must have eaten the seeds and the few living plants left I examined the roots and it looks as though the ants liked them too. I don't think the ants will like the continuous flow system. When I get this bed empty and cleaned out then I can render and paint it. How do I seal around the pvc pipe that runs through the cement block wall? Will the paint seal it?

Education time again: Mint and Cress - can they be grown on the surface of a pond like mine? Will the top teem eat or tear them up? I assume you just float a piece of foam with holes punched in it or something like that. Can mint and cress be grown directly in GB's, continuous flow type.

Earthworms - will they live in water and eat up the muck in a gravel bed where solids have accumulated? The beds I am referring to are under water in my bog garden. Can they also be put directly into continuous flow AP GB's?

Yesterday I had 9 dead and today 17. Again all small ones from the last stocking. One yesterday and one today had been eaten in half or cut in half. The tail half was missing. Do larger tilapia eat smaller ones?

Duinui - You used a sealer called Crocodile Flex. What does llRC mean? Is it better than Lanko 222 like AO+ used. Or is it just a matter of preference? How many coats? We have two Home Pro stores in Korat so I should be able to find either one.

iirc = if i remember correctly.
Croc Flex was all I could get in Surin, so no idea if it's better or worse.
Actually I was in Home Mall in CM today and Lanko 222 was 199 baht for 5kg.
Don't remember how much the Croc Flex was, probably something similar.

Worms will live in water as I said before, the water needs to be well oxygenated though, worms breathe through their skin.
Tab Tim will probably eat water cress, don't know about mint though.
And yes, if they are hungry they will eat the tiny ones.

Ants are a real pita, my micro controlled system would intentionally over fill the GB's occasionally to flood them out.

How do I seal around the pvc pipe that runs through the cement block wall? Will the paint seal it?

If you're not comfortable with the plumbing, I would get someone else to do those bits.
I had never done any plumbing before starting AP and sealing those parts was a pain, they always leaked.

That Duinui is exactly why I ask before - can the water run out over the top? how would one do the plumbing? There is no such thing as a plumber out side of Korat City Proper out here in the country. It's diy or do without. Almost the same for all construction workers. I know I can rebuild the FT so it will not leak and not be so deep, but to do so I would like to pipe the water back out over the top so I don't have to fool around with trying to make a pipe go through a block and not leak. I may be confused but I read some where on this forum that the water can come in over the top and can go out the same way - over the top on one side and out over the top on the other. Maybe I am confused or lost - don't know.

I think the only way to get it to come out over the top is to use a siphon (or pump it), you have a reasonable drop to the FT so it's possible.
It a power outage though, the siphon will break and your GB will overflow, so it's probably an unnecessary complication.
You could try to put the standpipe on the outside of the GB, perhaps something like this:




First pic is how I visualize your current setup, 2nd add the red pipes, the horizontal one should have a lot of holes in it and possibly be covered by a piece of 100m pipe cut vertically in half.

l l
l GB l l l
l l l GB l
l l.......l l.......l l
l...........l.......l...........l.......l POND l

Hopefully this will work - for sure I am no artist. Between the two GB there is a sidewalk and another sidewalk between the front GB and the POND - the two short doted lines. The drain runs from the back GB under the sidewalk into the front GB - just a short piece of pvc on a slight angle so the water will flow. Again a short piece of pipe from the front GB under the sidewalk into the pond. Pipes not shown in diagram. The only visible pipe for the drains is where the pipe comes out into or just over the water level of the pond. On the back row of GB all five drains leak and are causing the side walk to cave in (pavers laid in sand). They leak because I cannot get a watertight seal between the sides of the pvc and the cement block. Now I only water two times a day. How
much more water (leakage) will I have when I go to continous flow. So since I am going to change over my system in the GB why not correct the leakage problem while I am at it. Also the beds are very deep. I can easily fill them part way and lay a new cement floor only about 15 or 16 inches below the top rim of the GB. More work now but much better in the future when working loading and cleaning the GB. However, when I fill in the bottom portion of the GB I also close off the drain so now I need a way to drain the back row of beds and this is where I would like to have the water exit the bed over the top. The front row of beds are not a problem - I will keep the same drain system in them as I have now.

Another 11 dead today. I fully expect all or most of the 320 that I stocked last to die. The first 80 where 10 have died so far are becoming giants. I can only think that I got a bad batch of fish with the 320 because the original stocking and the expendables are growing right on.

Forget the diagram - it did not print out as I typed it. Looking at my setup from the end I have a GB then a sidewalk then another GB and then another sidewalk and then the pond. Drains run from GB to GB to Pond all underground, under sidewalks. The only pipes showing are in the wall of the FT where they drain.

You said in a previous post..



It still don't see why you can't put the stand pipe on the flow from the back bed to the front bed.
Maybe some more pictures would help, perhaps 1 or two of your existing plumbing.

I have downloaded Google Sketch Up 8. Is that the one to use for drawing diagrams of AP setups?

I know a diagram or photo is a lot easier for people to understand than a verbal description. So as I rethink what I want to do I will also learn how to sketch it, hopefully.

Merry Christmas Everyone and have a Happy New Year also. John

What is the recommended way to keep small fish/fry out of the pump motor in a pond FT like I have?

Either put them in a fine mesh net floating on the top of the pond until they grow (Ka Chang in Thai)
Or make something to cover the pump with, I have tried both, Ka Chang works best.
Also allows you to monitor more specifically the fry are eating (and stops the bigger fish blagging the food first)

I did another water test today. Ammonia .0, Nitrite .50, Nitrate 10, and PH 7.6. Only 1 dead on 26th and 1 dead today. Yesterday 5 dead, 2 had been cut in half, clean cut like the pump got them. I have noticed some of them before looked like that, all small ones. I'll buy a Ka Chang tomorrow.