Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Lol...half decomposed fish. You think it was going anaerobic?

That grow bed seema to be a problem

Ammonia 0.25-0.5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 160+
Iron 0 (supplemented)

When I moved the fish tanks and filters to the new location, I forgot to put a slo Gaurd. A few fish made it to the net tank. Got two back into FT, and the other I found today floating nearly unrecognizable.

Anaerobic? Would it not decompose aerobicly?

Not sure, depends on the tank it was in and the conditions there. The fish would add a big load on the BOD. i am guessing it would add a lot of ammonia too

I can't get the flow any faster without risking a FT/filter overflow. Thinking of upping pipe size....

Options:

1 - increase size to 3" from the point where each FT join to go to filters to the point where it splits to go to each GB.
2 - 3" from FT to GB split point.
3 - lower the drains on the FT hopefully increasing the head pressure and less air intake. Drains with air flow slower than drains completely full.
4 - lower the drain on the cloth tank for same reasons

Any other suggestions?

Would raising fish tanks and filters 4 inches make any/enough difference with the gravity feed?

Took the elbow off of the cloth tank drain. It was working better because it was acting as a siphon. But if too much air got sucked in, it would stop working all together over flowing the FTs and filters.

Need to up the pipe sizes.

Looking for suggestions.

Or maybe I should just go to 4 inch from the FT "T" to the GB "T"

When the DWC bed (1000 gallons) is built, I'll need to flow 1000 gallons per hour at least.

FT 500 gallons.
Media bed 250-300 gallons estimated
DWC 1000 gallons.

http://aquaponicsnation.com/forums/topi ... entry58037

This does not take into account the fact that bird netting and shade cloth may be the restrictive part in the system.

Thanks for the link swede but it doesn't account for pipes with air in them. The drain out of my cloth tank is at the top. It sucks air as well. Pipes sucking air flow slower. Pipes full of water flow faster than those with air.

Frustrating... 4 inch sewer pipe is cheaper than 3 inch sch 40.

Here is a nice calculator to determine flows in full and partial pipes in gravity feed

http://engineermate.com/Hydraulics/Grav ... Piping.htm

Add a vent to allow air to escape

I added a second 2" PVC drain a few inches below the old drain on the last filter. The second drain is Teed into the same pipe as the old drain a few inches away. BOY what a difference. I'm back to the 500 gallons per hour through the system.

I then changed out the 2" pipe the two fish tanks Teed into before going into first filter tank to a 4". That helped me pick up another 75 gph. So right now I'm at 575 gph through the system. The next restriction is the 2" pipe between each filter. Need another 2" uniseal to add a second feed.

DO #s this morning before any of the above changes:

Sump DO 7.2
FT 1 DO 4.1
FT 2 DO 5.7
Net Tank exit DO 5.4
Cloth tank exit DO 5.0
Grow bed Exit DO 3.5

They are getting better. I hope with the increased flow they improve further.

I moved over more fish from FT 1 to FT 2 to even them out some. I'll check DO levels tomorrow and move more till DO between each FT are close.

That sounds like it will be an improvement. Good luck!

Lmannyr I think I found a great solution for you to try. this is greatly increase DO and also decrease solids accumulation at the roots.. I don't know how I didn't think of this earlier.. it a CF BED Remix!! look at mines







I mimic conventional agricultural irrigation techniques and added channels to the bed. because I dedicated this bed to tomatoes alone I really don't need the excess stone.. Therefore better water flow and aeration.. you should try it.. I recently tried it myself and it seems to be making a difference.