Got my aquaponics project started

[hydro-one]

I think you might need more light. I always found that to be very critical.

Yeah its funny about the fish, Im just starting out only one of my ciclids lived, but what a personality they have!! Mabye my stoned self is falling into the trap of personalization, but it really seems like they know whats up

 

[Dee Jay]

I think you might need more light. I always found that to be very critical.

yep, light and dry weather, both of which just happened to appear in the last few weeks.

I forgot that sunlight would reposition down into the living room floor at this time of the year, so now the plants are getting early afternoon sunlight and they are loving it! So much that the shorter jalapenos are starting to set fruit, and the cayennes are ripening to a beautiful bright red!

Plus humidity dropped about 30 percent, and I'm loving it too.

the moringa has grown very tall so I attempted to transplant it into it's own expanded clay grow pot. I damaged some top branches in the process so lopped the whole thing in half. I've been watering it once a day but it aint looking good and may die off. We'll see..

without the moringa the grow bed isn't as efficient in drinking up nitrate so I may transplant the potted cayennes into it

temperature has dropped but I think the peppers will be fine inside the house up until maybe January when it start getting bitter cold.

The blue plastic cage wasn't working out, roots and clay pebbles had been getting in the bell siphon and the overflow system so I rebuilt it and will discard the blue cage altogether.

Yeah its funny about the fish, Im just starting out only one of my ciclids lived, but what a personality they have!! Mabye my stoned self is falling into the trap of personalization, but it really seems like they know whats up

visited the Tokyo Sea Life Park, on acid.

whoa…………

j/k!

in other news, I am totally lovin our new Nikon 5100. I'm only now starting to learn so many new features and relearning the old ones cos I'm adjusting everything manually on teh fly like the old days. Manual focus was something I've been missing since getting into auto focus and digicams. Now I'm enjoying capturing precious family moments again but with much more passion. I see no reason to go back to film. I know of some purists who will disagree but those are people who invested so much on chemicals, papers, projectors, etc. sorry :lol:

 

[amberwolf]

I may be able to start my own project soon. (relative to my version of "soon" :lol: )

We are remodelling the store I work at, and this was going to be tossed; it's our old "feeder fish" tank, which is split in three sections lengthwise, to hold small medium and large (relative to each other) goldfish that people buy for their aquatic turtles, cichlids, and such. It has a chiller to keep the water cold so the fish don't grow so fast, and also so algae isn't as big a problem, since it sat where some natural sunlight coudl reach it certaintimes of year, and lots of light from the store lighting overhead. No built-in lighting, but that's not needed for my purposes.


View attachment 5

I really wanted to get the plant tank instead, which is almost twice as large a capacity, and is not as deep but much wider, in two sections witha waterfall between them, sump below, but I couldn't manhandle that one even with a friend to help, so I opted for this one, which two people can *barely* do, one half at a time. Someone else is saving the plant tank, so at least it won't get destroyed and wasted. Maybe if they don't use it I can get that one, too, later. :lol:


Anyway, it is built by Mars Fishcare, and has a sump designed for the purpose, with a marineland commercial-size biowheel filter system, float and fill, etc.,
View attachment 4


and temperature control system.
View attachment 1




I don't think this one has a heater in it, just the cooler, but that might be a heat exchanger instead, able to go either way--we never used it except as a chiller, so I'll have to set it higher than ambient and see what happens, once I get it set up (eventually). Not sure on it's capacity, but am guessing at 120 gallon for the tank section, and 20 gallon for the sump.
View attachment 3




Hopefully we didnt damage any of the seals when moving it, but I don't have the strength or will to set it up and find out yet. I thought I was going to have a lot of trouble moving the tank, because this one pipe couldn't be removed (age has stuck it together harder than I can pull apart; they're not glued). I had planned to cut it with a hacksaw but forgot to bring it, so we ended up moving it on it's side and it was fine. (easier, actually).


It is possible to cut the silicone on the divider sections, and make it one large tank, or remove just one of them to make 1/3 and 2/3 sections, or even move one and make it 1/2 and 1/2 or whatever. Each section has a flow/equalization hole in it, so there won't ever be much of a difference in level/pressure between them. There's fill/aeration nozzles for each section, though they're not installed in the pics cuz I have them in a separate box I forgot to take a pic of, along with the other hoses and covers for it.


Theoretically if I can put it where sunlight can reach it but not overheat it, it should be able to be a complete aquaculture system, once I figure out what to put where and how. Since it has a chiller, even in summer heat here it can be kept cooler than ambient if necessary.

 

[AussieJester]

The last pic, right degree fitting with small section of pipe in it, lil TiP for y'all
if you want to remove that small section of pipe from the fitting, cut it flush with the fitting, smear PVC cement on the inside of the section of pipe, then light it with a match, let it burn for approximatly one to one and half minutes, then with long nose pliers you will be able to twist and remove the inner pipe..Trick i just learnt two weekends ago thanks to helpful friend at the hardware store, works a treat.

KiM

 

[amberwolf]

That should be useful later on (right now I don't need to remove anything, as I'd like to leave it all just as it is as long as I dind't break anything moving it).

 

[AussieJester]

That should be useful later on (right now I don't need to remove anything, as I'd like to leave it all just as it is as long as I dind't break anything moving it).

I should of added, this is for two pieces of pipe/fitting that are already glued/cemented together
not just pushed together, the heat softens the pvc cement allowing for removal

KiM

 

[amberwolf]

Ok, it took a month and a half, but I did finally get the plant tank, too. I did mention it's about twice the volume of the other tank, right? Definitely couldn't move it by bike, as I don't yet have a trailer big enough for it:



Inside the cabinet is the sump tank, which includes a particulate filtration system and biological filter (in the foam tubes). The actual pump, heater, etc., are all missing; I guess the guy that originally got this instead of me must've kept those bits. Doesnt' matter--I have the ones in the other tank, plus another big one that just needs a new run/start cap.

View attachment 1

This is them off the truck--the tank is not physically bolted to the cabinet, which is marine plywood, as is the base of the tank itself, so it is possible for one person (even me) to move them, when empty. Not very easy, but possible. Fortunate, since the friend helping me transport them couldn't help move them, or risk popping stitches.





Also, if I needed to, I could use them as dog bathtubs. Just to give you a sense of scale, here's Hachi the German Shepherd-St Bernard(right) and Fred the unknown (left), and then another pic with Nana the St Bernard instead:



(nana hpped in on her own to investigate; hachi and fred I had to point in the tank to get them to go in, and tell them to sit while i took the pic. if it had had water in it, nana would not have gone near it while hachi would ahve dove in on her own)

 

[amberwolf]

After two days of ohter drama moving stuff around
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22720&p=718084#p718084
I got the feeder tank (the normal-looking one) and it's stand with refrig unit into the house and setup. No pics yet, cuz too tired from the moving stuff.

The plant tank Nana is in will stay outside about where it is now, only on the stand itself which will be off the ground by bricks. it'll be shaded by the two trees one behind the shed that's big and one little one to the east of the shed. ought to keep it a lot cooler than if it was out in the sun, so fish and plants don't die in the summer. I hope. I will proabably have ot put heaters in the sump or tank to keep stuff warm for a couple months in winter, but msotly i don't think that will be a problem.