Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Tilapitopia 3.0

As Sunil would say: FREAK!

I beg to differ,

I was coronated "HARD CORE FREAK" by Sunil, so simple "FREAK" will not do.... Its just too pedestrian.

Oh, it's HARD CORE allright....

We need another word that is stronger than "hard" - great work.

Why not just spend a few bucks on a Dwyer flowmeter? I think I have 6 of them here for air, but they only go to 25LPM. I could send you a couple and you could set up 2 with a common inlet and common outlet and get to 50. I gave esshup 4 of them for future use.

25LPM is 0.88CFM. If you set your MBBR up with proper dimensions, right type of diffusers and proper fill, should only take 4LPM at depth per cubic foot of media to make it work really well.

Sorry, but I have a bad habit of calling engineers that do this for a living. Some of the Chinese media out there, you really have to beat the snot out of it to make it work tho.

Dang, out in the woods and where did all these bugs come from?

Phil,

Which meter should I be looking to get?

I have several pumps ranging from 2l/m to 100l/m.

I have the MB3 media and it seems to be working very well. The boil is set about right for now, I may adjust it after it colonizes completely.


Most importantly, when are you going to show us what you are up to?

Brian,

The RM and VF series are quite economical and you can get various accuracies depending on models/features, or even do the NIST thing, but I wouldn't go that far.

I believe Ted had a VF series at esshup's gig when you guy's were playing around with it. I may have scolded someone here for not holding it in proper attitude

I have the RM series with the needle valve for air and a couple of the VF for clean water. Gotta find them tho, but they are in a box someplace. (recently moved and boxes all over)

Nice thing about using a flowmeter, as well as a pressure gauge is you can get an indication of declining performance. This is what is was when everything is new, now pressure and flow are changing and then you can then trace the system back and find out why. Neat little preventative maintenance or potential failure tools.

Nothing fancy on this rig. Intex pools should be here either this Friday or next Monday.

Basically have about 1200 sq-ft in the basement to work with. Working on a floor layout in Autocad on how everything is going to fit and how I'm gonna run the electrical and plumbing.

Bought 4 stock tanks earlier this year, (have 6) but don't think I'll be using them for anything significant. Probably only use the 2 rubbermaid's, and want to use a 3' x 8' oval tank and create a little stream type tank and possibly get some creek chubs. Baitfish are a bunch of fun!, but don't think I can get that one down the basement, well, without some demolition.

There are limitations of what I can get down there in one piece. Petco had a sale on 40G breeder tanks, so I got 4 of them. I built a 1 piece stand for all 4 to the maximum size I could get down there, and with care I cleared everything by 1/4". Reason I did that is I had to redesign my rectangular tanks to a 2 piece assembly to get them down stairs. I made the wood stand quite heavy, but it's still quite a bit lighter than the steel sections and just didn't want to get anything stuck.

Waiting on word for some YP from Ohio.

I would expect you to over do it a well!!

I don't think I need very accurate information about air flow, so I will start with the three liter bottle. If I can find the right flowmeter, I'll get it and take better readings.

Thanks for the advise.

Keep us updated about your project.

I just moved back here a few months ago, so let me sort it out

Basic bones at the moment and probably have to cold start, which is really not that big of a deal.

Nice thing is the layout is going well and I can just U-Bolt on some Uni-Strut to the columns running down the center and mount the junction boxes with remote I/O covering control and monitoring over Modbus thru a cyclic gateway.

It actually don't hurt as bad as it sounds, but that is what these are intended for.

Search ebay if you think you may need something.

It's best maybe not to know anything more than understanding a chart in a sales catalog. Not much more would be really needed here.

Go Ebay or even Amazon!

I needed something to neutralize chlorine for three of the four high school systems I set up that use municipal water. I know if there aren't any chloromines, letting the make up water set for a few days, or better yet aerating it will do the job, but I need to keep things simple and instant for these guys.

