Yet Another Pump

I bought another pump yesterday. The pump I had just wasn't right for this application. This pump is actually a pond pump that is designed to clean ponds. I ran a 1/2" hose from the pump to a solid filter. This should solve my fish poop problem. It runs all the time. I've considered putting a time clock on it, but I'll decide that later. It all depends on what it takes to keep the tank clean.

By removing the old pump I also removed my water leak. I discovered I didn't have one of the fittings tight enough. It was leaking just a few drops at a time, but it doesn't take long to add up. I've gone through and tightened all fittings so I don't have the same problem anywhere else.

I've started thinning the spinach I planted a few weeks ago. I'm leaving them in the container for now, and hopefully the system will be ready when it's time to transplant. I did pull out one spinach plant with a good root system and planted it in the gravel. I didn't see any harm and if it doesn't grow, well, I was gonna throw it on the compost pile anyway.

Pump $45.00
1/2" line $6.50

Show Me the Money

I've decided to start including costs in my blog. This costs will take time and material into consideration. I mean the almighty dollar is king, but my time(and yours) is valuable also. First, I'll try to remember everything to date. These figures won't be totally accurate, but should be close.

Originally I used a bunch of material that I had laying around. I'm sure this stuff was pricey when it was purchased but I won't count this money.

Material:
2 railroad ties (for the legs of the grow bed stand)
2 55 gallon plastic drums
1 metal trough holder (holds the 55 gallon drum halves horizontal)
1 70 gallon watering tub
1 sump pump

I purchased the rest of these materials:
1 water pump   $50
10' 3/4" pvc      $2.50
misc pvc fitting $10.00
pvc glue             $5.00
20' 1/2" plastic tubing $5.00
3 1/2" brass fittings  $15.00
1/2 yard pea gravel $20.00
1 aerator          $25.00
1 quart plumbers putty $5.00
1 tube silicone   $5.50
5 dozen minnows $12.00
1 filter pad   $8.00


I'm not going to itemize the time. I figure it's been about 20 hours so far.

That about sums it up. As I spend more money and time on it I'll keep track on these posts.

So much to learn.

I discovered a major flaw in my system today after work. It turns out that fish poop adds up faster than I thought it could. My system is pretty simple, or it was until I just changed it. I had a float that controls a pump that pumps water from the fish tank to the grow bed. The pump only runs for about 5 minutes every 45 minutes or so. I do have a filter in the bed itself to remove solid waste from the tank.

It turns out that I need to pump more water through that filter than 5 minutes per hour or so. There was a ton of fish poop floating around in the water. I haven't noticed it building up because I've been getting home as the sun goes down. Since I got of earlier today, I was able to see the fish tank in full sunlight. What a mess it was.

To fix the problem, I installed another pump in the tank. This new sump pump is now the pump that moves the water to the grow bed. The float that was attached to the other pump is now controlling the new pump. The old pump is now running non stop. I have it piped to pump onto a filter pad and then back into the fish tank. This will work for a couple of days while I figure a permanent fix. I'm glad I got off early, I'm not sure how much more poop those poor fish could stand to swim through.

I've also decided to follow the advice of Monday's Child, a reader of this blog, and wait a while before I add more fish. Everything I read says let the cycling process have some time to develop. I almost didn't have enough patience for this to happen. Thanks Monday's Child.

Patience

I'm glad to report the fishies are doing good. I'm starting to think I don't have enough fish, or too much water. The ammonia level isn't moving up very fast, and neither are the nitrites. I've decided to add more fish to the water to move the cycling process along.  I'm trying to decide between tilapia, which are a favorite in the aquaponics circles, or catfish. I know catfish get pretty big, but that takes quite a while and I do have 65 gallons to work with.

I also have decided to build a homemade water filter. After doing some research I realize it shouldn't be too hard. My whole goal is to remove the chloramines from the water for the fish. I've realized that those chloramines could also be harmful to the compost tea I plan to make during the spring. If I can build a big enough filter, that should solve both my problems.

I need to come up with something quick, though. It seems I add more water to the system daily than I originally thought I would have to. I'd say every morning I have to add about 3/4 of a gallon of water. I'll try to build the filter this weekend so I don't use up all my rainwater.

