Gazza Goes Banana's Over Aquaponic's

boss

dlf_perth wrote:

just a note on your grow bed.

(a) if you are going to do holes through the bottom then the grow bed has to be high enough above the lip of the fish tank IBC for pipes etc to get over. So you may need your grow bed up a bit higher - that is the classic setup. You can get away with an outlet on the side using a T off your standpipe (constant flood or flood and drain) or an elbow to siphon.

as with any AP you can do lots of things differently but just make sure you are aware what you intend to do as it affects the grow bed height above fish tank.

(b) you will need to brace the grow bed. If you get rid of the base you probably need to either keep the frame or make something similar. You can spray paint the frame to make it neat with a can.

Agreed. I'm dealing with grow-beds I can't reach under without inching my way through. I intended to have vines under the grow-bed that would grow up and out to reach the sun, which was a failure anyway, because it was too dark to start them. Then I needed to get under there to fix a leak and crushed everything. :think:

Barramundi

boss wrote:

dlf_perth wrote:

just a note on your grow bed.

(a) if you are going to do holes through the bottom then the grow bed has to be high enough above the lip of the fish tank IBC for pipes etc to get over. So you may need your grow bed up a bit higher - that is the classic setup. You can get away with an outlet on the side using a T off your standpipe (constant flood or flood and drain) or an elbow to siphon.

as with any AP you can do lots of things differently but just make sure you are aware what you intend to do as it affects the grow bed height above fish tank.

(b) you will need to brace the grow bed. If you get rid of the base you probably need to either keep the frame or make something similar. You can spray paint the frame to make it neat with a can.

Agreed. I'm dealing with grow-beds I can't reach under without inching my way through. I intended to have vines under the grow-bed that would grow up and out to reach the sun, which was a failure anyway, because it was too dark to start them. Then I needed to get under there to fix a leak and crushed everything. :think:

boss, that is something i never thought about, leaks! :think:

i may still go thru the side of the GB as mentioned with Darren i think that would be the best way in case any leaks

boss

Indeed, best to give decent access when possible, after all It'll be us that'll need to get in there for maintenance

Barramundi

I tested the water on my aquarium last night it has been going for 3 months now and i noticed i had medium levels of ammonia and nitrate with zero nitrite so today i finally found a shop in Sydney with K1 media and made one of those little pepsi bottle filters, this is for my Barramundi and Bass, the Barra is around 17cm and Bass 12cm in a 60cm tank similar to the Aquaone 620T, i'm using a in tank filter good for 80-100L but it isnt coping to well

this brings me to the question would it be beneficial to use one of those drinking machine water bottles its 10L or 13L i purchased it from Office Works to drink but i'm thinking that empty bottle might make a nice in FT K1 media filter to deal with any ammonia, nitrite and nitrate what do u think?

Mel Redcap

You wouldn't be the first person to use a water cooler bottle for a filter! I know I've seen more than one on this forum.

(This one is an RFF not a media filter, but it shows they work nicely: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21619&start=15#p493542 )

Barramundi

Mel Redcap wrote:

You wouldn't be the first person to use a water cooler bottle for a filter! I know I've seen more than one on this forum.

(This one is an RFF not a media filter, but it shows they work nicely: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21619&start=15#p493542 )

That is gold Mel thanks for the link

i was thinking of placing the water cooler bottle inside the FT in one corner and having it like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqmF614zEDM to dealwith any ammonia, nitrate and nitrite

Barramundi

I set mine up a couple of days ago in my Barra/Bass aquarium, cost total of $8 and should do 5grams of food per day for my two fish, without scales i dont know how much 5grams is only going by the fish food packet of 100grams i would say i'm feeding 1-2grams a day if that

so when i set up my aquaponics imay incorporate a 3-4 of these bottles around the FT but unsure on how it would work with cloging

here's mine in action

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr9V7BgKzwM[/youtube]

Mel Redcap

Ha, cool! I think maybe you have too much media in there though? The one you linked before has less media in it so it's all tumbling, yours is packed a bit tight and most of it's not moving. Maybe take some out and experiment with different amounts until you work out how much you can fit in and still have it all tumble in the airflow?

Barramundi

Mel Redcap wrote:

Ha, cool! I think maybe you have too much media in there though? The one you linked before has less media in it so it's all tumbling, yours is packed a bit tight and most of it's not moving. Maybe take some out and experiment with different amounts until you work out how much you can fit in and still have it all tumble in the airflow?

Hey Mel, The K1 media when its new it is buoyant so it all just wants to float at the top of the bottle but after a few days the media adsorbs the water and is less buoyant and this is when it will start to tumble

they said to use 50-70% K1 media to the container size i went around that 70% mark, today i turned up the air flow but it tumbled the media to quickly so i backed off the air flow and i just need to be patient

here is another video of it working plus my two fish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pjQsrfgxR4

Mel Redcap

Ah, gotcha! I'd read about the K1 starting out floating and becoming neutrally buoyant after a little time and bacterial growth, but I hadn't realised there was that much of a difference - I thought a strong water current would still take it down. Good to know if I ever end up using it myself! :thumbleft:

Barramundi

It's improving today Mel over 50% is churning around in there now but i think u are right i may have over filled it, also think my pump might be to strong on the lowest setting something i will need to work out before i put it into the aquaponics system

Backyard Aquaponics A place to discuss aquaponics

Gazza Goes Banana's Over Aquaponic's

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics