Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Some pirates have class.

I was asking my dad the fish farmer if he happened to know of any catfish breeders in my part of the US, and he gave me an interesting tip. He says pet stores frequently buy catfish fingerlings from him, because they're used as bottom feeders in large aquariums, so I should check with pet stores and see if they would order me some with their next shipment, since I'd want smaller quantities than you'd usually buy from a fish farm.

I never would have thought of looking in pet stores.

Well, dangit, first attempt was a bust. I did find an amazing freshwater aquarium store, though. I haven't had an aquarium in a few years, but they got me wanting to set one up again.


Sent from my iPhone, typed with my thumbs.

I suppose I should post something, so nobody thinks I've gone off and forgotten about BYAP or anything!

I was just sticking my nose into someone else's system thread to give advice (figured since I'm now "Bordering on Legend," aka "prone to babbling a lot about aquaponics," it gave me license to do that) and it occurred to me that I should mention here what I did there -- and that's how very valuable one of TCLynx's tips has been.

TCL suggested using 1.25" Uniseals in the bottoms of my grow beds instead of 1", and sticking a 1" PVC connecter through them. That makes the 1" PVC standpipes easily removable for making adjustments or draining the beds.

I've gotten a lot of great tips and advice here, but that tip is one that has filled me with gratitude every time I've messed with my grow beds. I can't imagine having to pull standpipes out of Uniseals every time they need adjusting. I'm just not the sort who gets things 100% right the first time. It's also a breeze to drain the grow beds when I want to check to make sure my sump volume is still adequate, or any of the other kazillion reasons one might want to drain a grow bed.

Thanks, TCL!

Yesterday I plumbed my pump in with PVC. I couldn't figure out how to properly connect the PVC and the pump...the pump has a graduated nozzle on its outlet that will fit 1.5", 1", etc. I've been using a length of 1" ID flexible tubing on it. The tubing is about the same OD as 1" PVC, so what I finally settled on was using a 1" PVC connector to hook it into the PVC, and using a couple of stainless steel screws to keep it from popping out, although it didn't really seem inclined to. It leaks a tiny bit, but it's over the sump so that's ok.

Then I ran 1" PVC up and over the lip of the fish tank, and ran into my next conundrum. I wanted to take the water inlet all the way to the bottom of the tank to help keep the solids stirred up for the SLO to grab them, but I needed a way to prevent it siphoning if the pump goes off. I thought I had read something about putting a small hole on the inside of a bend in the pipe to make a Venturi effect; supposedly the pressure of the water going around the bend makes it suck air in. That seemed beneficial, and I thought it would also serve as a siphon break for the water in the other direction. But my water apparently had not read the same thing, and all I accomplished was making water spurt out of whatever hole I drilled. I finally just let the incoming water splash down into the tank until I have time to do more research.

Plant progress: The little fig tree is not happy about our recent freezing temps, but everything else is handling them fine -- even the tray of seedlings I left sitting on top of the media in the second grow bed a few days ago when I ran out of daylight and energy for planting. The water temp seems to hold pretty steady at about 41 deg F, during the day, anyway. The grocery store "rescue" lettuce and celery are growing great, and the green onions (scallions?) all have new leaves. The radish sprouts are looking healthy and content, and the lettuce seeds I direct-sowed are beginning to sprout.

And I am making myself late for work, so I'd better get going. Photos next time!

I hear you. Water is totally illiterate sometimes.

Have you tried nagging? Nagging sometimes made my mum do stuff, so it might work for water.

I discovered this stuff about venturi .... things ... back when my FT water looked like Brawndo*.

http://120thingsin20years.blogspot.com/ ... nturi.html






*It's got what plants crave.

Push some sort of tube shaped thingy into the hole so that all of the water is going the direction you want it to go. That way it will suck air in. I'm pretty sure Bunson gave a very detailed over explanitive not really asked for description of this on my thread.

Sorry I feel like I am missing info in that last post, but I am not feeling well, therefore I can't brain enough to fix it...

It turns out that his explanation was actually short and concise

Talk to your state parks and wildlife department about catfish. Most of them have hatcheries for stocking lakes and ponds. They will also have lists of all of the dealers normally.

Edit can't spell today.

I thought it was mothers who got to do the nagging. That's what mine taught me, anyway. And what I tried to teach my kids, although they never really fell for it. (The mistake I made was having kids who were smarter than me. I'm just very lucky they are so kind-hearted, and didn't take advantage of it. Much.)

It seems like your water behaved itself properly. Maybe I put the hole too close to the bend. I'll have to try again, next time I have a day off and feel an urge to play in frigid water at near-freezing temperatures.

I think I see what he's saying to do, after hunting down the photo of your Venturi. It seems, in my head, like it should work. Or it could create a geyser of cold water to shower down on me. But hey, what's life without a few unexpected ice cold drenchings?

I was browsing some aquarium forums (because one obsessive life-consuming hobby is not enough, apparently), and there's a lot of talk about maintaining CO2 levels and keeping algae at bay. I think they said algae was a sign the CO2 was too low, and CO2 levels that are too high will make pH drop. (I think I have that the right way around, but I worked all day and can't guarantee the veracity of my brain cells at the moment.)

Does anybody ever worry about CO2 levels in aquaponics?

I might want you to say yes, just because I read about how to make a CO2 generator with yeast and sugar, and also how to make a drop checker to check the CO2 level, and it would be fun to try it. Then again, I might want you to say no because it could just make things that much more complicated. Then again, if you say no, I might keep wanting to get an aquarium so I can play with CO2 generators and drop checkers and aquatic plants.

I might not really know what I want, at all.

Lots of aquaria peeeps... mix cause and effect... to get a gobbldy gook answer...

Aquaria often uses CO2.. to encourage submerged, or in tank... plant growth...

The algae is a result of high nutrients... and probably a high pH, which algae prefers...

Adding CO2, can result in pH dropping... but is more likely to result in greater plant growth, and thus lower nutrients...

And then, over time.. and nitrification... lower pH.... and less, or no algae growth...

I'd get a large indoor aquarium full of plants to raise fish fry, and during the time between batches, add CO2 to keep the plants, and you happy

Are you doing fish for the plate? I have a vague memory that says no...

If that's the case ignore that and just get an aquarium.