Swimming Pool System

[Pat James]

I have finally got around to start to work building my AP system. I bought two 55 gal barrels and eight 275 gal IBC totes a few weeks ago and then the weather got cold and wet- progress stalled. At least we have had a few days

The system I now plan to build is quite a bit different than the one I originally planned. That is due to the help and advice of some of the people here.. Thank you.

I will buy the piping itself at one of the big box stores, but I can save a bundle by buying the fittings online.

Today I will begin cutting the IBC's.

[Jim Fisk]

I use Sylvia's PH Down. Works well. I also used ammonia for cycling but that was well before adding fish so I can't advise you there.

[Pat James]

I bought a 50 lb bag of floating fish food my local feed dealer sells.  i have been throwing in a couple handfuls or so every afternoon to increase the biological load on my system.

It has been  amusing to watch the minnows that I put in the pool last November come up and and try to eat those pellets. Those little guys are not more than 2 inches long but they grab a pellet and try to drag it down. I have seen minnows I have not seen for months.  I have occasionally seen green or natural colored minnows snapping something off the surface. not sure if they were the first golden shiners I put in or some of the  fat-head minnows. But the  past few days, I have seen 'rosy reds" or the red color variety of fat-head minnows show up to feed. at least that tells me my FT is conducive to maintaining fish,...

I did another water test this afternoon and nothing has changed. My ph is high (almost off the scale). My ammonia is 0  despite the biological load and nitrate is also 0.

I am not sure if I want to try something radical to lower the ph before my fish order arrives in 2 weeks or leave it alone. I thought of using one of my 1/2 IBC totes I am using as a growbed as a ph adjusting tank. I thought of packing the tank with oak leaves and then seeing if this would lower the ph.

Anybody have comments/suggestions?

[Jim Fisk]

I bought a DO meter off ebay some months ago and have yet to get around to using it. Could be a handy device for you as well. The seller has a fish farm and says it works great.  Came with a bottle of (##Name escapes me) for setting it but I haven't seen that since the day it arrived. Probably under the truck seat or something. At least I know where the meter is

[Pat James]

Jim, just saw my reply to your questions did not get posted. I have been catching crayfish out of  a ditch near my home.

Yes my skimmers are still running. I turn them off when I feed. I have started feeding the FT a handful or so of regular fish food a day for the minnows and crayfish and to push the biological load a little. The pollen here is so bad everything is yellow...

[Jim Fisk]

Are you still running your pool skimmers? I would think with just a few mods like screens you have a ready system cleaner already in place. Pretty cool. Be careful with letting too much pollen build up as it could cause DO problems I would guess. It gets as thick as a blanket around here some Springs. What are you doing for supplemental fish aeration in there? if any. Got a good source for crayfish? or should I visit one of our many lakes? So many questions

[Pat James]

Yep You would be amazed at just how much trash is generated during a surgery case.Most of it is in the form of sealed paper or plastic packaging. But alot of it is plastic sheaths for various things. I grab up the caps from my tubing ends as well as some of the extra tubing. It is a polycarbonate of some sort.

I was out today and noticed how many of my fat-head minnows. were at the surface eating. Not sure what all they are consuming, but I know they are eating any bugs that hit the surface. We are having our tree bloom so everything is covered with pollen. Maybe they are eating some of that.All the minnows I see are the natural colored ones; none of the red variation.

My crayfish under the rafts are doing good as well. I see parts of some that got caught up in the filter system and were not rescued in time, but enough live ones to keep me thinking they may be the perfect scaveger for me. I'm thinking of going ahead and feeding the fish tank like it had  the planned population of catfish. i may need to catch some more scavengers to help eat the food. The majority of those crayfish will be consumed soon anyway.

[Jim Fisk]

OMG, you have turned your system into a "biohazard clean up site"

[Pat James]

Jim, I am doing a modified raft system. Mainly because I still have not found a decent price on gravel. I am keeping the 'raft' or platform at a fixed height and raise and lower the water level with the siphons to 'dunk' the roots. The beds have some little bit of media in them as i scrounge it up., Some have some bird netting. Some the leftover rock I had after filling my slotted pots. and most have some plastic hospital waste.  I am trying to keep that waste in mesh bags as i found out some of that plastic floats. And it clogged one drain.

I have been keeping syringe tubes, plastic caps from my heart-lung setup and even unused tubing that I cut up. My "biofilters" the barrels at the cistern have bags of that hospital crap, bird netting and some other filter media I had when I tried a vertical hydroponic thing in my greenhouse.

[Jim Fisk]

Hey Pat,

So now I am thoroughly confused. Are you doing raft beds or media beds? If you are doing raft beds then why would you be using siphons? Siphons are only used in media beds. Raft beds just need an overflow.

I am so confused and so am I

[Pat James]

Update. 3/16 I called the fish supplier and my order was received and I should get it April 5.  I  have 300 catfish and 1 pound of minnows coming.

Had a problem  this morning. ....One of my growbeds started flooding. The siphon did not kick in.  Another was sluggish. I found out the reason was not design, but rather choice of media. Both had some stuff that would float and that got  flushed into the drain to clog. Each one wa a different material but the result was the same.