Basement System setup - 55 gallon aquarium

[Cooper Breeden]

I'm working on setting up a small system - my first system - in my English basement. So far all I have is a 55 gallon aquarium. I'm getting excited about getting it up and running so I'm making it a goal to have all the supplies and get it set up within a month. However, before I make any of my next purchases, I have some questions. First I'll give you some specs:

I'm setting it up in a little nook 56" wide; ceilings are 81" high

aquarium size: 48.5" x 13" x 21"h

The aquarium will sit on a desk: 46" x 20" x 30"h

 

My initial plan was to set the grow bed directly on the aquarium or make a stand for it so that it would hover directly above it. Now for my questions:

1) Grow bed size: Does 8 or 9 cubic ft make sense?

2) Grow bed container: there are luckily a couple hydroponic stores near me here in DC, but the grow beds they sell seem pretty expensive for what they are - $50-$80 for 2x2 to 2x4 sizes. Are there cheaper options? I checked Home Depot today and I wasn't able to find any containers that looked like they could be transformed into grow beds.

3) Since I'm making this in my living room, I'm trying to make it somewhat pretty, so I thought about making a custom grow bed out of plexiglass and nontoxic sealant. Has anyone tried this? Is it feasible or ridiculous? I'm tempted to just scrap the idea because I really don't want to have to deal with the mess that would result from a construction that couldn't take the pressure.

4) Plumbing: I was originally planning on making a bell siphon, mostly because that was the only method I knew about, but I've since learned about others: looped auto-siphon, flush, and a combo of a timing and draining straight out of the bottom. The looped siphon seems the most appealing now. Any reason to use one method over another? I happened to see Sylvia's article in Urban Garden today (http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2010/11/aquaponics-explained-%E2%80%...) and was wondering if there was a reason she didn't mention the looped siphon.

5) Pump: what size do I need? The smallest one I saw at the hydroponic store here is 40 gal/hr (http://www.capcityhydro.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_i...), but I'm curious if this could handle the effluent from the aquarium or if it's strictly for hydo use.

 

All input and criticism welcomed and appreciated! Thanks!

Cooper

 

[Cooper Breeden]

Looks like it'll be between 2 and 2.5 feet.

[TCLynx]

will you be running constant pumping or timed pumping?

I think that pump will be great if running constantly but if you are planning on only pumping for 15 minutes each hour then you might be cutting it really close.

Upsize the plumbing from the pump up to the grow beds can help a bit on efficiency.  I've managed to get better efficiency from some small pumps with 1/2" plumbing fittings by adapting up to larger plumbing like say 1" then dropping back down to 1/2" at the grow beds so you don't have to spend as much on ball valves.  Always add a T after the Pump with an extra ball valve so you can divert excess flow back into the fish tank so as not to throttle the pump back needlessly and to provide extra aeration into the fish tank and thereby gain from any excess flow.

[Cooper Breeden]

I was planning on constant plumbing. Thanks so much for all the input. Hopefully I'll be able to repay the favor some day.

[TCLynx]

Just pay it forward and share what you learn.  And more importantly, if you mess up, share that too so others can learn from your mistakes.

[Cooper Breeden]

I'm planning on extending the two 1/2" drain pipes into the bottom of the tank. Will these two bell siphon drain pipes in addition to the bypass line from the pump provide sufficient oxygen or will I need to get some airstones?

 

I'm so close to getting this thing started, but I'm restraining myself until early September because I'm heading to the backwoods of Maine from Aug 25-Sept 5 and won't be around to monitor. I really want to start the cycling process now so that I'll be ready to add the fish immediately when I return, but that's against my better judgement. It's probably not a good idea to be away from the system in its infancy.

 

[TCLynx]

If you are going to fishless cycle, being away means you will miss getting to monitor the progress but If you were to dose your system to say 4 ppm of ammonia before you leave then when you get back you should be ready for another dose and it will probably have sped the process some having already had a first dose to start it up even though things may die back a bit while you are away.

 

Only real danger is if some sort of leak or overflow or something happens while you are away you might burn up a pump so that would be about the only risk I see to letting it fishless cycle unattended.

 

Do you need more air, Hard to know, having an air stone and air pump for the system can be handy in case something goes wrong with the water pump, you will at least have some aeration going to support your fish until you can fix the water pump problem so I often see the extra aeration as a "backup" of sorts.

[Cooper Breeden]

Assuming the hardware store by my house has pure ammonia, I'm going to start the cycling this evening.

 

This may be a silly question, but how do I measure ppm? From a basic google search, it looks like I need a tool to measure this. What is the best tool for this? Also, what is the best method for measuring other levels throughout the cycling process as well as throughout the life of the system?

[TCLynx]

You test the levels of ammonia and nitrite and nitrate as well as pH using a freshwater aquarium master test kit or something similar

Water testing videos

 

Maybe you want to know where to get one of these test kits, well the shop tab at the top will take you to Sylvia's site where you can buy the whole test kit.  You can also go to most any aquarium or pet shop and get just the ammonia test part of the kit if you are in a real hurry and find the clear ammonia at ace hardware today.

 

Now perhaps what you are really asking is how much ammonia you should add to get to a particular ppm of ammonia.  That is harder for me to answer but perhaps Sylvia's blog post can help shed some light on it.

http://theaquaponicsource.com/2011/05/02/aquaponics-cycling-and-the...

[Cooper Breeden]

I was asking all of those questions! Thanks for being thorough in answering my ambiguous questions. One of my local ACE stores did not have 100% ammonia, but the other one claims to have it - we shall see this evening. I kind of figured there was some sort of master test kit sort of product that would take care of my needs - I expect the hydroponics store by my house will have this. If not, I'll order it from Sylvia's site.

 

Thanks for the info!

[TCLynx]

The aquarium master test kits are normally found in pet stores and aquarium shops but I'm not sure if you are likely to find them in a Hydroponics store.

 

I'll warn you against some of the common hydroponic test devices.  The ppm meters or EC meters used for Hydroponics are normally worse than useless for Aquaponics since they measure the conductivity of the salts in the water of chemical hydroponic nutrients to estimate the strength of the nutrients.  Since Aquaponics isn't using mineral salts to feed the plants, those meters won't tell you much of anything really.  (Well I have used one as a poor way to estimate salt levels when I had to salt my system because of a fish illness once but there are other better ways of doing it.)

[Cooper Breeden]

Well, that's very good to know. I'll order one or check out a petstore then.

[Cooper Breeden]

I've scoured the town looking for pure ammonia and could only find Ammonia with 10% Ammonia Hydroxide (http://www.amazon.com/Ace-Ammonia-10%25-Hydroxide/dp/B000GF49VA/ref...). I should have just ordered the Ammonia when I ordered the kit. Will this Ammonia work?