A soaker hose sounds like a good idea. I was planning on using a regular hose and poking some holes in it.
Actually the reason I put that long piece of pipe in the pool was because I was planning on poking some holes in it so that it would act as an aerator but I think I'm going to use all the excess water from the pump to run a few more barrel filters instead.
I really don't need any aeration right now because the water coming out of the barrels is doing a better job than any air pump could do. But it still would be nice to have bubbles coming up from the bottom because they would stir things up much better. Especially when I start filling the pool up all the way.
I did an ammonia test and the filters are definitely doing something. I am sure I would have had to change water by now if I didn't have them. I think I will add some aeration inside at least some of the barrels but not until I get more microbes growing on the nets. Right now I think the bubbles would work against me because the would be knocking all the debris off the deer nets inside the filters. I think I need to give the microbes a chance to attach themselves to the net before I go blowing them around with bubbles.
My biggest concern right now is temperature. All of the aeration is keeping the water much cooler than I expected. This is fine right now but I realize I haven't got a chance of keeping these guys alive over the winter unless I take them in or build a greenhouse over them. If I'm going to successfully raise Talapia I'm going to have to breed them indoors over the winter and have all of my fry ready to be put outside in late February.
I am looking into other species. It looks like the water is too alkaline for catfish. At least for breeding them. But crawdads or prawns look promising.
It's going to be a battle just to keep the water from killing these guys but I'm glad I did it the way I did. In all honesty if I hadn't rushed in and done it now I would have been doing all this next year and maybe I would have never gotten around to doing it.
Ready Fire Aim.
I have lived my life by that principal and it has done me well... so far.
