Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Going back down to Florida with the family this weekend for a little vacation and decided while i'm there to go back by Stick-Fins and pick up about 3 or 4 breeder size crayfish. I added another tank today for the breeder size crays, a 40 gallon tank that will overflow into my original tank. I guess the obsession has hit me!! By the way, my plants are looking much better now that I added the iron. More updates to come.

Personally, I think volumetric flow is far more important than pressure, so in the second photo above you could remove the sprinkler outlet which is increasing pump back-pressure and decreasing flow and plumb in a venturi 'T' which will provide aeration whilst only marginally reducing the flow when compared to an open pipe, which is still much better than the current configuration.

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=T+venturi
http://affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/new-challenge-high-water-level-siphon.html


Scott

Thanks for the links, i like the Venturi and will probably change it out in the near future

I will hopefully pick up the parts today to add the Venturi to the system. The tomatoes are now over 6 feet tall and everything else has greened up nicely with the addition of the chelated iron. The crayfish seem to be doing real well. I was unable to pick up the breeders for the additional tank because the lady that has them was unable to meet with me on the day I was in Florida. Maybe I'll add some fish or something to the smaller tank or I may just wait until I get a couple of females berried out and transfer them to this tank until they hatch. Here are a couple of updated pictures.

Added the Venturi and got rid of all the back pressure and splashing from the other setup. Thanks again to bunson for the idea and to everyone on this site for all the insight and information. Still learning but the wife and I are now planning our next setup "Greenhouse Style". I'll keep everyone posted.

Haven't updated in a while, the system is still doing well, I have taken several of the older plants out and have sown some seeds that are just starting to sprout. The Crayfish are growing really well and I just added a dozen goldfish to the smaller tank just to have something in there until my crayfish start hatching. The water test great and my tomatoes are now approaching 9 feet and have lots of tomatoes coming on but i've run out of staking material so they'll just have to do what they do from here!! Here are a couple of pics of the "fruit of my labor"

papaz any update? Curious as to how your crayfish and system are doing?