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  1. #41
    Members Apollo's Avatar
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    Re: Pipe Siphon by Apollo

    Quick update; pH is under control now, plants are doing much better.

    My Pipe Siphon went for 14 months before I had to tweak the tail pipe on the North GB, not sure if my floating Duckweed raft or a fish might of bump it. It moved real easy, maybe the water flow on that 90 had loosen it up some.

    News on my Whirlpool Filter / Fry Catcher, I went to clean it and found two, 2" and two, 1.5" Tilapias that were living in it. My guess is that I had Fry's born twice in the main tank, the four little guys went though the pump and was caught in the 55 gal filter. I'll be adding more places for the future Fry's to hind in the main FT.

    Snails have invaded my filter system, they are keeping it a lot cleaner. I took about 100 small snails that was in the filter bag and feed them to my quails. Made for a good snack...they love it.

  2. #42
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    Re: Pipe Siphon by Apollo

    Awesome keep up the good work. Glad to hear the snails didn't clog things up.

  3. #43
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    Re: Pipe Siphon by Apollo

    So if the snails that are in my whirlpool filter that are eating up all of the algae and slug build up inside of the filter, keeping it really clean.

    If they were to get into the GB's, why would that not be a good thing? Would they not be doing the same thing that the red wiggles worms are doing?

  4. #44
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    Re: Pipe Siphon by Apollo

    guess it depends on if the eat plant roots or plant stems. In your grow bed there is little to no chance the snails will be eaten by a predator.

  5. #45
    Members Apollo's Avatar
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    Re: Pipe Siphon by Apollo

    Quick up date, with temp here dropping below freezing for 4 nights in a roll…high daytime temp between 44 to 51 degrees. I had to rethink my entire system, I’m shutting down the water flow to my Duckweed tank and switching from my Pipe Siphon to my Constant Flow during the night and the coldest part of the day.

    With only one 500 watt heater my temp hit 50 degrees last night, 51 the night before. Lost one of my smaller Pink Tilapia yesterday another one not doing so well today. Ordered another 500 watt heater this morning and have been adding hot water to FT to hold temp at 52 degrees.

  6. #46
    Moderator JCO's Avatar
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    Re: Pipe Siphon by Apollo

    I would say your efforts are almost too little, too late. Always prepare for the worst and hope for the best in Aquaponics as in life. How long have you lived where you are now?
    JCO
    Irish eyes are always smiling but
    • "In the eyes of the world, you are only as good as your last success"
    so never forget
    • "MAN IS ONLY LIMITED BY HIS IMAGINATION"

  7. #47
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    Re: Pipe Siphon by Apollo

    14 years at this location but have been in the valley since 1959, as a professional house painter I’ve watch the weather very closely over the past 42 years. I do not recall weather being this cold for this long.

    How right you are JCO…last year I only had to run my heater for maybe 4 weeks, to keep my FT at 60 degrees or above. But I should have picked up another heater, I wanted to make sure this brand was reliable.

    With my system mostly buried in the ground the water temp changes slowly, with cold snaps only lasting 1 to 2 days, things were fine last year. With 5 straight nights below freezing, cold days, plus the addition of 6 vertical towers, above ground swirl filter and my above ground duckweed tank. All adds up to a lot of heat loss, closing off the water flow to the DWT and changing over to a Constant Flow the last 2 nights has help to bring the temp up.

    Will redo the plumbing to the swirl filter by adding a bypass for the cold nights and the coldest part of the day until the outside temp reaches 60 degrees or at least a few degrees about FT water.

  8. #48
    Members Aloha Don's Avatar
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    Re: Pipe Siphon by Apollo

    Apollo - In May 2014 you said you were trying to bring down your Nitrates.....How were you doing this?
    Put all excuses aside and remember this: YOU are capable - Zig Ziglar

  9. #49
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    Re: Pipe Siphon by Apollo

    Sorry to say...NO! I've have been doing massive water exchanges. Like 150 gals per day for 5 to 6 days in a row. Ran out of rain water than started at 55 gals per day with well water that had sat for 24 hrs...for another 5 to 6 days in a row. Got it down to 160 ppm, with in a week back to 200 to 300 ppm. Then did another 1000 gals exchanged with rain water and got it down to 160 to 200 ppm. Need more plants...less fish food...more rain.

  10. #50
    Moderator JCO's Avatar
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    Re: Pipe Siphon by Apollo

    I should inform you that nitrates are far less harmful than most people know so you can slack off on wasteing your water reserves. My KOI tank sometimes runs as high as 600 ppm without any stress to the fish. High Aeroation is the key. The main thing to remember is when nitrates are high, more aeroation is needed. Algae bloom will eat up most of the nitrates and fish like algae.
    JCO
    Irish eyes are always smiling but
    • "In the eyes of the world, you are only as good as your last success"
    so never forget
    • "MAN IS ONLY LIMITED BY HIS IMAGINATION"

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