Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

This morning I went to check on yesterday's work and see if the water was looking any cleaner after we added the finer filter media. Last night I ran the bathroom tap to fill up the bak mandi (the concrete tubs Indonesian houses use to hold water for bathing -- not like a Western bath tubs that you sit in, but smaller and with a scoop to tip the water over yourself with -- that look like this: http://hehemahita.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/bak_mandi_life_in_aceh_2.jpg) and the water came out blackish Today the water was still a little cloudy up top, but much, much better than last night.
Must have been some residue in the old pipes or something at the bottom of the tank getting washed through, I guess.
The header tank is coated in algae and needs a scrub.
A coat of dark paint, I'm told, also helps eliminate this problem. That's my next project. I may attempt this today.
I haven't got around to making the planned redesign/ structural readjustments yet, but we finished adding filter media (medium- and fine-grain sand), which is looking good.

Yesterday I also went to check out how much bricks would cost and then how much it would cost to make a steel frame to raise the head height of the header tank, but not sure I have the budget for this yet. And since the overflow/flooding only seems to happen when main tank is fully drained and filling pump is on for longer periods, this redesign plan can wait, for now, I think.
Other news to report is that I took back the "Aqua King" pumps I'd bought (with quality assurances) from my friendly aquarium pump stockist -- they were very noisy. He mentioned he had some EHEIM universal pumps (1262) lying around that he wanted to get rid of because their boxes had been eaten by termites. The pump seems new. He wanted 100 bucks for it. I thought that was a pretty good deal. So, I now have a new pump. Up to 3400 l/h, it says on the box, and a max head height of 3.6 meters. Fingers crossed, touch wood, etc. Never had any problems with EHEIM stuff before.

Thanks Shoestring, I should admit I'm getting a fair bit of help with gravel washing, plumbing etc although the project would go nowhere without me. Bamboo -- here it sells for about US$2 or $3 per stick (i.e. fully grown, 5 meters long and about 7cm diameter at the base) -- is the original multipurpose building material in Indonesia, along with palm fronds and fiber, and teak. It's a pity that nowadays most houses in Jakarta are made out of thick layers of cement and rely on air conditioners to keep cool.
I think there's been a resurgence of bamboo use lately, particularly because of environmental concerns. Bamboo now gets made into flooring (ironically 'sexy' has always seemed like a pretty daggy (NOT hot) word in my books), and they can now even turn bamboo fiber into fabric. There was a scheme I heard of here where you could allow a bamboo company to plant bamboo on your property and they guaranteed a return after X number of years. Not sure of details of the project, but sounded like a really good idea.
I also heard that in terms of carbon, bamboo soaks up more than any other plant. Not surprising really, since bamboo shoots, literally shoot up (like 10cm a day). It's pretty low maintenance unless it's close to a building and then it can be a problem.
Back to work

Time for another update...
It's been a couple of days of fixing some little problems and other bigger problems, some of which remain unfixed.
As mentioned earlier, we needed to clean the header tank because the inside of it was covered in algae. But, the tank itself was no longer strong enough to take the weight of the guy climbing into it to clean it, and the top cracked right across. (see top of tank in foreground below.)

It was an old tank that had been at this house since we moved in more than 3 years ago. I'm not sure about tanks' life expectancy, but I'm pretty sure this one was at least 6 years old and it was not a good quality one to begin with. I figure I'll cut the top half of it off and use it for fish, or perhaps as a stand-by sump tank. The good news is, we were able to get a replacement for it almost immediately.

The next bit of good news is that we painted all the other tanks and pipes black (to stop light getting in and prevent algae growth) and then white (to keep them cool).
Meanwhile, the problem of the overflowing header tank continues, but my regular plumber has been really busy and hasn't been available. Another problem has come up with the power supply for the well pump. The plug socket is old as well, and has apparently stopped working. Dodgey electricals give me the heebie-jeebies. (There is no emoticon for that here)
SO, today, hopefully a new plumber is coming in and *fingers crossed* will be able to help fix these things.
I'm adding another pic of me and my son enjoying the afternoon on the roof

(Moved from http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=326013#p326013)
Thanks Olley,
Yup, it's gravity fed and gravity dependent. I think if I was going to rebuild this setup I'd definitely increase the head height/flow/pressure between each stage.
@Activated Carbon (that's what you mean, right?), I've considered going down that path but seems like a bit more $$$ than I want to spend at the mo. It would be great, but I think I want to nail the sediment issue first, otherwise the carbon and sand might get clogged up in it too quickly to be worth it.
So far I think we're on the right track tho. Was having a look at a carbon/sand filter today that would do this. The guy wanted about Rp1.5 million (about US$150). Maybe I'll add an extra stage to my setup when I start working again.
Interested about what you mention in regards to anaerobic areas. How would that affect the filtration? Is it a problem? How would I overcome it. lotsa questions.

From what i can tell anaerobic bacteria produce or are used to produce

propionic acid fermentation, butyric acid fermentation, solvent fermentation, mixed acid fermentation, butanediol fermentation, Stickland fermentation, acetogenesis, or methanogenesis.

Some anaerobic bacteria produce toxins (e.g., tetanus)

and i think the most comon anaerobic product on the market often comes in CAN's and Bottles, some people cant seem to live with out this anaerobic stuff.........

which cause PH problems due to the different types of acids being produced!

I Only mentioned this because of the water samples you had tested!

as for the carbon filter you would only use this at the end for fish and for your use! and if you were to switch to piped water the carbon filter will remove you chlorine as well!

Wow. Looks like I need to do some more research. That carbon filter is beginning to look more attractive.
I'm not completely sold on the idea yet, partly because at the mo we're only using this water for washing etc -- it's not safe enough to drink and I don't have enough confidence in my newly installed filter. Not at this stage anyway. Then again, once I start using this water for the fish, it'll be a good idead to get the water as clean as possible before it goes in.
IMHO I don't think the anaerobic thing is too much of an problem here. The media tanks (blue barrels in diagrams) are not sealed, so air can get in. At least, I hope it's not an issue
In fact it's got no shoes at all