Friday, June 19, 2020

3.3, 3.4, 3.5 Air Pump Accessories

Posted on Friday, June 19, 2020 by Biofloc Fish Farming

What are the accessories for air pump?

Just an air pump won't be of any use to you. For that you'll need other attachments like air pipes, air stones, controllers, non-return check valves,etc. We will be talking about them in my own words, hopefully you'll find it useful.

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• Air pipes

The only duty of an air pump is to pump air from the atmosphere through its nozzle, air pipes are then used to "transport" the air from the aforementioned nozzle to the tank. That air is then released underwater through air stones, but that's another story we'll talk about later.

The pipes used for aeration in fish tanks usually have an inner diameter of 4 mm (0.16 inch) and are made of plastic,silicone, etc. Both have their own pros and cons. Plastic pipes are cheaper but they become hard and loose their flexibility and gets damaged because of kinking. Silicone pipes are comparatively a bit costlier, but they are soft, flexible and they resist wear and tear way better than plastic pipes.

I've noticed that using silicone pipes are better because the ends don't get loose after repeated insertion of the nozzle of the air stones or air controllers, and that is very helpful because a loose end will cause the nozzle of the air stone to slip out and trust me, it is very very hard to find the fallen air stone in a tank full of water with fishes and floc in it. So, if you take my advice, go with silicone pipes, you will not regret. Maybe it will cost you a little extra but will save you from all the troubles we had to go through because of our bad decisions.

• Air stones

Air stones, also called "air-bubblers" are important fish tank accessories. Their nozzles slide into the cavity of the air pipes and the air from the pump is released through their pores in the form of bubbles. Air stones do not directly mix oxygen into the water. What they do is cause agitation on the surface of the water, allowing greater volume of water to release the built-up carbon dioxide and take in more oxygen.

There is a myriad collection of air stones in the market today. Try to go for cylindrical air stones with brass nozzles. The brass nozzle is longer lasting and has ridges that prevents them from slipping out.

• Controllers & connectors

Controllers are plastic attachments used to control the volume of air passing through the specific pipe. We should always opt for the sturdier controllers that are available, although a bit costlier.

Connectors are plastic ornaments too with a specific purpose, to divide one air line to two or three secondary lines. I always buy about a dozen extra because I do not know how I always keep losing them.

3.2 Air Pumps

Posted on Sunday, June 07, 2020 by Biofloc Fish Farming

• What are Air Pumps?

An air pump is one of the most basic, yet versatile, pieces of equipment that you will have to own for fish rearing, whether it is an aquarium or a fish farming tank. For biofloc fish farming, this is considered one of the most important equipment which you will need, so that you don't end up with thousands of dead fishes floating on the water surface. The basic function of an air pump is to force air, through mechanical means, from the atmosphere into your aquarium, which is later released inside the water in the form of bubbles.

• What is the use of air pumps in tanks?

Like we've discussed above, the air pump forces the air from the atmosphere into the tank through a pipe. The air is released through a air stone, this results in the creation of thousands of tiny air bubbles which rush to the water surface, causing surface agitation. This is beneficial in some ways:

Increases the concentration of dissolved Oxygen (D.O.) in the tank.
Fishes are constantly breathing oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide, these bubbles helps in releasing the dissolved carbon dioxide.
Good aeration helps in stirring the water up to a certain degree. Maintaining proper water flow velocity is essential for optimizing biofloc systems and keeping microorganisms suspended in the water column.
An additional benefit of aeration and mixing is the removal of gases from the water column, which can have a great effect on overall water quality.

• Types of air pumps :

Electromagnetic air pump
Diaphragm air pump

➤Electromagnetic air pumps are a type of rotary pumps where they rotor is constantly, well, rotating, and when it comes to fish-keeping trade, they generally look something like the picture attached. They are comparatively cheaper than diaphragm air pumps but they come with their own set of problems like:

Louder operating noise.
Cannot be easily repaired in case of malfunctioning, although by theory they last longer.
Consumes more electricity as compared to diaphragm air pumps.

