survivalgardener
If you have absolutely no idea what aquaponics is, or why we’re talking about poop here; check out our Aquaponics System In Costa Rica. It’s a system that combines fish farming and growing plants without soil.
Poop is the lifeblood of any aquaponics system. The fish eat. The fish poop. Then, nitrifying bacteria convert the fish waste(ammonia) into usable nitrates that hydroponically growing plants can uptake. It’s a beautiful and fun way to hack nature to produce a steady supply of fish and veggies. However, in most aquaponic systems, 100% of the water is recirculated and the build up of solids can cause problems.
When we built our system, we thought our rock grow beds would handle all the solid waste just fine. After 6 months of wracking our brains and repeatedly cleaning out the grow-beds, we gave in and built 2 radial flow solids filters. Some leftover 55 gallon drums in the shed were the perfect size for the task.
The video shows how radial flow filters work.
After in installing these radial flow solids filters into the system, our problems were solved. The amount of solids dumped into the grow beds dropped drastically. These filters were also a huge help since we have an outdoor system and the fish tanks are always catching debris from the windy days here in NW Guanacaste, Costa Rica. If you plan on stocking lots of fish, I highly suggest adding this type of filtration system in your initial design.
Here are 2 suggestions/idea if you build a radial flow solids filter for your system.
1. You can attach the settlement shroud to the lid of the drum. I’m seen a lot of designs with buckets, pvc, cable supports, and multiple other ways to suspend the shroud. I think using the lid from the drum is easiest. In addition, it keeps animals and debris out. For the shroud, you can use an upside down bucket or similar plastic cylinder.
2. Don’t sweat all the designs on YouTube and Google. Build it so that water is pushed up, goes into a chamber and is forced to settle on the bottom. If your outlets going to the grow-beds are skimming off the top, it will work. Have fun designing it!
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