All Discussions Tagged 'filters' - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-29T13:52:12Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=filters&feed=yes&xn_auth=noAquaponic Product Knowledge Guides Issue 2 Plants and Filtrationtag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-11:4778851:Topic:3338182012-05-11T18:03:34.651ZPatrick McKeehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/PatrickMcKee
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<p>Aquaponic Product Knowledge is a continuing education series of guides that will help us on our journey towards a sustainable garden and farm. We all live on this beautiful and wondrous place we call earth. Our goal is to improve our lives through sustainable cultivation, understanding and education. We will explore how we can be good stewards of our planet while keeping our minds, bodies, animals and plants healthy.</p>
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<p>Aquaponic Product Knowledge is a continuing education series of guides that will help us on our journey towards a sustainable garden and farm. We all live on this beautiful and wondrous place we call earth. Our goal is to improve our lives through sustainable cultivation, understanding and education. We will explore how we can be good stewards of our planet while keeping our minds, bodies, animals and plants healthy.</p>
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<p align="center"><b>Remember for your healthy mind and body, you are what you eat!</b></p>
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<p> We will present most of our guides in easy to understand language, some issues will be geared towards the person just starting and some will be advanced that go into detail. We will learn as more information and technology becomes available and we will share it with you. We will listen to you, tell us what you want to know, we will do our best to cover topics and present them in future issues.</p>
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<p class="Default" align="center"><b>Plants and Filtration</b></p>
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<p class="Default"><b>Plants</b></p>
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<p>Plants require light and carbon dioxide supplied to the leaves for photosynthesis to occur. Roots bring in water, oxygen and nutrients. This provides the energy for the plant to grow flower and produce seed. We are going to concentrate on the roots. In an aquaponic system the fish waste is supplying the majority of the nutrients. The fish excrete ammonia; the ammonia is converted into fertilizer for the plants called ammonium nitrate or nitrogen. Nitrogen is the most important and most consumed nutrient the plants need to live and grow. The equivalent in our bodies would be carbohydrates, without them we will die. All of the surface areas including the roots of the plants start to support beneficial bacterial colonies that do the work of converting the ammonia into ammonium nitrate. You will see and feel a slime coating on the surfaces inside your aquaponic system called a biofilm, it is essential to keep the biofilm and the beneficial bacteria healthy. Fish also excrete solid waste or the technical name “poopy”. We need to filter the poopy out of the water or it will build up inside the tank and clog up the biofilm, the biofilm must have oxygen to live. Solids will also enter the hydroponic part of your system and may accumulate on plant roots and create anaerobic or no oxygen zones that prevent nutrient uptake. The challenge is to manage the waste within your system; the water must be filtered however we want part of the poopy to be able to mineralize. As solids are decomposed by microorganisms, nutrients such as magnesium, zinc and other nutrients essential to plant growth are released into the water, a process known as mineralization. Mineralization supplies several essential nutrients. Use high quality fish food that uses high quality ingredients; these ingredients break down more completely than crude low quality food.</p>
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<p><b>Filtration</b></p>
<p> The surface area in an aquaponic system is considerably larger than needed for the biofilm, so there is no need to add extra media such as bio balls. A common method of filtering the water in your aquaponic system is a filter box. The filter box has the pump inside the box and is inside a clarifier filter.<a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656364629?profile=original"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656364629?profile=original" width="720"/></a></p>
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<p>The clarifier filter traps solid waste so it can break down and mineralize providing micronutrients for the plants.<a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656364775?profile=original"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656364775?profile=original" width="720"/></a></p>
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<p><b>Protein Skimmer</b></p>
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<p>If the amount of fish you have in your system is high a protein skimmer should be added. Fine and dissolved solids cannot be easily or economically removed by traditional filtration. Foam fractionation also called protein skimming is successful in removing these solids. Foam fractionation is a process of introducing air bubbles at the bottom of a closed tube of water that creates foam at the top. As the bubbles rise through the water, solid particles attach to the bubbles surfaces, forming the foam at the top of the column. The foam build-up is then channeled out of the fractionation unit to a waste collection tank.</p>
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<p><b>Do it yourself</b></p>
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<p>You can make your own filter box! Use a shoebox size plastic tote (about $4.00). Make sure the size of the box is large enough to fit the pump and filter media. Drill 20 1/8” inch holes spaced out across the lid, cut or drill a hole for the out flow pipe usually ½ to ¾ inch and a small hole for the power cord. Purchase filter media from the pet store (about $8.00) and cut to the size of the box. Place the pump in first then 2 layers of filter media then snap on the lid. The pump size depends on your system, 250 to 800 GPH should be sufficient ($30.00 to $70.00</p>
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<p class="Default" align="center">Patrick McKee</p>
<p class="Default" align="center"><a href="mailto:GrowGreenAquaponics@gmail.com">GrowGreenAquaponics@gmail.com</a></p>
<p class="Default" align="center">Grow Green Aquaponics @ Facebook</p>
<p class="Default" align="center">407-844-3243</p>
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<p> </p> Fish, plants and filterstag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-08-31:4778851:Topic:2019372011-08-31T04:06:49.994ZLora Outcelthttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/LoraOutcelt
