Crackenfish system

crackenfish

Has anyone built an external standpipe for their fish tanks?

rininger85

I have not yet, but I am debating about it for my second AP system outside the greenhouse. I am debating if I should just use the existing drains in the tanks or if I should still drill holes and install SLO's. The existing drains are a but leaky... I could probably just silicone them shut and be OK... if I use the existing drains then I would do external standpipes to set the water level where it couldn't drain the tanks. But then I have to figure out what to put on the inside of the tank to keep small fish from going for a ride too... so might just go back to the SLO's.

crackenfish

Ah yes the horrible question what should I do.
Went shopping for some fittings the other day. 4" PVC fittings are not cheap at all. Horribly expensive! Soon will change some of my 2" plumbing to 4".

crackenfish

The aquaponics tanks are coming together slowly. I need to take some pictures of the building stage! Been too busy for that. Also redoing the plumbing on the fish tanks so that is starting to look really good. The external standpipes look good. I think going from 2" to 4" is going to make a big difference which is what I want to see. With the stand pipes and larger plumbing it should stop the weird flows and uneven draining. One of the weird flow rates I had, water would all of a sudden drain out of 5 tanks but not the 6th tank. The tank it would not drain out of was one that was close to the pump and usually would have the water just sucked right out of it.

crackenfish

Got my new batch of eggs a week ago and they are starting to hatch! Got some lettuce, kale, and pak choi started. Also have some peppermint started and going to start some some chocolate mint to.

boss

Crackenfish Hatchery! That is too cool!
Brian

crackenfish

Thanks! It is lots of fun and also lots of work.

crackenfish

Eggs are all hatched now. Another couple weeks before I can start feeding the little guys. My plants are growing rather slow so I am behind with them. Hopefully with the fish water and getting things a little warmer will help. My masonry heater is going and making lots of charcoal to be turned into biochar, growing medium and filtration.

crackenfish

Fish are growing like weeds but unfortunately the plants have been a little slow to grow due to the cold temperatures. Got some salanova lettuce and three varieties of pak choi growing. Arugula didn't do well at all and died. Might try them again. Have 4 Siberian kale growing so will be interesting how they do.

I nearly have the newest fish tank system up and running. About time as the fish need to be moved into them this week. I upgraded plumbing sizes and built to new filter tanks that sit on top of the biofilters. The filter tanks are the deep water culture troughs. All that needs to be done is add aeration and plumb the pump and solids filter back in place.

Backyard Aquaponics
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