Hello

[susan]

Hello everyone,

My name is Susan and I live in Jacksonville, FL. I became interested in aquaponics while doing research on how to filter my "cement pond", which is a 16,000 gal inground pool that we were not using and were tired of throwing good money for chemicals in it just to keep it pretty. The pump housing cracked and it was going to cost us another few hundred dollars to fix, so we just decided to fill it in somehow. Well after a few months of thinking how to do this, I told my husband I always wanted a koi pond and maybe we can turn our pool into one. It has now been a year and I stupidly bought some cheap comets to see if they could live in it about 10 months ago, well they are now about five to eight inches long and I'm afraid I'm going to kill them without a filter, so the last month I have really been trying to find a simple system that does not include cleaning out a filter every few days. So, you now know my problem. The aquaponics gave me an idea of using another small pond (or tank/pool) to use as a living filter, then I decided I should try to set it up as a aquaponic system. So, that's what I'm looking into now.

My thought was to buy a small 10ft round pool to pump the water from the pool into the little pool with rocks and plants, then pump it back into the big pool. I have a small pond kit that I haven't used that was purchased before my big pool breakdown, so I could do something with that. I know I need to do something soon so I don't kill those poor comets, so any suggestions would be apreciated! I know I screwed up by rushing things by putting fish in it, so please be kind, I really feel bad about putting them in there without a working filter. The pump to the pool works, I believe that the crack is in the filter casing, so maybe I can use that for something? It also has a bubbler off a ledge of the pool, so that also may be helpful.

Thanks for any help, and I look forward to getting to know everyone.

Susan

[davidstcldfl]

Hi Susan, Welcome to the forum... :D
I used to work in J-ville, but I figured it was too cold 'up there'...so I moved further south... :P

Normally in a typical backyard system, the amount of media bed's volume... 'at least' matches the volume of fish tank's water. Preferred to have 'twice as much' grow beds as fish tank water.
You can see it would take a lot of 10 ft kiddie pools to do that. There are a couple things you could do instead.

First, you can keep the fish stocking very low...in a 'normal' application...for a beginer, we recomend 1 pound of fish per 10 gallons.....you might be more like 1 pd per 100 gallons.

Second, you may install mechanical type filters. There are differant DIY ones talked about here...also some vids on you tube.

Your pool pump most likely will be too big for any AP set up. Besides, that big thing loves to eat electric... :P

You may want to check out Aquaponics 101 by Oliver...it has lots of great info... :D

[urbanfarmer]

Greetings Earthling, and welcome to the addiction! :mrgreen:

[foodchain]

The pool pump is to big, if you pump directly through a GB and such. Don't put a valve on it as that will dead head the pump and wear it out. Use a loop system with a valve. Adjust the valve to the flow you need, and the excess pressure loops back to you pool and will help with the aeriation. Converting pools to ponds is a common enough occurance. I have a neighbor who did it when his kids left home....now he has trophy bass in his pond/pool much to my envy.

[susan]

Thanks for the welcome and suggestions.

I know I have alot to learn, I was hoping I could set up a few growbeds as a living filter to keep the pond healthy, but as I look more into this, and reading your responces, I found out I would need my whole back yard set up as a growbed to keep this pool/pond clean! So, now I have to figure out another method of filtration to go along with the GB system. I will definately check into Aquaponics 101 by Oliver and search your database for more help. Like I said before, I'm pretty new at this and I need to get started soon before I kill those poor goldfish! Oh, and I did plan on having a low fish count, right now I have about 75 goldfish, some rosie red's for the one jack daniel fish in the pond and one pleco that's about 9 inches. I was going to put about 10 koi in, but now I'm pondering on tilapia, but not sure how to kill one (I'm a bit soft hearted) to eat it, so that's up in the air. So if I keep my fish count around 100, then they should have 160 gal each which should be okay I hope. If I decide on tilapia, then I need to figure out what to do with the goldfish. Hmm, decisions, decisions, decisions! Oh, I have also thought of putting a few floating gb's in the pool also, thinking that would help with filtration a little. I have a long way to go don't I?

Once I do some more research and find a system I'm comfortable with, I'll check back in with you guys to get more feedback. I'm really excited about aquaponic systems, I love gardening and ponds/fish, so it should be a fun endevor! I'm off to do some more research!

