First System need a few questions answered!

[sirshaver]

Hello,
My name is Shaver Williams, and am living in the north Houston Texas area.

I am in the process of building my first system wich includes a 100 gal fish tank and two 50 gal grow beds. Is there a standard for how long between flooding the grow beds and the draining time? Also is there a procedure for conditioning the water before adding fish.
The weather is begging to become more bearable, but is there a way to easily control the water temperature both during hot months and cold?

Thank you for any info.

[POC3442]

What are you planning on using for a fish tank as well as grow beds? Down there it should be hot enough you could have it outside year around. Tilapia are great fish to have because they grow so fast. That being said have a loot around at others systems to get an idea of what you want to do. With such a small tank you might just be best off doing a continuous flow...that way you have a constant level of water in your fish tank as well as the grow beds. As for how long to let it run...well that's trial and error...do you have air stones in your fish tank?

[GaryD]

Hi Shaver,


Is there a standard for how long between flooding the grow beds and the draining time?
People who use timers to control water flow often settle on a 15 minutes ON/45 minutes OFF regime quiet suitable. This regime is largely driven by the availability of timers which allow adjustments in 15 minute increments.

If you are planning to use autosyphons to control water movement, then the regime will depend on how quickly your beds fill (and that will be driven by the amount of water that the autosyphon will require to function consistently). When they work, autosyphons empty beds quite quickly.

The bottom line is that there are no precise rules.....so long as you have an adequate turnover of water through your system. In a modestly stocked system, you should be counting on pumping at least the equivalent of your fish tank volume every hour. I'd actually prefer it if you were pumping not less than your total system volume of 200 gallons per hour.


Also is there a procedure for conditioning the water before adding fish.
Yes.....we refer to it as cycling. Basically, cycling is the process that ensures that you have adequate numbers of nitrifying bacteria in your system to cope with the ammonia that is produced by your fish and generated by uneaten food.

There are two ways you can do it.......using fish or not using fish. Personally, I prefer fishless cycling because it is faster, more decisive, it doesn't require water to be wasted (through having to change it out when ammonia levels get too high) and it doesn't put fish at risk.

I described how to do fishless cycling in a previous post......here (http://www.aquaponicshq.com/forums/showthread.php/3136-Help-to-start-up-of-system?p=23518&viewfull=1#post23518).


The weather is begging to become more bearable, but is there a way to easily control the water temperature both during hot months and cold?
There are lots of strategies that are used and it depends on whether your fish species are cold water ones like trout......or warm water species like tilapia. Which are you planning to grow? Would I be right in assuming that you have more hot weather in Texas than cold?

Feel free to provide more information and to ask more questions.

Gary