Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

ok emma, see we're getting confused again

I was talking about solids in regard to your pond, not your tanks.

so for your last question i'm going to go on a bit of a rant...............here goes.

I know everyone is so like solids removal this and solids removal that, especially in the aquarium world. I don't see no dams with big ass pumps and filter material, so i'd be inclined to say YES, you should be able to run your pond with only air stones and floating raft. Just don't expect it to be super sexy solids free water

If anyone can clarify why solids in our tanks are bad, but not in our growbeds then please do! I'll be buggered if i'm going to vacuum my tank to remove solids to put them in my growbed which is in the loop anyway. What my pump doesn't pick up stys on the floor of the tank.

Emma, for your pond i'd consider using air lifts to ensure good strata mixing. The plants will more than take care of the nitrate, the surface area of any rocks in your pond will be the limiting factor in how many fish you can stock, but even a relatively small pump say 35W pumping water into a flood and drain bathtub size gravel grow bed will provide more than enough nitirfing bacteria for it.

Don't take this the wrong way, as you probably already know it, but i'll say it just in case: the plants in an aquaponics setup are the nitrate removers, which is why you won't have to do your water changes. I have quite friendly :lol: no doubt that you already know that the ammonia and niotrite should already be zero. If anyone is doing water changes (apart from cycle startup) to manage ammonia or nitrite then the simply do not have enough bio-filtration.

Emma, start up a couple of threads in the members section, one for your pond and one for the first inddor tank you want to convert. It will make it far far easier for attendion deficit people like myself to keep track

Steve

Lol the raeson for solids removal in tanks is quite simple. The poop and left over food as it breaks down creates more ammonia and the end result is more nitrates LOL, it also amkes all the water crystal clear.

yes, emma, but if the poop is "removed" to a cannister filter or water polishing fine sand filter or our grow beds for that matter, they are all in the water "loop" so what difference would it make unless the were physically removed from the system?

They are physically removed, once collected the filter is rinsed getting rid of all the solids, and we do gravel vacs to to remove any solids collecting in the gravel

But Poop is good (plant) food. We like poop. Ammonia turns to nitrite turns to nitrate. Nitrate = plant food.

My fish poop all gets distributed into the growbeds. I don't vacuum or do water changes. I only top off. My nitrates have dropped to 30, so I will give bigger meals to the fish now. System has been running since Nov/Dec last year. Life is good. Fresh green beans and basil in the dead of winter. Mmmm.

cool thought i had been doing ap the wrong way for so long

I know that solids are normally removed in an aquarium setting when the filters are cleaned, but that may be many months between cleaning and ammonia always stay at zero during that period.

Welcome to the AP learning curve won't take long

i don't ever clean out my solids it seems to me that its like compost, if my tank gets dirty i just stop feeding for a day or too and everything dissapers. i dunno if the fish eat it or what but the water gets clean and so does the tank. i have my raw water going right to the pvc pipe so the plants roots act like a filter.

In AP solids are another part of the nutrient makeup, with aquariums cosmetic appeal is in the equation ..5ft long pleco poop floating around the tank doesn`t do much for that
The extra o2 required for solids decomposition may be a factor in an aquarium with limited dissolved oxygen..not a problem with FD beds.

Having said that i don`t clean my aquarium filters out unless the flow gets close to zero.. maybe every 3-4mths.
My big catfish doesn`t seem to generate any solids as i`ve never seen any in the tank ever.
You`d expect a 20+" fish to generate something visible in 3 years .. i guess she must bury them or something

Go the cat fish.....