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Comment by Dave & Yvonne Story on February 10, 2012 at 12:19pm

Holly,

snails and etc

You may have noticed some people (trying to be helpful) give-out misinformation on here. I would check with the local store where you get your duckweed. Kindly, let me know what you find-out from a reliable source. Sounds like a great idea, but

Comment by Dave & Yvonne Story on February 10, 2012 at 12:16pm

Holly,

Great questions.

Duckweed can be purchased at a local fish/aquarium store. You might want to call around first

Comment by Holly Curtis on February 10, 2012 at 11:40am

Sucker Fish & Snails.  Can I put these in with my Tilapia to help keep the tank clean?  Will it work?  Do they tolerate similar water conditions?  Will they suck on the Tilapia themselves?

Comment by Holly Curtis on February 10, 2012 at 11:39am

Duck Weed.  Can you give me some tips on how to get my hands on some duck weed?  Can I get a start from one of you or is there somewhere locally I can buy or harvest some?

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on February 9, 2012 at 8:47pm

Not a bad idea, John! I have one of those for my computer, and another that just sitting around because it needs a new battery. Something to think about...

Comment by John Malone on February 9, 2012 at 3:43pm

I've been looking at using an UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) as backup power for my system.   They are readily available from Craigs List and the like and should power a bubbler for a LONG time if the power goes out.   All the 'smarts' for detecting power outages and swapping over to battery power is included. 

It should be a great way to guarantee keeping the fish alive while you work out what went wrong with the power.

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on February 9, 2012 at 2:12pm

No, not at all. If a pump should fail on you, then you lose your water circulation and aeration from that flow. Bubblers insure that you'll continue to give oxygen to your fish. Without power, everything fails. 

I want to get our greenhouse on solar so it isn't dependent on the grid power supply. I can live without power a lot easier & longer than my fish! We've been looking at plans for making our own panels. Maybe this summer...or next spring...

Comment by David Schwinghamer on February 9, 2012 at 1:55pm

Sheri,

Are you saying the bubblers work if the power quits? Ive been trying to figure a way to give air without electricity.

Comment by David Schwinghamer on February 9, 2012 at 9:37am

John,

Rhiba Farms has long troughs of floating rafts and they use air blowers so yes you would need some sort of air stone or multiples.

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on February 9, 2012 at 9:35am

Good question! We use bubblers, and all of our rafted tanks have some of the surface exposed. It's not scientific at all, but it works. We use bubblers in all our tanks simply because it can't hurt, and when they get very populated with fish, it's beneficial. It's also a backup should a pump fail.

That's another thing to think about in your design--backup plans. If you have to pull all the media out of a growbed, do you have backup for bacterial growth? What if a pump fails? What if power goes out for a few hours or a day? You don't have to have all the answers up front; just consider it.

For us, we have 55 gals of prepared water on hand at any given time and we have multiple tanks and grow beds, in part to have redundancy for both bacteria and fish environments. For power, we have a generator we can use if power goes out because we're on the grid. Eventually we'll have solar. Some people might think all this is overkill, but it helps us to sleep at night. :) 

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