Stage 32 - we have veggies and more grow tubs coming - the pool is now a pond

[SovereignBeing]

u dont know whats in rain water these days - see chemtrails... !

[TheGardeningGuru]

I can get something called 'swarf' which is the spirals they get when they drill out materials and in this case that's obviously plastic. My question for you is this.

I run the system on an ebb and flow basis so it's on for 15 and off again for 45 minutes. Is this an issue with what you're suggesting? Will the bacteria be fine?

[AdamCanFly]

I think swarf would work great, but I don't think the wet dry filter would work on an ebb and flow system. What about a fluidized bed filter? I never used one, but I think one might work well for you. From what I've read they have a huge capacity for bacteria. You could set it up to go directly from the fluidized bed filter to a grow bed. I think the plants would love it because the FBF does not take away CO2 which is good for plants. I've seen a lot of do it yourself FBFs online.

[AdamCanFly]

My favorite media for a bio filter is pot scrubbers. I used to get them at Big Lots. They're really cheep and have a large amount of surface area for the bacteria to grab on. I think if I were doing a project like yours I would use a plastic 55 gallon drum filled with pot scrubbers then topped off with a few filter pads going from coarse to fine, and maybe even a mesh bag filled with activated carbon under the filter pads. Then you will need to put a drip tray on top of that.

[TheGardeningGuru]

not likely to do a water change here - this is about 17,500 litres. thanks for the tip on the bio filter. I didn't get it to work properly anyway so i canned it for now. I'll try again and follow your advice. am still having issues with the algal bloom. it started to subside and then came back. a week ago it started to clear up again and i could start to see through it but now it's just sitting. more grow beds maybe?

[AdamCanFly]

In the fish keeping hobby they call it new tank syndrome. Do you plan on doing water changes? That usually helps with an algae bloom. Once you get your beneficial bacteria built up it shouldn't be a problem. I see on the next video that you are sinking the biological filter. I would recommend keeping it out of the water and using it as a trickle filter. The idea is to grow aerobic bacteria. I love your project! I wish I could do the exact same thing! Email me if you have any questions.