I'm also planning my next fish tank. It'll be in the ground. I have a backhoe on the land and it'll be easy to dig. I'll just have to get some pond plastic and shape the thing correctly. I'll dig a hole on one end that I can install a sump pump in. I'm pretty excited about this idea. I have a plan on how to pump water out of the new fish tank without dropping the water level as I do it. We'll see how it works out.

Ok, I finished this post just in time to go watch the second game of the World Series. Go Rangers!!

The third time's the charm.

24 hours and all my minnows have survived. I'm not even sure how to celebrate that. I might have to drink a beer for each minnow. 24 minnows means 24 beers. Oh boy, it's gonna be a rough day a work tomorrow.

Speaking of work, while I was slaving away today I was designing my next system in my head. I might have to get a second job to be able to afford my new hobby. I plan, for now, to put the fish in ponds. I have plenty of room on my land for this idea. This is a long way off but, next year I should have ton more experience.

I know I promised pictures, but I can't seem to find the time. Now that everything is running smooth it shouldn't be much longer. I put a tarp over the fish tank to give it shade and protect the fish. My next plan is to build a small greenhouse around the system. I have it backed up right next to a storage trailer that we have. So all I need is a couple of posts and a bunch of plastic and I'll make a sort of lean to against the trailer.

Just in the nick of time

Well, it rained last night. Rained pretty well. Here in East Texas we needed it pretty bad. Hopefully it rains more tonight. This rain will also, hopefully, solve my problems with chlorine. I have 3 55 gallon drums set up next to the gutters of our house. I was able to collect about 140 gallons of rain water last night. So I spent the morning dumping out the fish killing water and resupplying my tank with rain water. I used rainwater once but it was so full of algae it wasn't any good. This time it's pretty clean and I plan to keep the tank away from sunlight to avoid algae buildup.

The rain solved one of my problems, but alas, I have one more to contend with. I've had this problem from the beginning but haven't put much effort into solving it until I had the water situation figure out. Well, now it's time to solve it. My automation isn't going to work the way I want it to. The float I purchased can't be set to turn the pump off and on when I want it to. I can set it to turn the pump on when it's full, but by the time the float turns it off I'll have way too much water in the beds. I can set it to turn off right where I want it but it won't turn back on. I've fiddled with it for a few hours and have come to the conclusion that I need a different style float. I was trying to go cheap and now this is the price I pay. Hopefully I can use the float I have in a different application on the next system I build.

I also plan to build a filter using activated carbon to filter out chlorine in my water. I got the idea from a response to a post I put on DIY Aquaponics. I have the design figured out, and it shouldn't cost too much to build. If the activated carbon can filter out the chloramine in my water, I can use the hose in the future. For now I have enough water stored in a 55 gallon drum to do any topping off I need for a while.

The rain also did one more thing. It helped the trees around here to drop a TON of leaves. I'm gonna spend some time this week raking and blowing leaves onto a new compost pile. This compost pile will be HUGE by the time I'm done with it.

Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center

Yesterday, on the way home from work, I stopped by the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center. I had heard about this place about a month ago. Now that I'm trying to raise fish I thought I would go and check it out. The entrance fee was $5.50. It was well worth the price.

This place is a cross between a  Texas fishing museum and an aquarium. The aquarium part was pretty cool. I was caught off guard when I entered the catfish area. The things are HUGE. As you turn the corner on the glass you're immediately face to face with these giant creatures. It startled me a bit. I also enjoyed checking out the alligators.

I learned a few things while I was there. First, they don't sell fingerlings or fish of any sort. Their main purpose is to stock lakes and tanks in east Texas. The other thing I learned is I can go fishing there. With paid admission you can fish all day as long as you catch and release. The other option is to  pay $10 and you're able to keep 5 fish. I started to think about it and realized this is where I'm gonna get my fish for my homemade fish food. The fishing ponds are overstocked with fish ready to jump into your lap so the amount of time to catch 5 fish shouldn't be long. Also, and I'll see when I do it, I think I can get fish cheaper this way than buying anything at the store.

There are also shows and exhibits there. While I was there, I decided to go ahead and get a membership for a year. It only cost me $15.00. If I can fish there for cheap fish food, it'll be worth it.