Friday's AP system

[Frydaze1]

Update:

I got the whole system home with no serious mishaps. There were actually only about 15 fish, and they *all* survived the trip and seem to be happy in their new home.
I'm still working on getting everything else up and running. The growbed was originally set up for raft, and I want flood & drain, so I'm planning on converting it. Also, the original system had no sump, and I'm adding that in, which is requiring some plumbing work... which I'm having trouble testing right now since it won't stop raining outside.
I've purchased a bigger, better, badder greenhouse which I absolutely love. So the fish are safely "indoors" and the temperature in there has stayed nice despite the weather.

So here's the status...

Done:

• Fish tank set up with aerator running and fish swimming.
• Rainbarrels purchased for sump tank, with connecting pipe for leveling installed but not pressure tested.
• Growbed lifted to height sufficient to fit rainbarrels underneath, but it's a temporary raise - I want more stable legs under it.
• Some seeds planted and sprouting.

In progress:

• As soon as weather clears, I'll pressure test the rainbarrel pipe. Fingers crossed that it won't leak.
• I have decided how to put better legs under the growbed, I just need to get to the home center and buy stuff. Again, I don't want to play out in the rain and cold.
• I've found a local Tilapia supplier who sells for $0.25/ea and will let me buy only 50 at a time. So I've booked for Sunday noon to get some more fish. I know, I don't have plants yet. But it's a 340 gallon tank with 15 itty bitty fish in it, so I don't think it's going to be overcrowded or overbalanced by this addition.

Still to do:

• Make some kind of cover for directly over the fishtank. The overflow pipe was installed a bit too close to the top for my liking, and once I fill the water that high it'll be only about 4 inches from the top of the tank. I think the fish and I will all be happier if there's a slatted cover.
• Figure out what kind of siphon I want to use. The GB already has a really big stand pipe through the base. I might convert that to a bell siphon. Or I might cut it down low and do an external U-siphon. Or I might put an elbow on it for an internal U-siphon. Or drill a drain hole near the base of the pipe and do a quick-fill/slow-drain timer-based system. I really don't know, and I need to decide PDQ.
• Trim down and attach the overflow pipe in the fishtank. I can have it directly overflow from the top, but it would be best if I let it pull from the bottom.
• Buy some 4x4's and brackets and put good, solid legs on the growbed. It's on double-stacked cinderblocks right now, but I'm in earthquake country so that's just not a good long term solution.
• Purchase about 10 bags of hydroton. I've tested all the 3/4" gravel available to me here, and it all raises my already too high pH even further. I just can't be fighting pH all the time - I'd rather pay to reduce the problem up front.
• Cut down and plumb 4 55-gallon barrels (already purchased) for additional GB's. No major rush on this, but my current ratio of FT to GB is 3:1 and as the fish get bigger that's going to be an issue. Adding those 4 half-barrels should bring it to 1:1. And my new greenhouse is big enough to hold it all. Yay!

Every evening after work, I go out to the greenhouse and give the fish their daily feeding. I swear, it makes me smile just to be out there watching them snatch the food from the surface. I'll probably take a book out there after dinner and just sit in the greenhouse for a while. What a peaceful place.


Attached are some pics of various recent stages...

[GaryD]

Hi Friday,

You're in the big time now. I can't count the number of times we've seen someone like yourself who has cranked up a small system and then the bug has hit......and off they go to put a larger system together.

That greenhouse is looking good, too.

Great stuff!

Gary

[Frydaze1]

:-D Yes, the addiction has completely taken hold. LOL Thank you for the encouragement!

Everything is definitely taking longer than I expected, but then I guess that's one of the things I should expect. I have an overly full calendar already and neither the tools nor the physical strength to do some of the things myself. Nor the know-how to completely plan things out. Some a lot of stuff is being done, and adjusted, on the fly instead of being completely planned in advance the way I'd prefer.

Last weekend the water tested too high in nitrites, and my growbed was clearly not going to be finished in the next day or two, so I purchased a 300 gph aquarium filter and hooked that up. Hopefully that'll keep the tilapia healthy enough until I finish everything. I've also cut down on food, though that's hard to do since they swarm to the surface when I'm there and gobble up the pellets when I feed.

This weekend I (with the help of a coworker/friend and her circular saw) finally got the legs onto the growbed. It required a lot more cross-bracing than I'd expected during my initial planning, and I wasn't going to skimp on that once I realized how wobbly it was, but that's taken care of and it feels very sturdy now. (I'll post pics later this week.) The bed is nearly perfectly level. It actually slants just slightly away from the incoming water and toward the drain.

I've once again pulled the fixtures out of the rain barrels and tried yet another method of silicone and attaching them. I'm giving them 48 hours to cure per manufacturer's directions, and then I'll pressure test again... except I just realized while typing this that it rained last night, and I left the barrels outside because it NEVER rains here! Oops. Sigh...

I've already purchased the hydroton, and it's waiting next to the greenhouse. On the bright side, the rain probably washed away some of the clay dust from them.

If the rain barrels pass the pressure test, I just need to decide what type of drain system I want to use, make/install it, and finish plumbing the overflow out of the tank into the growbed (I've already got the pipe from the bottom of the FT to the overflow hole). Everything else is done... I think... until I realize something else I've missed.