Anyway, was going to order it from Pentaire/AES, but remembered their prices tend to be on the high side and then there's the shipping from Florida! Found a much more economical replacement (Amquel)on Ebay with FREE shipping.

Well we added some lights to grow green water the last day or so. It will be interesting to see how they do. Here is the temp setup to see how they do. These are aquarium rated lights.



So far the water temps are very favorable using one solar heater. We have three installed so we can add a lot more heat this winter. As it turns out, Tilapia like warm water even in the winter.

What is your purpose of growing greenwater?

Looks cool. Do you have bulb and ballast specs?

Pools came in today via FedEx from Amazon. $116.27 ea + free shipping.

Cecil,

We had several spawns last year in the tanks and the green water seemed to help some of them survive. Also, the green water uses up some of the nitrates, so water changes should be less frequent.

Also we will be putting some "structure" in each habitat tank in one corner each so any fry will have some place to go until we can net them out and place them in a aquarium to grow them out.

I don't know if it will do any good, but the data will tell all!!

Phil,

I don't right now, but I can get the specs. I do know they have the good german reflectors.

Glad I could help get you your pools.

I was wondering if you were flying the plane to MI. The delivery was on spot!

Reflectors are a key element that most overlook or don't understand when buying lights. Can be the difference between night and day.

Makes sense. The only place my systems have greenwater is one that is set up in a greenhouse.

Well the Tilapia survived the cool down and all the rain we received last week and weekend rather well. We were able to maintain 'mid 80's temperatures. The cloud cover also tested the solar power system.

On that note, we need to add a few more solar panels to the mix to ensure we have enough power for half of our power needs.

Also, certain areas of the "Igloo" need to be painted. That should be under way next week.

Here is how they are looking today.

The paint is for???

Those pools are going to be a bit more work than anticipated. Gonna have to build an elevated platform and am working out the details for a center drain with some stuff I have here. Yeah, sucking it from the center bottom, up and over the side walls will cause problems I do not want to encounter. Mainly, the centrifugal pumps will macerate the solids so bad that I'll end up with a massive TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) issue in short order. I thought about getting a gentler pump, but that is just going to cost a pile more and won't really negate the issue very long. Eventually the pumps will have to be cleaned and I want to take all of the advantages of running the pumps from my PF drives in SVC mode.

I hope you're flying MI, because I just ordered a new Amprobe meter yesterday, FedEx delivery, and I'm like a little kid waiting for Christmas morning My older, but nice one came up missing while working at a customers, but this new one is Super Sweet!! I may just brag about it

Interesting..I have been trying to find a large aquarium with a bottom drain with no success. I would really like a drain with a valve where I can hook up a garden hose for draining. I suspect the fear of a leak at the drain/tank interface, that could wipe out some guys living room, is the issue that makes them not available/hard to find. I want to put mine in the basement near a floor drain so a leak would cause zero damage for me, except the possible loss of critters in the tank.

Bill, these are just 12' diameter x 30" deep Intex pools. I think about 1700 gallons or so. There is a sump pit in the basement with a submersible pump I exorcise on a regular basis just to make sure it's working. A few years ago, pump didn't work, and with the rains and water table that year, ended up with about 9" in the basement. Yeah, it was a mess with a finished room down there, but that's been removed for the most part.

Here you go! Use one of these to cut a hole for a bulkhead tank fitting. http://www.glass-holes.com/Glass-Hole-Cutters_c7.htm [i][/i]

Sounds like you have a possible leak covered as well. I may have to give up the aquarium with a drain unless I bite the bullet and build one. Other option would be to do something like you are doing on a much smaller scale. I have tons of heated basement space but just looking for a tank to play with. Somewhere I can toss a little fish to grow out or maybe as a brood tank for a few SFS, BNM, scuds, etc.

Thanks. The part that bothers me is where each one says, "Use with care and coolant." So I spend a few hundred on an aquarium and crack out the bottom cutting a hole. I want one where they take the risk of cutting the hole!