It Is "If You Give a Mouse A Cookie" Time

Let me start off by saying... brim are pigs and picky eaters.  There is not enough water movement to properly clean the fish tank.  So what do I do?


In my existing setup, my water pump feeds a top growbed with a gravity fed water return into the fish tank AND a straight feed back into the fish tank with a venturi (for air).

This is where the "give a mouse a cookie" comes into play.

• If I build a solids filter to clean the water a bit, then I have to add a sump tank and the water pump will move to the sump. 
• If I build a solids filter, I could build a bio-filter too.
• Since I'm adding a sump, I might as well sink the sump and build some extra beds.
• If I build some extra beds, I will need a larger water pump.
• If I add a larger water pump, I could use the existing pump just to cycle water and add air to the fish tank.

This week I ordered a bunch of Uniseals in different sizes.  Tonight, I built a solids filter based on the YouTube video, "Aquaponic radial flow filter for solids removal..", which is based on this guy's design, "DIY Solids Filter".  Uniseals are awesome.

Tomorrow, I have to go buy some PVC pipe because I bought the wrong diameter.  I used 1 1/2" fittings and Uniseals, but bought 1 1/4" pipe.  Luckily, I had enough pipe on-hand to build the filter itself.

I also contacted a local manufacturer of expanded clay media AND a local billboard tarp dealer.  The tarp should be available this weekend and I can get the media as soon as I have the new bed(s) ready.