Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I think the flow for the jet I bought might be as high as 7 GPM. It's a Sundance MicroMagna Rotating jet. This isn't an endorsement, I'm just trying to give a starting point. It's working but you might find something that works even better because I think you could find better aeration in a jet that required less flow (but I could be wrong ).

Try the reducer after that second elbow


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I don't think I follow Jayendra. Are you talking about the second elbow just as the venturi line goes into the MBBR or elsewhere?

I experimented with Venturi's an found that the elbow and reducing of pipe size made a difference in various combinations


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Really enjoying following your thread Scotty,great work so far.......

Jayendra, with this spa venturi the reducing of the pipe is done by an orifice that's less than the diameter of the incoming pipe and you can reduce the orifice size (change the water speed) by rotating the nozzle. The whole spa jet is sort of an elbow. The water enters horizontal and exits upward toward the top of the MBBR. Check out the video on YouTube of the Spa Jet if you haven't, mine is similar but not the same brand (I think they're pretty close in shape though). Can you point me to any pics of what you want me to try?

Dasboot and Rairdog - Thanks you guys

Thought I'd post a few more pics.

This is the same model of spa jet as I have setup in the MBBR. Here it's running just below the surface on the fish tank so it's a higher head height for the pump.



Here I've turned it upward to give you an idea of the force -



Shot of the Radial Flow Filter perking along -

Couple of shots of the Moving Bed Bioreactor. The first picture shows how it looks at the moment. The media has sunk about 3 inches since it was put in. I keep pushing it down when I go out to check on things. The second shot is right after I have pushed the media down along the sides. You can see the water coming up at the center. Still not quite enough flow to keep the "boil" going with the media but closer than when the media was first added. I've noticed a subtle difference in the color of the media as well.

Hi Scotty missed a few days so will have to read up on what you have done. I found the bio material worked better once it matured the same as you are now reporting. Looking good mate.

Thanks Bear and thanks for the information as well.

Must be time for an update Scotty

Thanks fishnchips.

I do plan on pulling off some of the solids to aerate and I have a tank going right now. I'd like to incorporate this into the flow to the DWC beds I built and they'll be hooked up with the AP system (but that part isn't hooked up yet, along with some other things since the plan is to start the DWC this Spring). The RAS setup you're looking at here is modeled mostly after CCBear's and RobBob's initial RAS systems - one of the main differences being the lower sump. If I rebuilt the system, I'd do it without the lower sump, but it works well as it is though. You should have a look at their RAS systems to see how they are doing this currently. They've done more work with this than I have since I've been busy with other parts of this setup. RobBob posted a video of Bears early system on YouTube but Bear has some updates here in his thread. Rob also posted multiple videos of his own setup on YouTube. I know we've all had some algae problems so I've been working on a surround and canopy which keeps changing until I get it right. The algae takes in ammonia and if you don't watch it you can have a die off which kills the fish, usually by causing ammonia to spike or Oxygen levels to dive. This algae die off often happens in Fall but not always. Rob also has a video on how he handled this and I think CCBear added a UV light. Algae also causes pH swings and oxygen depletion at night.

I mentioned this in another thread but I'll be switching the RFF over to a combination static and moving bed filter using K2 media because I'm pretty certain this will remove the solids more effectively. It will still have the second tank as a Moving bed bio-reactor. This isn't going to be quite as low maintenance but that's OK.

Cheers

Yea, Bear now uses a UV light in situ. When I visited the system water was extremely clean and no signs of algae. He also uses a primary filter before the RFF which has some course matala pad inside of a PVC tube.

What Ive yet to see in these backyard RAS systems is controllable levels of amm, nitro and nitra. All the mini systems popping up have this problem, Is suspect it is because they are not advanced enough in regards to solids removal and processing, also you just can't avoid waste water, even the big dogs send out water to waste.

The math needs to be done on cost of return.

Too bad drum filters are so expensive. I would love to have one discharge to mineralization tanks for a separate fish waste hydro system. One day...