So the final decision to be made... what kind of drainage will I do? The GB has a huge hole already in it, with gaskets and stand pipe. But I don't need a drain hole that big. (Off the top of my head I think it's 3" diameter.)

• I could drill a small hole near the bottom of the stand pipe and use a timer for quick fill and slow drain.
• I could build a bell siphon, but with an outlet that large I don't even know what the specs would be for all the parts. I could figure it out, or maybe ask around. But bell siphons just seem so finicky to me.
• I could do an internal or external U-siphon. I'd still need a reducer, I think. And it has to be on the downflow of the pipe or it won't work. But I think that's probably the most fool proof.
• I could use a tube for a loop-siphon. Those also seem a little finicky and harder to keep clean. And I'd still need to reduce a ton before the tubing.

If anyone wants to offer their opinions on the various drain options, I'd REALLY love to hear them!
TIA

[Frydaze1]

DONE DONE DONE!!!

Well, okay, I need (want) to make a few tweaks.

Oh! And I think I have a small rip in the pond liner which is (of course) already buried in 500 pounds of hydroton. Can pond liner be patched? TIA!


Okay, here are all the details:
http://fridaysaquaponics.blogspot.com/

YAY!!!

[Frydaze1]

Update on the system

Positive:
New liner installed, all leaks resolved, tweaks made for complete flood and drain cycles, plants planted, new seeds started, the green side of this is beautiful.

Negative:
I think I just killed all the fish. I suspect it's a combination of the new growbed starting a new Nitrite cycle, and the newly constant running of the system causing the water to be cooler than when it had just been sitting in the FT with the (woefully undersized, evidently) heater... and inevitably the weather turned to hell and got unseasonably cold on me right after I got it all running.

Solutions:
1) Fountain light ordered. I can't see into the blasted FT, so it's hard to tell what's going on. I think the fish are dead because nobody's eating any more, but I can't see to tell or even to net them out of there.
2) Larger heater (and thermostat) ordered. Those should arrive by this weekend. They're big enough for twice my current water volume, so that should allow for my planned expansion.
3) I have very definitely NOT bought more fish yet. I'll get everything hooked up and test the water again and make sure everything is stable. Then I'll go get some more fish. I'm a bit upset that I've killed these. They were doing so well.


Here's the lettuce, looking happy at least:
http://www.aquaponicshq.com/forums/a...achmentid=1867

[GaryD]

Hi Fridaze,

Stop feeding until you can confirm that the fish are dead or alive.

Get the water moving through your system quicker......and change water if you need to.......so that you can determine what's happening as quickly as possible - so that you can net any fish that are dead......and save any that are still alive.

Gary

[Frydaze1]

I've stopped feeding.

I've got my 370 GPH pump running at full bore 15 minutes out of every hour. I've got about 400 gallons total between FT and sump. Maybe that's insufficient? After all, I'm not running all the water through every hour. But then, I was filtering a lot less for the first few months until I got everything situated.

Yes, I think you're right about the water change. Unfortunately I leave home just after dawn and get home just before dark. I hope anyone who's left can survive until Saturday. I don't see any way to deal with it before then.

If I increase the flow time, the GB won't have time to drain... but then it's mostly lettuce right now. That could probably survive more flooding. Or I could flood longer before draining. Perhaps I should go to 45 on 45 off until Saturday? That would still allow for a complete drain every 1.5 hours. Or should I go even longer? It's only a few days - the lettuce could probably survive it.

I appreciate the input.

[GaryD]

Since this is something of an emergency, I'd suggest that you suspend the flood and drain stuff and just let your system flow continuously. If it turns out that this doesn't suit your lettuce you can simply replant more. The important thing, at this stage, is to get the system right for fish.

If you can get more air into the system that would be helpful, too.

[Frydaze1]

Okay. I've got an airstone already. The water flows from the sump into the FT without providing much aeration IMO... something else I'll need to work on at some point. Meanwhile I just got home and came straight here to read your answer... so now I'll go out and put it on continuous flow. Thanks!

[Frydaze1]

All is (was) not lost!

Saturday I drained a large percentage of the water, only to discover that there were some big fish doing just fine down there. I seem to have only killed the little fish. Because of that (though please correct me if I'm mistaken) I suspect that my biggest problem was water temperature. All the water tests were fine, but the temp was down around 57F.

I had purchased a bucket heater and a temperature control, but cannot hook them together without a more skilled electrician than I (I'm waiting for a call back from one). But meanwhile I plugged the heater into the timer that is running the pump. So it's 15 on, 45 off. As of this morning the temp is up to about 62F. But we had a warm weekend, and now it's cooling again. So I suspect it's going to continue to rise very, very slowly. But that's all I can do right now safely. I don't want to run it full bore while I'm off at work for 11 hours. I'm afraid I'd come back to boiled fish. My goal temp is probably around 70F. Opinions? But we're headed back into the punishing heat that Southern California is known for, so I suspect I'll only need to run the heater for another month or two and then unplug it until September or October. As long as I keep an eye on it, this 15 on / 45 off cycle should hold me until then if I can't get a competent person lined up.

But meanwhile...
I have fish! (I'm so relieved)

Thanks again for your help.