Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Howdy everyone. I was cleaning our 2600 (10,000 liter) system this morning and saw one of the Brook Trout swimming near the surface which looked like it has fungus all over it.
I almost netted it, instead I caught this one which also looks very sick.

red marks on the body and white dots in both eyes. I euthanized it quickly.
The Comets look fine from what I can see.
I salted the tank with all thew aquarium salt I had which came to 1lb 2.5 oz (525.5 grams.)
I believe there are now four two year old Brook trout in there. I will net them out today.

It's time to drain the FT and move the Comets out and quarantine them.
I hoped I could avoid this.
I'm open to how far I need to go to clean whatever this is out of the system.
It seems to me like whatever is in the water is in the MBs, MBBR and well everywhere.
Also I need to postpone buying fingerlings, until I fully sort this out.
Please ID this for me, help!

I have no idea what this is Brian but I think what I would do is hook up a UV sterilizer to recirculate the pond water so that any infectious organisms are kept at fairly low levels. Probably won't cure the fish but might help prevent transmission of some types of infections. I'm not sure how much water is flowing through your system but putting the UV on the return from the filters so that the water comes back after all the filtration and UV treatment would be a good way to do this especially if the filters are the source of infection. If the flow would make this too expensive then hooking it up so that it just continually recirculates the fish tank water might be enough.

Great this sounds very wise, of course you always are

Now all I need to do is buy one
We got a surprise check from our phone CoOp. I wonder if it will cover one. The flow from the SLO is low again even with the air lift all the way up. I need to pull the SLO and clean it and the wedge shape bottom of the FT where it sits. Once I get it working properly I check the flow from the MBBF and get a UV sterilizer according to that data.

I have a UV steriliser inline with my tank water circulation pump. Water is always flowing through it (~4000 lph), but it only gets turned on occasionally. Look for a unit with stainless steel tube- supposedly you get better UV action from a given wattage tube due to the reflective SS, rather than the black plastic in the cheaper ones. I think mine has about a 40W UV tube in it, and that's probably about the size you'd want, as your system has a similar water volume to mine, although mine has rather more fish in it ATM, ~430 rainbow trout.

You need to make sure water is flowing through it all the time that it is turned on, otherwise the tube can overheat.

Thanks Gunagulla! What would you think about a lamp that sat exposed in the sump? Although now I can not seem to find one, I seem to recall seeing one.

I found a stainless steel housing UV sterilizer.

I still need to find out the availability and price of replacement bulbs for this one.
It says in the blurb it clumps the dead algae and sends it to the filter. This is contrary to what we want correct?
In my setup I have water coming from two places, which I need to fix by cleaning the tank bottom.
In the meantime I thought I could put this sterilizer after the submersed pump as the max flow rate though the UV unit can be 5,000 GPH. I am learning more and more about these things, which I barely have time for with two other major projects occurring simultaneously. Ain't retirement grand?
That being said, does anyone have a diagram of how they plumbed the UV sterilizer for AP with a bio-filter RFF and pump in sump system?
I worry about sending clumps of dead algae though my already choked with roots and fish waste media beds.

For an aquarium it shows it like this. Aquariums don't have MBs though.

The cleaner water the higher the kill rate so the line that goes back to the FT. Personally I don't trust the Max flow rate figure and would split the water before it returns to the FT to reduce the flow rate through the UV. Yes its going to take longer to treat all the water but I would leave it on 24/7 until you sort out the fish.

I'm not quite awake yet so please bear with me. The 2600 gallon system flow is as such: SLO to RFF to MBBR to sump.
I'll look as soon as it is a little lighter out. I believe the SLO is working better and less fish tank water is overflowing though the skimmer with its 7" sock filter.
If the flow is going through the filters the way it is supposed to, I have room to tweak the flow up or down.
If it is working better today I can measure the flow and perhaps buy a less expensive UV sterilizer. Thank you, I'll add the UV sterilizer after the MBBR as long as the UV sterilizer doesn't restrict the gravity flow though my filters.
First I need to get the flow back to where I can adjust it it.
I hope that once I get the flows corrected I can clean the sump again, I did it a few days ago too, I can keep it clean. Currently the sock filters off the skimmers plugs up once a day and it overflowed food since I didn't react quickly enough to the stress I was putting the fish under with filthy water.
It seems clear to me now that the trout couldn't handle the dirty water like the Comets can.
Unless anyone disagrees with this prognosis I'll put off the UV sterilizer and focus on cleaning up this dirty tank.

Cleaning up the water should help . If that doesn't do the trick then go with the UV filter.



+1

Bacteria and fungi (as well as other organisms) that are attached to particles don't get the same exposure as ones that aren't.

I didn't go the route of the stainless steel units because of the expense. If the particulates in the water are well filtered it shouldn't make much difference. I'm using one of these and it works fine - https://www.amazon.com/Jebao-Aquarium-Fish-Light-Sterilizer/dp/B00CQRFGT0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1498410125&sr=8-5&keywords=uv+clarifier. I only turn it on occasionally, usually for about a week at a time.

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Killing and clumping the dead algae is OK - Killing them all at once like this could cause an ammonia spike so you probably want them out. It does represent some of your nutrients though so you may want to reclaim those (dump them out in the garden or compost heap or whatever).

I concur. That UV clarifier is very similar to the one i bought for the Koi pond. Thank you all