Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

that sure is a lot of waterfall ya got there. how do the fishes like it?

i would think that ya could get by with half of that flow, while still keeping your DO levels maxed out. if need be, ya could install a T right after the pump, add a valve off of one side and bleed off some of that preasure.

Looks good! I'm in agreeance with AF here on the flow.

Here's some basic rules of thumb applied to providing max oxygenation to beds and buckets in continuous flow with waterfall return.

Figures are for exchanging the volume of water in your beds/buckets and pipes to and from. Not your entire system.

Your ponds aeration will easily be sufficient with a waterfall. Large systems should address the volume of their tanks accordingly with a showerhead or two and some water movement with added venturi in the pond.

Up to 0.5 m2 - 7-8 times circulation per hour.
0.5 - 1.0 m2 - 8 - 10 x circulation.
1.0 - 2.0 m2 - 10 - 12 x circulation.
2.0 - 6.0 m2 - 12 - 15 x circulation.

Larger has not been tested in my limited knowledge.

The increasing figure is to ensure that oxygen reaches plants at the ends of rows.

Hi AD:
Should that be m3?

I bought these pumps two years ago, with the S&S 4x8 foot beds in mind, and a 300+ gallon tank. The ones mentioned on the mailing list were usually of the 600 gallon size. Plus, this is the size you find at Sears, which is where I got them. Basically didn't look into pond or bilge pumps, just got sump-styles that were "in season". This new little rectangular grow bed will help reduce the torrent. I put a 3/4" reducer in the pipe next to the pump, because the sump pump was having trouble keeping up despite being rated with a higher flow. This was when it had a piece of gravel stuck in it; it was better after it was removed. Or, I think the reducer was added when I had just one(!) round tub with little pipes with lots of holes in them for the drain. The one tub had so much flow it couldn't drain fast enough and was overflowing.

Then I found this site and saw EB's stand pipe-style drains and re-did the drain this way and added the second tub.

I plan to grow the system until these pumps are an appropriate size. This year I am OK with them being too big, because I don't plan on having such a small setup after this year.

Since the fish seem to like a current to swim against (from the recent discussions), I might do the tee just so they get their exercise!

It seems that evaporation is becoming a factor - the level is definitely lower today. Heat wave this week.

I think this waterfall is better at keeping the floating pellets from getting sucked into the pump than the showerhead was. That churned things up so much that if they didn't eat it all before the next cycle it got pushed down under the water then sucked in and piled up on the growbed.

Yep, I did away with the 'showerhead' spray fittings very early in the piece. I was having overflow troubles and leaks etc.... but the stand pipes work a treat...

Some of your evaporation is definately splash.

m2 of growbed sorry. A figure to determine approximate plants content and oxygen demand plus distance from pump.

With that return rate it has to be this... are you going to upgrade to bigger growbeds sometime?

Hey AM:
Don't worry, I will add more water as needed.

I could see getting one more of these little rectangular jobs, but I have maybe until mid-October before things will have to be shut down, and I have yet to see my plants take off. The thing just cycled, so we'll see how it goes in the next week. I added 23 new little goldfish yesterday, 1 was not added, 3 were dead this morning, 1 was dead late morning, and another dead in the afternoon. It is really hot and they were stressed and weak.

I call them "Quitters"

The rest are having fun and I wish I could jump in like Mr. Limpet and splash around and have fun too.

Oh, and the pleco that I thought was long gone is still alive and lurking around, and has gotten pretty big. Its tail was hanging out of the tank today while it was grazing on the pump housing.

Yep, sound like quitters to me..... So how many goldfish do you have in the system now?

They're just not willing to put the effort in you need to threaten them with shipping them off to muzza's, that will put the fear into them

Dave,
just out if curiousity, what size comets do you get? around here we can get the small ones 10 fer a buck, or medium size (over 2") fer a quarter a piece, or the largest (about 4") for $1.40.

of course, the hotter the weather, the smaller the fishes.

OMG AF about 1.5" I paid 28 bucks for 10

There have been 60(!) total added, but I know there are not nearly that many left. I think I accounted for 3 or 4 out of the first batch that didn't make it. I don't remember whether any of the two batches of the larger ones died. It is really hard to see them and until last week or so they didn't come to the top readily. When the big move was done this weekend I think I was able to see 8 at most, and the pleco. I do know that out of the last batch of 24 that 6 have snuffed it already. They have been lounging on the surface today, maybe because of the heat, but they seem to be perky enough if you disturb them.

I don't really remember right now if it was one batch of small ones, then two of the bigger ones then the big batch of little ones just now, or just the one batch of big ones. Very sleepy...

Twitchy in the garage aquarium is looking great, despite being a freak with no upper lip and a tiny mouth. I have to feed him the mini pellets because he couldn't eat anything bigger.

The small ones are $0.12 and the larger ones (about 2") are $0.26 at PetsMart. I haven't looked into getting anything larger, but I am going to research about native pond-type fish like minnows, blue gills, etc. Apparently blue gills and crappies are delicious.

monya, $2.80 for a 40 mm goldfish? that's crazy!

the fish in the living room tank were eating about 20 of those in a single feeding. i've bumped them up to the $.25 recently. (they sell those 50 for $10). i give them about 10 of those every other day.

Dave, reason i ask is that because the little ones have a MUCH higher mortality rate, where as the bigger ones tend to be a lot healthier.