1st timer in Bangkok

Tropical Farmer

Hi all,
Been reading the forum for over a year now probably and would really like to thank everyone for how much information is shared here.
So my live in engineer (Dad) and I have just finished our 1st system. We both helped in design but I need to give him credit for doing most of the build while I was working.
What we have is about a 2000L fish tank raised up and gravity feeding 5 290L growbeds (pumice filled and bell siphon) that drain into a sump. From the sump, we pump up to a 110L blue barrel that's sitting on a deck on the 2nd floor. This barrel gravity feeds 15 grow towers and also overflows back into the fish tank. A couple of leaks here and there and some replumbing was needed but the system has been circulating for 9 days now so I'm calling the design itself a success. Growing fish and plants remains to be seen :dontknow:

It's set up in the backyard and probably only gets about 5hrs of direct sunlight a day. We figure with the strength of the sun in Thailand this should be sufficient for decent production. We'll need to put a plastic covering on it before the rainy season hits. I'm scared what it's going to do to our temps but we have no choice as the heavy rains will probably destroy my plants and who knows what will happen to the PH. Because we don't get full sun all day I was thinking to not put up shade cover but now I'm having second thoughts as that sun is damn strong on few seedlings we currently have going.
Some questions I have already that I would love some input on:
- I feel like we've got too much fish tank compared to growbeds. We're on a 30min flood and drain at the moment but the emergency 1" overflow from the fish tank to the sump is at near capacity. I'm thinking to start with only moderate fish stocking as I'm worried I won't have enough plants to support max fish stock capacity.
- Cycling. Ammonia started to read at .25ppm 4 days ago and went to .5 2 days ago. A trace of nitrite showed up on day 2, day 3 was .25ppm, day 4 I was out of town and then today, day 5, I have a reading of 7+ppm with ammonia staying at .5. Is this right? Is it possible to have such a big jump in nitrite, so shortly with such small amounts of ammonia? (PeePee was the source of the Amm)
- PH reading. I have an API master test kit and the PH is always running at around 8. We have hard water out here and this is what I was expecting but the problem is that I also have a PH pen and also another testing strip. Both the pen and the strip give me a reading of <7PH. Does anyone have any experience with the API tests not being accurate? I though API was kind of the standard so I'm surprised it is the outlier. This is based on 8 days of readings and all tests stay consistently different.
- Also does anyone have a good way to remove sediment from the bottom of tanks? I've got a fair amount from the rocks. I'm thinking of setting up a small recirc pump with a 50micron filter or something plumbed into it and just go vacuuming. Am I complicating this too much?

Let me know your thoughts and if you see any glaring problems with our design
cheers

(going to need to figure out how to post multiple pics at one time :think:

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File comment: Before

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Tropical Farmer

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File comment: Mostly done

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File comment: The drain is plastic rain gutter we lined with pond liner to try and reduce algae plus I don't trust what that cheap plastic will leach into the system

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Tropical Farmer

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File comment: Fish tank and radial filter as I would like to experiment with mineralization

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File comment: I have a valve on the other side of the barrel to hopefully steal water as needed for the wicking beds and container plants on the deck

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Tropical Farmer

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File comment: From above (old plumbing)

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File comment: SLO and emergency overflow (anti-siphon tube for the SLO is not visible in the picture but it's there)

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Tropical Farmer

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File comment: Me and Dad getting ready to turn the sump on for the 1st time!

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File comment: Here's what I was talking about the PH. API test is clearly over 7.6 but the other to tests are at around 7 and 6.6. How about that water temp...yikes!

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File comment: Basil and lettuce doing pretty good so far

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dasboot

Good to meet you guys I’m here up in the north Chaing Rai,anything i can help you with my pleasure...

Charlie

I love the blue stuff you guys get there. Welcome to the forum and looking forward to your progress.

Colum Black-Byron

Nice first post!

Your system looks quite impressive!

blind freddie

Great work so far guys :thumbright:

I reckon you both deserved those beers.

I hope you've got plenty more because you clearly have more work to do, keep the photos coming. :setup:

dasboot

Charlie wrote:

I love the blue stuff you guys get there. Welcome to the forum and looking forward to your progress.

And that blue stuff is as cheap as chips.2 inch through tank connector £1 pound,4 meters 3/4 pipe £1

Tropical Farmer

Plenty of beers on hand at all time Freddie!

DB, I'll let you know what happens with my iron when I decide to add it as far as water discoloration is concerned.

dasboot

No problems i have mine under control with foliar spraying,can help with this.

Dave Donley

Very nice TF!

Tropical Farmer

Update for Sunday.
Wow it's hot out here!
Water temp running at 90.5F/32.5C (11am)

Added a quick and dirty venturi to the FT return. A crude design but only took about a total of 20min of thought and execution to do utilizing spare parts and it did add more air bubbles so I'm happy for now.

I have the return pipe going down almost to the bottom of the tank. My thinking being that that the more time the bubbles have to travel to the surface the more chance I have of achieving DO. Am I correct in thinking this or am I losing efficiency here? Anybody with venturi knowledge would be helpful.

Also added a spray bar to my sump tank. That's the overflow from the FT that the RFF/growbeds cannot handle (I could do with another 3 growbeds easy I think).
Tried to put a venturi on the barrel coming from the sump pump but the pressure is so much from the pump that it just flow up through the venturi pipe as opposed to sucking the air from the disturbance that the hose is making.
Does anyone have experience creating air from a pipe that is under pressure? I may have to wait for the engineer to get back from the Philippines to solve this one.

Overall though the Italian basil is doing pretty good and the lettuce is still doing not so bad. Any input from you guys would be great. Especially my PH readings. They're still the same. The API tests are running inconsistent from my other 2 PH tests.

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File comment: Got a plastic hose through the 1" pipe and it's working as expected

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File comment: Ball valve to control air flow. Don't see much difference between full open and half close except for the noise.

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Tropical Farmer

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File comment: Spray bar in the sump

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