➤Diaphragm air pumps are a better substitute for electromagnetic air pumps. They are a type of reciprocating pump, where the air is pumped in two-steps cycle. They can be comparatively quieter than electromagnetic air pumps, with lesser power consumption, and they last way longer in comparison. Even in case of malfunctioning, its usually a damaged diaphragm which can easily be replaced by a novice with just unscrewing about four screws and repairing it, that's why i always use them as my primary aeration source.

• How to choose the right pump for my tank?

Do consult your trainer under whom you were trained, he/she will probably assist you up to a certain extent, but do not follow him blindly. I mean, the person who trained us, said that any pump that causes "bubbles to come out of water" will be useful. He also insisted that any pump that pumps about 25 LPM (litres per minute) volume of air will suffice. That is not totally true. The depth of the tank affects the air pressure, and from my experience more is better, because its better use one pump for more than one tank, than using multiple pumps for them.

I use 120 LPM diaphragm pumps for two tanks (10,000 litres each) on an average, and they've been working fine for me. If you're going for just one tank in the beginning, try to invest just a little bit more and go for any pump that pumps 60 LPM volume of air or more, you can easily make 11-12 outlets from it and still have enough aeration and water movement.

3.1 Use of Potassium Permanganate in Biofloc Farming

Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2020 by Biofloc Fish Farming

• Potassium Permanganate

Potassium permanganate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula KMnO4. It is a purplish-black crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to give intensely pink or purple solutions. In a layman's term, it is a moderately strong "chemical" that will react with any organic matter in a biofloc fish tank, and oxidize them. Therefore it is used extensively by fish farmers to disinfect their ponds or fish tanks to get rid of any microbial lifeforms like algae, bacteria and kill them and purify their ponds or tanks.

It is available in pharmaceutical stores in small sachets and packets of around 50 grams, and it can be cheap or a just a little bit costly depending on the locality. You can find it in crystal forms or powdered form and the colour varies from very dark pink to purple which become deep purple when dissolved in water.

• How to use it :

Buy a small pack of Potassium permanganate from any pharmaceutical shop, you can buy as much as you want but you won't need a lot of it, so you can store it for future use. I use the product shown below.
Open the pack, you'll find a purple or dark pink coloured powder. Take just a small amount of it, about 3-4 grams.
Dissolve the powder in a bucket full of water, it will easily dissolve in water resulting in a purplish solution.
Spray or pour the solution all over the walls carefully.
Wait for a about 30 minutes and wash it off thoroughly with clean water. Let the water drain out totally.
Fill it with clean water up to the desired mark and proceed with the next step.

• Other uses of Potassium permanganate :

I use a solution of 1 gram of Potassium permanganate powder in 20 litres of water to sterilize the fish seed before releasing them in the tank. This helps in getting rid of the unwanted pathogens that the fishes carry with them. I do it by taking the fishes in a net and dipping them in the solution for about 10-15 seconds, and then dipping them in clean water and then releasing them. I have noticed that this process helps in getting rid of many extremely lethal parasites like Ich.

• Tips :

Potassium permanganate stains skin and clothing and should be handled with care. Clothing stains may be washed away using acetic acid (vinegar). Skin stains usually disappear within 48 hours.
Potassium permanganate rapidly loses its potency when exposed to light and air. So keep any solution you make up well away from light and in a airtight container.
Ensure you clearly mark any such container as POISON and keep it well away from children.
Wear rubber gloves and use masks when handling Potassium permanganate.

