ttystikk
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the bio filter doesnt need plants it simply has to house the bacteria. so im thinking it could pump through a biofilter to 2 seperate rooms with RDWC in each no dramas. there are some epic commercial DWC aquaponics grows out there, mostly lettuce and stuff but yu can easily learn from those and see how they do it.
My thought was to run my veg in the bio filter table, since my bloom is all rdwc. The water would run from the veg/biofilter table and through an rdwc before being pumped back outside to the fish tank.
There are SO MANY ways to work that out it's stupid. I personally will approach it from a refugium stand-point. If you want to know what that is, go to WetWebMedia.com, look up what the Bobster, et alia have written. Biological filtration will occur anywhere benthics can reside, so you can have a biological filter with the fish, with the plants, and in between. The limiting factor will be food for said bio-filter. It can be above the growing area, below it, to the side--wherever you like.I'm trying to figure out a system where the solids go from fish tank to biofilter- which would have plants in it- to rdwc with flowering plants in it, and back to the fish pond via a sump reservoir that would store excess water in the system.
I'm still working out how to set things up so that losing power at any single circuit breaker doesn't lead to a big-assed flood in my basement!
Goldfish use those types of root mats to breed in, too.
There are SO MANY ways to work that out it's stupid. I personally will approach it from a refugium stand-point. If you want to know what that is, go to WetWebMedia.com, look up what the Bobster, et alia have written. Biological filtration will occur anywhere benthics can reside, so you can have a biological filter with the fish, with the plants, and in between. The limiting factor will be food for said bio-filter. It can be above the growing area, below it, to the side--wherever you like.
I see stutter has also mentioned turnover rate, and in fishkeeping this is vital to remember or there will be issues between biological load and the system's ability to handle it.
"It" being turnover rate, or how to situate the biological filter bed?
The short answer to your question is that generally, yes, to turn over a 250gal tank 1x/hr, you'd need a 250gph pump. The caveat would be at what head (height). If the pump is 250gph @0' head, then you need to keep it above or level with the water body it's pumping. Most (decent) pumps will have a chart that gives you GPH ratings at various head (heights).
Turnover rate in my world depends on what you're keeping--specifically saltwater or fresh (or brackish). Salties require at least 3x/hr, 5x is much better and a lot of fish really appreciate 'The Toilet Bowl Effect.' Seahorses and jellyfishes are extreme exceptions to this, you'll kill them turning over the water at that rate. Freshies are 1x-3x total volume/hr. This is because the salt isn't displacing sites for O2 and other molecules to reside.
A lot of this also has a lot to do with the biological load, and this is where I don't have great experience--creating a plant load that is so much heavier than the fish load that I have to add food. Usually the issue is the opposite, people want their tanks absolutely FULL of fish, just like they see at the shop (not ever thinking, Gee, these fish aren't in these tanks for very long, and maybe they're getting water changes several times a week) which usually leads to a horribly polluted system and fish death. In the aquaponic scenario, the goal is to grow plants, not fish, and so the challenge appears to be providing sufficient nutrient levels to the plants.
you might be talking about something similar to a modified chift pist system
View attachment 329285
in the chift pist the pump is in the sump and is pumped up to the tank. the tank uses a solids lift overflow which actually draws from the bottom of the fish tank. it would then cycle through your system back to the sump before starting over. in this system the water in the fish tank is always the same and only the water in the sump goes up and down.
ignore the fish in the sump in the pic as there normally wouldnt be fish in the sump
Hmm... temp control for me has always been ambient temperatures. At Petschmo we did use literally a water heater for the freshwater system, but during winter it was very inadequate, we had problems with the poor little tropical fishes at 60*F. Goldies can certainly take that, though, but I don't know about tilapia. I'm sure trout and those types of fish would appreciate that cooler water column, IIRC they actually like it better around 55*F.
<sigh> My poor husband. You guys know what he's in for, because I HAVE AN IDEA.
Oh, NICE!!!! Can't wait to hear how it tokes, too. And you can chill out with the fishies while you're toking.
I think you mentioned you're using goldies. Have you ever seen the videos on training your goldfish to do stuff like play soccer or basketball? Pretty cool, fun, funny and amazing, all at the same time. They're at least as smart as a chicken.
Lemme find a video for your entertainment. :D
^^ Seriously.
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