Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Always been intrigued by these sort of questions in relation to Muzz's system... maybe he filters on the return??

Muzz where are you??

a few facts on carbon

1 normal carbon is useless it has to be actviated to work

2 it adsorbs not absorbs, (not quite sure what the difference is) gases and organics

3 in a granluated form it will also act as a media filter if not used correctly which can affect the hydraulics of a filter, basicaly the solids block the pores of the carbon causeing the water to flow around the carbon rather than through it

my boss said he didnt have a table as carbon is a bit tricky its worked out by volume of water vs volume of carbon and flow time across the carbon but there is not a lot of literature about it

Cheers
Pete

as opposed to:

thanks for the info pete.

correct, carbon is usially activated by high temp high pressure team injection which creats millions of posre in the granule. Pore size determins which molecules (gas or liquid) it will better adsorb.

To my knowledge its a binding process, not chemical as such........cant explain further, but i'm sure some one can if there is an intrest in the mechanics of it

Reckon just about anyone or anything would be activated by one of those team injections ..... lmao

FF, that writing is on the pics only, it’s Photoshop Elements 2.0

Re cocoppeat, as experiment, this summer repotted some cymbs into cocopeat instead of pinebark, but not happy, stay soggy for to long, will have problem over winter.

Coming spring will try some in cocopeat/scoria mix for AP, the rest in cocopeat/pinebark mix.

Effect on PH wasn’t on my mind, but the draining’
Will ask questions when that arises.
Putting gravel on the bottom to prevent drain pipe blockage.
Maybe the vigorous root sys of peppers, toms and similar will not suffer.
Also they are annuals, makes lot of difference.

The upright standing blue barrel I want to use as a biofilter, put inside a roll of shadecloth, with a submersible in the centre.
When pumping to the GB, will also draw in the water from the green tanks.

?? Will pieces of driftwood or mallee roots in the tanks have effect on PH,
did look nice in the aquarium.

Can cap off each green barrels entry to the equalizer pipe from the inside, so may fill or drain any barrel without affecting the others.

In the corner have a barrel with a pool pump to water the pots.
Will use it for the AP “rain” overflow or partial water change to water trees and plants not in AP. SS

SS, traditionally wood will drift ph lower due to (now i cant remember which bloody one it was, humic acid i think? or maybe tannic acid?).

Anyway, wait till your system is all set up for a few months then put them in.
I'd suggest incorporating sea shells / egg shells / oyster or mussle shells into your biofilter barrel.

Put it this way, a functioning system will NEED ph buffering from the above sources as the nitrogen cycle acidifies anyway, so adding the drift wood after will probably make little overall difference if your system is buffered well.

Nice SS.... How big is that pump motor, ie Watts?

I'm very interested to see what sort of lifespan people can get out of cocopeat in systems, I imagine that the life span is going to be fairly limited, but then having large volumes of nutrient rich compost material isn;t a bad thing....

Thanks Steve, will do.

EB, that pool pump is 1HP Onga, but will not be part of my AP sys.
The dripper sys on the pick below will go, replaced by Flood & Drain.
Some plants (orchids) in AP, others irrigated by the Pool pump or planted out, or composted.

Got two Rio Hyperflow 35Watts (3100 l/h at 0cm).
Had one running for two days circulating water between the drain and the green tanks with no problem.
That thing sticking out from the barrel on the previous pic is a homebrew float switch. Did work a treet.

Tried Aqua One 15 Watts (1200 l/h at 0cm), from a tank to GB, looks OK with clean water, not sure about solids.
When ready to start, will start only on one tank and GB, to see how the pump will handle it.

Were washing gravel the whole morning today, filled the rest of GB to 1/3 for drainage.
For growing medium will try mix of cocopeat with scoria on fist GB to see how it will work, then will decide for the rest. SS

Nice one SS... I do like the DWV piping and the different angled fittings, so much different to the HP standard fittings that only have 90 degree angles.

Really like what I'm seeing there S2

by hp i take it you mean high pressure right?? if so you should be able to get 45 degree as well as 90

Can you? I've never seen them.. But then the shop where I get most of my fittings doesn't have much in the way of range, and I notice that they are cutting down even more with the range they have over time...

Try "B" EB, you'd be surprised at what they have there (22.5,45,60,90 degree bends)

might amend that, 88,. 44 etc see they don't do the correct angle anymore

"B" is where I go Les, and it's a big store too, they have nothing but T's, +, elbows and different adapters and joiners.. I was in there yesterday wanting a 45 degree for a system that I put together yesterday... Might have to visit a reticulation store..