4. Tank material

Posted on Tuesday, June 02, 2020 by Biofloc Fish Farming

Tank types used in Biofloc Farming:

Moving forward towards the construction of tanks for fish farming, the first question that pops in our mind is the type of tank and the material to be used for constructing the tank. Although there are tanks which are constructed using different materials, but usually Biofloc tanks are of two types:

Tarpaulin tanks
Cement or concrete tanks

These are the widely used materials for tanks, largely accepted by around 85 percent of fish farmers. Most of them use tarpaulin tanks, and if you ask for advice, they'll start praising tarpaulin for numerous real and/or fictional advantages. There are several reasons behind tarpaulin becoming the favourite option for so many of us. But we need to understand why and how tarpaulin became the "favourite child" for so many of them.

If you think about it, you'll realize that this fish farming technology was introduced in Israel, as space and water is not that abundant in Israel. So this technology was gladly accepted by the masses with open arms. Since concrete and raw materials are comparatively costlier over there, so they came up with the idea of using tarpaulin, which is waterproof and cost-effective. Later in, Indonesia was the country that adopted this biofloc fish farming technology and literally copied everything from farmers of Israel to the t, i.e. circular tarpaulin tank.

Let's talk about India, we blindly followed the mass and unofficially declared that Biofloc fish farming is done only in tarpaulin tanks, and this is totally wrong. Fish farming can be done in any tank made of any waterproof material, whether it is tarpaulin or PVC or concrete. Because of several YouTubers, people blindly believe that tarpaulin tanks helps in better fish production, and they cannot be more wrong.

Coming back to the point, tanks are usually constructed by the two above-mentioned materials, each with their own set of pros and cons.

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Tarpaulin :

Tarpaulin, like I've already said, is the most widely used material for construction of the tanks.

Advantages of Tarpaulin:
Tarpaulin tank

Cheaper in price when compared to cement tanks. They can be completed under Rs. 15,000/- in India.
Easily available in online markets, but you have to be careful in choosing the material of the right thickness, otherwise you're going to be in a big trouble.
They are lighter in weight, so when they're empty they can be moved from one site to another.
Some manufacturers also provide total replacement warranty of around 3-5 years, so you will be a little bit less worried about their longevity.

Disadvantages of Tarpaulin:

No matter how thick the material is, tarpaulin is still not a damage proof material. As I have seen in my case, they can be very easily damaged if they're not installed by professionals.
They are not very very long-lasting no matter how much the seller or manufacturer says. The average life of a tarpaulin tanks is no more than a few years.
Repair is possible, but if there is a very minute tear in the tank while it is loaded, then you'd have to act fast otherwise you have to look for a spare tank that may hold your fishes while you're repairing it.
Most manufacturers do not know about the proper thickness of the tarpaulin. They also do not care about the tarpaulin whether they're UV stabilized or not. Choosing the wrong type of tarpaulin can be harmful from the fishes, because over time they affect the water and the fishes.
In summer the water gets terribly hot because the temperature can easily cross the 45 ℃ mark in India summers

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Concrete or cement tanks :

When this technology was introduced to India, many farmers were unable to get their hands on the proper type of tarpaulin for their tanks, so with a little bit of consideration, they started constructing tanks using cement. I am one of those fish farmers who prefer concrete tanks over tarpaulin tanks.
Cement tank

Advantages of concrete tanks:

These tanks are highly durable and used mainly for their water holding strength.
They last really really long. With proper maintenance, one concrete tank will easily last for at least two decades, hence these are cost-effective in the long run.
I have noticed that the temperature of the water in the cement tank is always around 5-7℃ lower, so I assume they keep the water a bit cooler.

Disadvantages of concrete tanks:

Costlier than tarpaulin tanks. The initial investment would easily cross Rs. 30,000/- in India, which can be a bit tougher for new farmers.
The cannot be relocated to any other site.
Although these tanks made of cement are damage-proof up to a great extent, but in case of any damage it will require a little bit longer.

Parameters	Cost	Mobility	Strength	Durability	Time for construction
Tarpaulin	★★	★★★★	★★	★	★
Concrete	★★★★	-	★★★★★	★★★★★	★★★

These are the two major types of materials used for constructing of Biofloc tanks. I have included words from my own experience. I hope you don't mind me babbling about certain stuff.