Todd's system is finally getting started

[toddalbinson]

Well i'm new to the site and to aquaponics. Dug a hole in the ground and got a liner and a pump and built a manifold for all the differnt water needs. I will post pics and ideas as this advances. Any comments and suggestions are greatly appriciated. Next step is swirl filter and bioball filter. Got one goldfish now as a test. Ph is 7 and he is still alive after 3 days. His name is nemo ofcourse.2012-02-04_14-58-11_912.jpgIMG_20120817_094900.jpgIMG_20120817_094815.jpgIMG_20120817_094833.jpg

[Earthan Group]

Looking good mate. Thank goodness for sandy soil, that hole is massive!

[GaryD]

Hi Todd,

Welcome to APHQ

Gary

[toddalbinson]

About to get some bio balls for a filter I'm makeing in a 50 gal drum. I've got about 2000 gal of water and plan on starting with about 25 tilapia. After reasearching I was thinking about 2000 bio balls. Am I way off track here?

[toddalbinson]

Yes that is one of my workers. I told him a little hole and he dug me a big one! It is easy to dig here.

[GaryD]

Hi Todd,

About to get some bio balls for a filter I'm makeing in a 50 gal drum. I've got about 2000 gal of water and plan on starting with about 25 tilapia. After reasearching I was thinking about 2000 bio balls. Am I way off track here?

I'd advise you to look into Kaldnes K1. It's a very good bio-media, with quantifiable nitrification capacity and it may be cheaper than bio-balls.

Just a thought.


Gary

[toddalbinson]

Thanks gary. will look into it. Gonna use a 50 gal barrel. How much k1 you think I need for a 2000 gal system. Sorry not up on my ltrs. I'm a yank
Got my swirl on
IMG_20120827_103756.jpg

[toddalbinson]

Here is a vid of my system cycleing. Water is super clean and ph is great. Made my bio filter with poly ac filter material cut up into small pieces under the white light grids. I think my system is cycleing too fast. What is an ideal turn over time for ebb and flow system? is it ok to put system on a timer or should it run continuosly? Feel like I'm wasteing also of electricity. I think I over did the pump Any feed back or questions would be awsome

[toddalbinson]

Hey guys. just came out of hibernation. Wife and I had a baby girl so Aquaponics system was put on hold and just been cycling. Got some lettuce and kale and strawberries going and about to put some tomatoes in. I have a question that I'm sure has been asked and debated several times but will ask it anyway. Right now my grow beds are on a bell siphon system. well its hard for me to get the water flow right and I always seem to be tinkering with them. also to get them to work right takes a big pump that eats alot of electric. So I would like to convert to flood drain so i can use smaller pumps and not have to worry about the bells working right. What are the flood drain times. I think I remember 15min on and 45 off. Not sure if my timer will do that. will 30min on and 30 min off work? too much water? Got my bio filter on its own pump so filtration not an issue. Thanks in advance.

[ande]

Hi Todda
Congrats with the baby.
"Normaly" there is a rule of thumb saying the fishtank water should be turned over 0,5-2 times in a houer all deepending on ft volum, fishdensiety (feeding regime) and season tempC/F.
Type of filtration would be a factor as well, some need dvell time, others are depended on a spesific flow to function propperly.
So no exact rule on the matter sorry.
I have never run a interval flow system, only constant flow here.
Some guidance here
http://www.aquaponicshq.com/forums/f...flow-rate.html
http://www.aquaponicshq.com/forums/f...-interval.html

cheers