Aquaponics - New Life

I was getting the 25cent tour of the setup here at the space from @Tookys and we noticed two new tilapia in the sump tank each about 3" long. They seem healthy with the limited fresh food they must be getting. They are difficult to catch but will probably be transfered to the main tank at some point.


I’ll be helping to maintain the system and hope to also expand on it’s capabilities. There are a couple of potted bananas I brought in that I’ll be setting up in hydroton in addition to another LED grow light.

We presently have an issue with suspended solids. And the grow bed is loaded to the brim with these solids. I’ll be cleaning the bed in sections so as to keep the job manageable and not shock the system and stress the fish. James was talking about adding a swirl filter (or conical bottom settling tank) in another discussion and I have some ideas for making one using a 55 gallon plastic barrel. This will take up a little more floor space but not much. Primarily we want things to fail safe. If power is cut the water drains back into the sump. If something clogs and overflows a water sensor will cut power to the pump(s).

Others have also talked about painting the exterior to make the project a little more ascetically pleasing. Perhaps Asmbly Blue…

Anyway, I’m going to try and avoid killing any fish or spilling very much water. If there are any aquaponic related emergencies you can message me directly. I’m 30 minutes away and have a very flexible schedule.

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The fish have been moved to an IBC and the main tank is on a pallet jack ready for the new floor.

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Emergency! It flooded. Need someone to come.

@beirdo is on the way. Boodle I’m going to try calling you at your number on file.

We really need an “in case of emergency” number posted somewhere. If such exists, Michael and I didn’t see it.






These are photos of the damage and what we did. We got as much water as we could off the floor, and we removed flooring since it’s got wet.

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Thank you both for helping out with this and cleaning up!!

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Yes, seriously. Thank you so much @mark999 and @iisword!!! And thank you @beirdo for calling back right away and heading over there as quick as you could.

Agreed on needing some sort of “in case of emergencies” sort of contact somewhere. I’m personally not comfortable posting my number like that, but I’m generally very quick to see emails and such. Happened to see this one within a minute or two of the post.

It looks like the water spilled due to a siphon. After transferring the fish I topped up the sump tank. During one of the planter bed flood/drain cycles some time after I left Asmbly the water level in the sump covered the end of the drain pipe from the new tank and created a siphon. Rookie mistake on my part when setting up the new system. Mark and Michael noticed the problem and broke the siphon before the fish tank was totally drained. And they had the majority of the water picked up by the time I arrived. We lifted the new flooring and dried it. It’s unknown if this material is still good. The remaining carpet is still pretty wet. I’ll be in early tomorrow to start removing it.

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Thanks so much @beirdo, really good to know how it happened. Everything looked nicely sealed so this makes a lot more sense.

@JoeN is also going to bring a floor drying fan and dehumidifier he has and @jamesfreeman will also be there early to rip up the carpet.

I got there a little late this morning and @jamesfreeman had almost finished removing the carpet.



Also that carpet was packed with dust. We removed years of dust. @beirdo if this is your way of getting the carpet removed. You should have just asked. :stuck_out_tongue:

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@jamesfreeman you are a machine! I continue to be amazed at how much you do. Thank you!

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@jamesfreeman is a lightning storm of productivity! :cloud_with_lightning_and_rain:

The flood set us back a bit with pulling up of yesterday’s flooring
but advanced us in terms of clearing out remaining carpet.
Hopefully the flooring materials are salvageable.

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The flooring looked ok, although it may be a puzzle to put back together.

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Good news!

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Thanks for the updates Everybody.

I’m glad i designed the main tank to move on a pallet jack, sadly the rest of the system wont be that easy to move.

I’m able to assist with moving or assembly on weekends. If I’m needed just let me know.

Last time i had to empty the gravel i used one of those bagsters (bag dumpster) to store it temporarily.

Did y’all make sure to drain the retainer around the sump? the sump wasn’t designed to handle water on the outside, it has some outdoor stain to handle incidental water but not long term submersion.

The retention pond under the sump tank was emptied as much as possible using the wet/dry shop vac. I don’t think it will be thoroughly dry until we can move it. I bought wood to build a plastic pond liner retention barrier around all the water features. The 3/4" by 1’ by 8’ particle board at Lowes is only $7.50. Incredible! Never thought I’d want to use PB for anything ever again but here we are. Particle board must be the antithesis of Russian Baltic Birch. But I think this is the perfect application. I’m unsure if 12 inches is too high for the wall. Maybe 8" would be more appropriate, aesthetically speaking. Of course it’s function would be to catch small spills and trigger an alarm that would turn off pumps and send alerts.

I’m in favor of using 1x4’s for this purpose.

If your goal is to get it to trigger an alert quickly then 3.5 inches should be enough to trigger an alert. And would leave it mostly out of view.

If your goal is to stop a full flood then you’d have to make it as tall as the fishtail to stop all the water. Which hides the whole system.

I think a 1 foot tall wall defeats the esthetics of the system.

This is the second time the system has flooded. The first time I was filling the tank and lost track of it. But I was standing there when the alarm went off. And was able to stop it from flooding out.

Very true, 4 or 6 inches is the way to go - using the 12" particle board on site.

I have encountered the worms you’ve added to the bed. And also some kind of bug that looks like a cross between a roach and a beetle, kind of stocky, no photo.