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font size="3">Ok, so I am starting a new small system. I am very excited about it! Right now, I am almost through fishless cycling (tonights test results ph - 7.6, ammonia - 0, nitrites - 5ppm, Nitrates - 5ppm). I have a few questions.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font size="3">First, what kind of fish should I consider? The tank is indoors, so no real temp fluctuations, but not big, only 33gallon. I would love to grow some food fish. Even if they…</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font size="3">Ok, so I am starting a new small system. I am very excited about it! Right now, I am almost through fishless cycling (tonights test results ph - 7.6, ammonia - 0, nitrites - 5ppm, Nitrates - 5ppm). I have a few questions.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font size="3">First, what kind of fish should I consider? The tank is indoors, so no real temp fluctuations, but not big, only 33gallon. I would love to grow some food fish. Even if they don’t get plate size, I would be willing to eat them a little small. There are three people in my family, and I would be happy growing only three fish (one for each of us for dinner one night). So, I want something that is good eating (mild white flesh preferably), but and here’s the big catch, Id be happy with talapia (love it!), but my husband is a historian who studies the impact of invasive species, and as talapia is considered an invasive species here in Colorado, he will not consider talapia. Which leads to yet another question, where do I get live edible fish in land locked Denver Colorado. I have tried several google searches and I can find plenty of fish stores, but they just have tropical fish, not edible fish, except catfish, and how do I know if that kind of catfish is edible? Aren’t some disgusting? I am considering just starting with goldfish or tropicals, so if the edibles are out for now, that’s ok, but hopefully someone will have a suggestion.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font size="3">Second, I have read in a couple of places that you may need to add extra nutrients for your plants. I would love a breakdown of typical nutrient deficiencies, symptoms and their safe treatments. Anyone know where I might find such information?</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font size="3">Lastly (for now), I know I am not using enough growbed space right now, (about 2cf), should I be running a carbon filter to help the plants keep up? I dont know if it makes a difference, but I am using continuous flow with auto siphons. The boxes take about 3-4 minutes to fill and about 1-2 to drain. </font></p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font size="3">I think that is it for me for now, I appreciate the time anyone takes to answer my questions.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font size="3">Thanks so much.</font></p> shrimp/crayfish/frieshwater crabs in the filter/setling "tank"?tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-07-04:4778851:Topic:1445392011-07-04T01:45:03.957Zchuckhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/clayhartwig
i hop the title says it. i never hear of any one talking about letting little criters do some of the leg work when it comes to keeping filters or screens from cloging. probably not get a "harvest" out of it but the buggers love muck. anyone try yet anyone fail?
i hop the title says it. i never hear of any one talking about letting little criters do some of the leg work when it comes to keeping filters or screens from cloging. probably not get a "harvest" out of it but the buggers love muck. anyone try yet anyone fail? The farmtag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-28:4778851:Topic:1208072011-05-28T13:12:37.850ZDavid Harthttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/DavidHart
<p> Well, it's time to get out of the 'backyard' and move to 'The Farm'. We found a defunct green house just out side of town. It hasn't been used since the hirricanes blew through central FL ( '03 ? ) It's 70 ft x 165 feet...</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656364118?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656364118?profile=original" width="640"></img></a></p>
<p> It will be a trough system. It will have swirl filters for solids seperation and 3 - 4 ft x 8 ft media beds as part of the filtering…</p>
<p> Well, it's time to get out of the 'backyard' and move to 'The Farm'. We found a defunct green house just out side of town. It hasn't been used since the hirricanes blew through central FL ( '03 ? ) It's 70 ft x 165 feet...</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656364118?profile=original"><img width="640" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656364118?profile=original" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p> It will be a trough system. It will have swirl filters for solids seperation and 3 - 4 ft x 8 ft media beds as part of the filtering system.</p>
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<p>As you can see, we have a lot of clean up to do. We are starting in one 1/4 of the green house. Once we have the fish tanks (IBC's) , the filters and the first of the rafts started ( so we can start the water cycling) ...we will build more troughs in the second 1/4 and tie them into the others.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656365675?profile=original"><img width="640" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656365675?profile=original" class="align-full"/></a></p>
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<p>Here, is the start of the media beds....lots of blocks to hold them up, more then enough. I'm more concerned with them settling.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656367662?profile=original"><img width="640" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656367662?profile=original" class="align-full"/></a></p>
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<p>The 2x4's are PT, so is the 3/4 ply. The sides will be made from corral boards. The ply and corral boards are being coated with the white rubber mobile home roof coating, for a little extra protection. The beds will be lined with20 mm dura-skrim.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656367925?profile=original"><img width="640" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2656367925?profile=original" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p>We will be covering the arch's with 50% alumi-net. The sides and ends will be screen.</p>
<p>Once the 1st half is done, we should have about 540 ft of troughs (4 feet wide) plus the 24 feet of media beds (also 4 feet wide)</p>
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<p>I'll post more, as we get stuff built and installed.....<a style="cursor: pointer;"><img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Smile.gif"/></a></p>
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