Thanks again!

Susan 8-)

[foodchain]

Something is always better than nothing. Try putting lilly pads and such in your pool. I use a smaller pool with live bog plants to filter some of the excess nutrients out. And I use water lillies a lot. Just pay attention to depth.

[foodchain]

bucket of ice water kills em just fine.

[davidstcldfl]

If you try tilapia...the water will need to be at least 60 in the winter... :(
If your pool is deep and you stop the flow when it's cold....you might be able to do it. Just remember, tilapia are 'rabbits' with scales.....you'll soon have a pool full of them.

You might consider catfish instead, or even some bream.

Plants in the pool, is a great idea.
You could try some styrofoam rafts, cut holes in it for 'pond plant pots' to fit in. The pots come in differant sizes...home depot and lowes has some. Check for pond stores near you, or, even hydroponic stores have some.

I bought a start of a pond plant called pickerel. It's very easy to grow and has small purple flowers. It does grow wild in FL....but if you go that route....you won't know 'what' is hitching a ride home with the plants.

Try some duckweed, it's easy to grow. Your goldfish should eat it...and it'll help keep the sun out of the water, which will help to keep the algee in check.
You'll have to have a way to keep it out of the leaf skimmer though... :roll:

[susan]

Thanks for the tips everyone!

Foodchain, I found a DIY Youtube video, where he used those can's of foam and he sprayed some on the bottom of a big plastic bucket and around the top edges, then painted it to look like rock and put holes throughout for drainage where the pond water can come in to the roots. I thought I might be able to do that with a couple of small plastic kid pools, which I happen to have two when training my Chihuahua's to swim and like the water. They never took to the water, but if they fall in they know where to swim to to get out now! So I may try that and see what happens, I'll let you all know how it goes and take pics. I'll try some bog plants, I'll have to find a place in town that will have some. I work near a small creek that feeds into the St. John's river, that has some great bog plants, but I am too afraid of what I'll introduce in the pond, so I decided against getting some free plants. Hmm, is there a way where you can put them in a smaller pond and like quarenteen them for a while to see if there is any hitchhikers? Just a thought. When you say pay attention to depht, what did you mean? I'll try to research on that myself tonight. Killing the fish has been big on my thoughts, when I fished as a kid, we just put them on a stringer and when it was time to go home, they were dead. As I've gotten older, I'm a bit more screamish about that. I've thought about just taking a hammer to it's head and it would be a quick painless death. Now, that's only if I could do it, I think that would be easier for the fish. I just don't know if I can do it. I'll have to toughen up if I want to do this though, and I really want to do this! Has anyone else had this problem, and if so what do you do to kill them?

DavidStCld, The deep end of the pool is about 6 1/2 feet deep, I don't know how low the temp gets down there, but the goldfish seem to be doing fine. Here in NE FL we get all kinds of weather, sometimes it gets as low as 19 degrees and as high as 100 degrees, so it's hard to predict how cold the water can get. If tilapia breed that fast, I think bream might be better for me. Plus that's what I grew up on, I was quite the mighty bream fisherman back in my childhood years! Plus, my Dad's pond is stocked with them and I can get some from him for free! I think the pickerel is whats in McCoys Creek, they bloom purple flowers anyway! Does any stores carry it or is it just a wild plant? Duckweed has also been on the back of my mind, I'll definately get some of that also. I have alreatdy planned on putting a screen in front of the skimmer to keep it clean. My husband is going to be out of town next week, so that will be a good time for me to try a few of these projects without distraction. I'll let you all know how it goes. What would you suggest for a media to go into the small floating pools? Wouldn't gravel be too heavy for a floating bed?

Thanks again for all the help everyone! :)

[davidstcldfl]

I know it can get cold there...I saw it snow in Jacksonville when I lived 'up there'...we need a smiley face that is shivering... :lol:

I actuall bought my pickerel at home depot....in the spring, they'll have a display of aquatic plants. There should be pond places around you too....well maybe, depending on the economy. I saw a few of them around Orlando, has closed... :(

Foodchain mentioned ice water to kill them. It does work....took longer then I thought it would though.. :o