Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Goal to have the most productive plant growth.


Using The following:

2 x IBC (275 gal) Fish Tanks
Each Fish Tank feeds into a 55 gal Radial Filter
Both Radial Filters feeds into a 55 gal Bio Media Filter
Bio Media Filter feeds into an IBC (275 gal) Sump tank


Is this too much filtration for optimum plant growth ?

Is there such a thing (or concern) as too much filtration within an aquaponics system ?


Thanks in advance

Welcome to the forum .

You want the optimum, most productive filtration you need to add a MT tank, to get the most nutrients, Macro and Minors and Minerals that regular Bio filtration doesn't do.

Use a mechanical SS sieve filter to remove all the solids without the use of the RFF, or SUF, remove all the solids over 50-100 microns and put them into a MT.

A MT can be done anerobic or aerobic, I use to use both, started with anerobic but ended up aerobic, this gave us the best in nutrient breakdown.

The SS sieve filter is easy to make, less than 3 c/f sitting on top of the Bio-filter, the filtered water drops right into it. The solids are routed to the MT. No handling of the solids. No shutdowns to do this.

Photos please! Or, link to another thread with more detail? - greatly appreciated.

yes please send more info on the SS filter with possible methods to build

Thanks

TheBearF8, you should say more about the size of the system you're running as well as what kind of growing system (media beds, DWC...), volume of beds, and how many fish. You might not even need any extra filtration .

Yeah bud. Please share some pics. That will give us a proper idea. Welcome to the Forum. Both you and I

For scotty435

My plan is to have NFT, Dutch Buckets and Raft beds.
NO media beds, as Hydroton is too expensive, not available local,
and most local stone / rock has limestone in it.

The Net cups in the NFT and Dutch Buckets will have a little expanded clay pebbles. I have managed to get 2 x 50 lbs bags

Planning::
NFT: 3 x 4" PVC pipes with 10 3" net cups each
Dutch Buckets: 5 x 5 Gal square tubs
Raft beds: 4 x 1/2 275 gal IBC totes


Fish number and type (Koi, Goldfish, Talipia) I'm undecided on at this point

I'm just concerned that as I have NO media bed, which is typically where the bacteria live (or so I have read) That having a Radial Filter or Sieve Filter PLUS a Bio Media Filter would be TOO MUCH.

Thus taking out too much of the nutrients esp NitrAtes, which is what the plants need (I often get nitrAtes and nitrItes confused, so forgive me if I got it wrong again)

Perhaps you all can guide me

Thanks again

Without the media beds you'll need the solids filtration for certain. The bio-filtration you might be able to get by with what the DWC gives you.



For the DWC and the NFT you'll run into problems with suspended solids adhering to the roots and these will eventually smother them. The way to deal with this is to remove both the settleable and the suspended solids. Using an RFF followed by a Static Upflow Filter or a SS Sieve filter (The SS just stands for stainless steel) of some kind would be a common way to deal with this. The dissolved solids which include the ions pass through the filters and on to the plants. Sometimes removing the solids does remove too many nutrients and it's a good idea to reclaim the nutrients in the solids that you've captured so that they can be fed back into the system. That's what mineralizers are for and probably the easiest version of this is just an aerated tank with the solids where you periodically draw off some of the liquid (leaving the solids) and add it back into the system.

I think you might have enough bio-filtration on the walls of the DWC channels that you can do without additional biofiltration. I'm pretty sure Dasboot ran his DWC without using any additional biofilter but I could be wrong. Once the roots have developed you'll have lots of additional locations for bacteria to colonize and process ammonia.

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You've got a pretty small system, In your position I'd probably try something like this -
eliminate the RFF and just use two Static Upflow Filters. Just have one filter online at a time and the other filter acting as a mineralizer and switch back and forth. You'll have to play with the timing and see what's going on with the ammonia levels. Rely on the DWC beds for nitrification (basically no other bio-filter). If the DWCs aren't enough then add more bio-filtration in line on one end or the other of the DWCs (but after the Static Upflow Filters).

Hope this helps

Hey buddy, why don't you drop the acronyms. You're rubbing pretty thin mate. Not impressed

Those acronyms have had me confused too , I thought RFF was Reverse Flow Filter

On this forum YES, on the www NO, It's odd that the spiders haven't picked it up yet.

Yeah , no big deal , I'm old and patient , I remember a time before computers , and seat belts . Heck men wore belts and their pants pulled up . I'll figure this out .

If typing the full label for something is too much trouble shrtn da txt , thos ho no wll figr it ot , thse wh dnt no dnt matr , eh .

NO HARM INTENDED

You remind me of the 4 Aussie fathers I, met in a Pub in Sydney, when on R&R in Mar. 70. They talked the same way " shrtn da txt , thos ho no wll figr it ot , thse wh dnt no dnt matr , eh . "

But the more beer I drank that they refused me from buying my own, the easier it was for me to understand them. Drank till the time the pub closed, If I remember it was 10 or 11 PM. Then we moved to Kings Square for the rest of the night.

One of the reasons that I remember that Pub, is that the women and men were not allowed to drink together in the same room, they were separated by a wall, and the door to them was guarded by the Pub Master.

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