Eddie's hoop house system

[eddiemigue]

Hey all,

Looking for some feedback now that I am in the rough design stages of my possible AP expansion. Since I upgraded my FT to accomodate the greater number of fish, I now have an available 150 gal tank, in addition to some pond liner that I had previously purchased. I am considering options for what to do with the 150 gal tank after I move the fish.

One option is to put it in my hoop house, which is unheated, but covered in plastic Oct - Mar or so. The hoop house will have (after some modifications) two 2' wide GB's on either side, one will be 10' long and the other 16' long. My first thought was to take the 10' long bed, remove the soil, add the liner and some hydroton and turn it into a bed where I place wicking pots (similar to something that I saw in one of JCO's setups). The other side of the hoophouse would remain as a soil bed that I would water from FT overflow once I pipe rainwater catchment to the tank.

In this arrangement, I would need a cold tolerant fish that can do well in an oval-lish tank. Comet goldfish or koi are potential options, but I would prefer an edible fish. Trout would be great, but don't know if they would do well in such a small tank without streamlike flow conditions.

Another factor is filtration, and I am considering a pond filter that will be sufficient to run the system sans-plants if/when necessary. The hydroton in the bed would be overkill to whatever filter I use since I prefer to not have to clean that bed as regularly. In addition to edible plants, it would be nice to grow some ornamentals to add aesthetic value to the house and keep the Mrs. happy.

[eddiemigue]

So I reread Oliver's 101, probably for the fourth time (I keep finding nuggets of wisdom that I can better appreciate as my experience grows - thanks Oliver for posting that), and maybe I can just have enough hydroton in the GB to have that serve as my filter, keep low stocking in the tank, and eliminate dedicated filtration. Then I could transfer some scuds to the hydroton and be set.

The FT would be above the GB's, so wastes would not go through the pump before going into the GB, so I will have to live with that, and stock accordingly.

Sages of the AP world, I awate your wise comments, critiques, recommendations...

[JCO]

Then I could transfer some scuds to the hydroton

If you have scuds in your fish tank, now need to transfer scuds anywhere. When it comes to spreading, they are like cockroaches. they and their eggs will spread to every part of your system without any help from you.

[eddiemigue]

This will be a new system, but I guess that when I transfer some media/water to jump start cycling, scuds will hitch a ride. ;>)

Does it ever get to a point where you see scuds readily? Most of the time, I can't see any (they hide in the detritus), and periodically a few are moving around in plain view.

[JCO]

Transfer some bio-filter media to the new system...that will do the trick and NO, they are tiny and tasty so they are not going to put on a floor show.