Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

G'day everyone. Go easy on me I'm new here

Apologies if this is a repost. I had a quick search before asking the question and couldn't easily get my hands on the information I needed.

I have set up a AP system using two old bath tubs in the back garden. The fish are in full sunlight so it get warm but the water is covered.

In the last few weeks in particular. I have had green hair algae blooms choking the filter.

I've done some youtube research which seems mainly based on Koy ponds rather than HP systems so I wanted clarify if the approach is different for AP systems.

First of all a rookie question - should we be using a standard pump system with an attached filter or simply allowing water to recirculate and using the growing medium as a natural filter?

Am I also right in thinking that the following steps will help

- Aeration of the water over and above the natural surface agitation I have from the pump
- Introduction of catfish.
- Introduce more aquatic plants.
- UV light system in the filter. (seems like a final step if everything else hasn't worked. I am trying to keep the set up fairly simple)

Should I be considering relocating the setup or building a cover over it?

Welcome to the forum Dave

Sounds like green pasta.

Cover ( you did that )
Massive Water changes
Better filters
UV in line light
And one member is trying mussels to filter and it looks like it is working for her.

Dangerous Fix:
If you ever get the point of 100% frustration and ready to junk it all, Pull the fish. Cut it off from the beds and bleach the tanks. Then it takes 3 days on bleach water to sanitize everything. I have used 1 quart per 100 gallons. Then another few days to drain, clean, fill the tanks to get rid of the bleach. With a final air dry with a fan. I only suggest this if you try everything and get to that point of giving up AP. Note: if any bleach gets out to the plants, you will lose them as well. If you add hoses to your fill pipes you can clean everything except the drains. Or go from the fill to the stand pipe and get the entire system. Water the plants by hand for a few days. This is very dangerous for fish and plants so if you get this far be careful, rinse well, dry well. Stick your head in the tank. If you still smell bleach, rinse again. This will not stop it from happening again, just give you a really clean start over and you will need to control it better in the future.

Where are you getting your current water from now?

If you are getting algae growing in the fishtank then it's getting too much sun. Try some 90% shade cloth and see if that fixes the problem


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Apologies if this is a repost. I had a quick search before asking the question and couldn't easily get my hands on the information I needed.

some information here, and it pops up in posts.
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/information/faq/


In the last few weeks in particular. I have had green hair algae blooms
limited information provided here, but typically algae reflects high nutrients+light and often lack of circulation. A photo of your system will help and photo of the problem so it is clear. Also some water test information.

how to post images -> viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21754

First of all a rookie question - should we be using a standard pump system with an attached filter or simply allowing water to recirculate and using the growing medium as a natural filter?

For a small system like you describe the grow bed / grow bed media alone should be sufficient.
It is not necessary to have an in-line filter for a basic system and a poor filter may actually be contributing to the issue.

Is the situation that the algae is getting caught in the filter or growing in the filter ?
If growth actually in/on filter or getting any reduction in flow then definitely remove filter and just go with pipes directly onto grow bed.

If you are referring to the sponge type filter that comes with the pump, then you need to take that off so that solids can move to the grow bed (where they become plant nutrients). These get clogged up too easily anyway.

Am I also right in thinking that the following steps will help

- Aeration of the water over and above the natural surface agitation I have from the pump
- Introduction of catfish.
- Introduce more aquatic plants.
- UV light system in the filter. (seems like a final step if everything else hasn't worked. I am trying to keep the set up fairly simple)

all systems have algae in them. In a balanced system you have algae but don't get the blooms.

#1 = run the pump circulating 24/7 - this will help the situation and also make sure that fish have enough oxygen overnight . If you are not getting enough splash / aeration then address this. Algae can often be a sign of insufficient circulation.

what size pump are you using ?
What size pipes are you using ?

#2 = in addition to catfish/sucker fish, yabbies are pretty effective.
Goldfish will help. Most fish will keep algae down in a balanced system
[edit] and stop feeding fish.

* you do not say what type of fish.

#3 = UV - wont really help, definitely don't buy one. What state is the fish tank in ?

#4 = aquatic plants wont really help at this stage - they use oxygen as well
test your water and if your nutrients are up then you need more plants in your grow bed.
as a short term fix you can do a water change to lower the nutrient levels.


Should I be considering relocating the setup or building a cover over it?
really need a photo. Putting shade cloth over it will definitely help to reduce the light if it is issue in the FT.
similarly any external filter and pipes need to be dark. Clear pipes often grow algae.

Thanks everyone for your help. Seems like a great forum and appreciate all the constructive comments.

The fish are blue eyed rainbow fish. 10 of them. I'll put some photos into future posts (noted) but for now I think I know what to do...

I'll look at the variety of fish. I guess I will be limited by what I can get hold of.

The pump has a sponge inline so I will remove that. Thats really the main problem I have.

I'll also make some adjustments to get better aeration The pump has been on a daytime timer to save power so I'll switch back to 24/7

.

from the IP


Ok is it covered or not, I can't tell. Do you have a sun angle tarp so at noon it is covered?

dlf_perth


By the time the algae gets to pasta nothing much will help except scoop it out.

My guess is you had bad luck with UV. They come in many sizes and you need to run one pump/one light and re-circulate the FT every hour. That is why UV lamps work so well. They kill the algae while it is still in its infant stage. UV light will raise the water temp so I only stagger mine in the summer, go full time if I see a problem.

Seeing you are at defcon1 - WW Algae, I would just net out as much as I could for now. Add some mussels, clams or cats.

The algae here loves soap detergent. If you cleaned the tank with soapy water and did a bad rinse then the food is there. If you use the same sponge you use to wash the car it gets in. What ever I buy for the FT is marked FT and no one is allowed to use it. I never use any soap near or in the tank.

If you can get some local native shrimp in the tank they should eat the existing algae.
The smaller ones without claws seem to love it and since you only have small fish the adult shrimp should be safe.
Their offspring will be eaten by the fish though and they'll appreciate the little delicacies.

removing the sponge will allow the solids to go to the GB. That applies to both the sponges that sit out on front and particularly the sponges inside the removable section of the plastic housing.

In some pumps 2000Lph+ (eg. Pondmax aqnd Aquapro) you can actually use the sponge pipe fitting point to put on a piece of PVC 300-500mm long with lots of holes in it. And it sort of acts in similar way as the bottom pipe of a SLO.
That's what I do and the longer pipe is more effective at accessing and clearing suspended solids. Also make sure your pump is running with 19mm or more - the 13mm bendy pond pipe is not very effective.

The problem is that plants/algae use oxygen at night - so you need night aeration to keep DO levels up as well as filtering.
After your problem goes away what you can do is run for hour and then off for an hour or so at night - so basically it is 50% (note that this depends on your pump brand & type).

If noise is an issue there are various ways to make the splash quieter and still get aeration.


that will help as well. Pull your pump, get rid of the filter and give FT a bit of a manual clean.

I am not sure if massive aeration is going to help or make it worse. if you want to grow algae you need 3 things. Air, light and a place for it to hang out. Laundry detergent will make it grow at an accelerated pace. Many of the farming rivers/streams have this pasta because they all wash their clothes in the streams.

There are thousands of huge personal Koi ponds here and in the sun all day. The water is kept crystal clear by a huge 4 ft x 4 ft filter system. One section is constantly flooded with a bank of UV lights. All the rich people have them and some of them cost much more then my home. Some run into the millions. local money.

If that were case then Water Agencies all over the world have got it wrong.
It is a standard bloom management scenario for rivers, dams, ponds etc etc....

The other flip side is you need the aeration to maintain DO - else you get massive fish kills.
There are 2 significant times/periods of DO loss - overnight and during the decomposition phase.

Algae also blooms/establishes more effectively in still/stagnant water - so aeration provides agitation as well
(and long runs times assist with filtering out of both dead algae and spores)

I need to remember that this project is just 2 bathtubs

ahh i cant be bothered reading all those replies
but to clarify some things i have seen:

mussels wont help stringy algae, pea soup algae maybe.
UV clarifiers only work for pea soup algae, not stringy algae.
do not add more aquatic plants, they will steal nutrients from your terrestrial plants, they are better at soaking up nutes than terrestrial plants.

a cover will help, but dont be fooled into thinking that is a be all and end all like people here make out, i find that algae grows the fastest in my ponds in winter rather than summer.

DLF's advice is pretty much spot on.

Nice PDF to read

http://www.uaex.edu/publications/pdf/FSA-9094.pdf

They mentioned for this green pasta, stagnant water, Phosphorous and organic matter are the main reasons for a bloom. They also said keep the kids away from it and don't let any animals drink it.

As far as aeration I could only find that they do that to help the fish and DO. The Algae consumes massive amounts of O2, enough for the fish to die off on a huge bloom. I could not find anywhere where it would kill off the algae. That is why I say it is like fighting fire with fire. It turns into a race to see who gets to breathe. Seeing how the number 1 reason was stagnation the aeration would need to be done up front to stop it from happening. After a bloom the more air you pump in the more food for them. If you can locate a report I would be more then happy to read it. It looks like prevention maintenance is the best thing to do.

When algae is still at the microscopic stage a UV light will burst the cells walls and kill it instantly. By the time it is pasta it is too late for the inline ones and you would need the koi type ones where they flood an entire area of the filter.

This also has me thinking about another question. If a system is outside in the sun and say it has DWC of NFT and the holes are all open. it may be enough for the sunlight to get in and help the algae photosynthesize. Maybe all holes should be covered if empty. If one was to remove all the rafts or even a section for a few days the algae would be very happy.

stringy algae isnt like pea soup algae, most is attached to the surface and not floating around, which is what makes UVC totally ineffective.

you would literally have to use the UVC constantly from long before any algae grows and never stop for it to be able to have a chance to stop stringy algae growing..... and even then in my experience it cant do it....


holes in NFT? stringy algae will only grow where it can get light, so light getting into your NFT wont help it grow in your FT.