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tadpoles and media bed 001

New addition (experiment) to the seedling table.

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Comment by Green Acre Aquaponics on June 26, 2011 at 10:04am: But that is the point of getting the solids to the media bed. Currently, they have to be removed from the system as there is nothing in the settling tanks that will metabolize them any further, but by moving them to the media bed where there would be worms, we would get the benefit of additional metabolization. That is part of the reason we want to incorporate the media beds, aside from crop diversity, but to get the additional nutrients that right now are being removed in the form of solids and not benefitting the system after that point.

Comment by TCLynx on June 26, 2011 at 9:59am: I don't think macerating the solids is necessarily a good thing and I'm not sure how necessary it really is for the media beds to get the solids as long as they are being digested and the nutrients are available in the system. If it is convenient to get the solids there and to have worms in there it won't be bad though.

Comment by Green Acre Aquaponics on June 21, 2011 at 5:44pm: Actually, it won't be constant flood and it wasn't necessarily for a bio/solids-filter for my rafts. However being we are wanting to add the media bed, we know it would work better if it was fed right off the rearing tank or solids settling. However, because it is not logistically possible to do that, I am considering keeping the solid settling tank, submerging the Jabsco macerator pump in it and put it on a timer to feed the media bed, which is 50' away and has nearly a 4' head height. I was thinking the chewing up would just be a benefit.

Comment by Averan on June 21, 2011 at 5:37pm: I love the idea of chewing up solids and spitting them out into a worm-filled media bed. Some pumps are rated for larger particles than others...I'll have to take a look at that Jabsco you mentioned.

Comment by Averan on June 21, 2011 at 5:36pm: So you're building out a constant-flood media bed as a bio/solids-filter for your rafts? Are you going to retain the solid settling tank or bypass it?

Comment by Green Acre Aquaponics on June 21, 2011 at 5:33pm: Sorry TC, I didn't see your question until now. We added that in about 2 or 3 weeks ago. The problem is that it is our current seedling table and although it is system fed, it would no doubt be best off of the main tank so solids could get to it. But that would mean additional pumping. I am thinking about getting something like a Jabsco macerator pump that will pump particals while grinding them up in the process, to get solids up to the bed. What do you think?

Comment by Green Acre Aquaponics on June 21, 2011 at 5:29pm: Yes, lol, with media. We have over 1000sqft of raft but needed some media area for those things that just don't do too well in raft. Tomorrow, the media bed is getting expanded another 4 feet. Also within the next few weeks, when we add on more trough space and seedling area, the media bed will be expanded to 30' x 4'.

Comment by Averan on June 6, 2011 at 10:45am: be sure to add worms!

I think every DWC system would benefit from having a large media bed biofilter inline before the raft beds.