That type of a system is designed for self-recovery... just a matter of time now before the fish will be back in full force as well. I absolutely LOVE all those feral fish living in the sump... I could endlessly watch them all day. It's its very own community... :)
The feral fish are part of the greenhouse ecosystem. We have customers who want to buy sump fish. We're thinking of having a fish festival here once the pandemic is under control. We could offer sump fish to attendees. Charles
Great smile Mr. Charles! 😁 Thanks for the updates and taking us through the vats! I really enjoy learning about the specific fish in each of them!! I sure do appreciate you answering our questions!! Love and prayers to you and Susie and everyone that is lending a hand!!🙏❤️🌿🐟🌿💚
Yes - I pointed out that out on that comment but it rapidly began entering SJW territory and thats not why any (most?) of us are here. Fishkeeping hobbyists is the main thing
This channel has become the reason I check UA-cam everyday. Love it. Using Barbara Walstad’s method before it was popularized as the Walstad method. OG.
@@goliadfarms7029 Her book is a fascinating read. It’s very in depth ( some people find it dry) and you already have so much insight that I don’t know if it’s worth you’re time, but it’s been a guiding principle in my fish keeping.
There is little more comforting than the love of a good dog (I had to say "there is little more comforting" because I have a wife and would like to keep her). Charles
Susie (wife and business manager) finally got around to cutting my hair. I'm way too impatient to go to town and deal with barbers, so she cuts my hair and puts up with my, "Are we done yet?" Charles
Thank you. One potential blessing of this disaster we that we discovered the benefits of having a UA-cam channel. We will be posting a lot of informational content after we complete documenting our recovery. Charles
Hope you guys can catch a break from a weather disaster or otherwise! I love the setup of your farm and the fact that yall use a lot of natural ways to rid yourself of waste, including feeding deceased fish to your dogs. I became aware of your farm after watching the tour that aquarium co op did awhile back and I'm so glad that they made that video. You guys have in my opinion the most impressive fish farm I have ever seen. The amount of knowledge you have about all the plants and fish and everything is so entertaining. If i had to choose between going to a large zoo aquarium or touring your farm i would choose your farm and attempting to soak up some your knowledge 10/10 times! Best wishes from West Virginia!
Thank you. Cory and @aquariumcoop have been a huge help. I hope to get him down for another visit. Now that we are sort of mastering videography, we intend to continue even after we complete documenting our recovery. Also, after the pandemic is under control we plan on allowing hatchery visits. Charles
Only a little ways in, happy to see you guys again. There are bulk head strainer parts that will pop right onto those pvc fittings. it will raise the water level slightly but should work perfectly. Excited for the scud tour! Im watching this one twice for sure, love the plant info too! :) I am going to contact you via phone call soon, I have a bunch of used strainer parts. Would love to send them to you guys if you can make them work.
We use some strainers but they clog up fairly easily so we don't use then on 300-gallon breeding vats where there is a lot of water inflow. The idea of netting coils is going to be implemented shortly. Charles
I have a 10 gallon tank with one beta in it. I love my tank I love my fish and I love the plants grow inside. But I have to say watching your videos have been a revelation to me. The mind boggles at how wonderful nature can be if we treated with respect. Obviously nature didn’t wait you probably a properly last week, But watching all these videos of your recovery process has been food for my soul. How are you all have worked so hard to recover after such devastation is morally uplifting to all of us that are watching. Thank you so much for sharing this time with us no matter how hard it has been for you. I have learned a lot not only about fish in water and nature but strength and stamina from you and your lovely wife. Again I thank you. Here in Alberta Canada the snow you received would have been a slap on the wrist to us. Your climate was not prepared for the devastation, but how you have reacted to the situation is very impressive. It just goes to show, but certain things can be absolutely devastating when they happen in the wrong place.
Sorry for your loss A couple of pond gas heaters will do you justice for the future.......like this comment 500k times so @Greg Woodstock & the @pond professor can come hook it up hopefully finger's crossed lol prayers go up blessings come down
Thank you. We are looking into water heaters. The problem with this event was the simultaneous long power outages and lack of propane supply. We couldn't heat and run our generator at the same time. Charles
The dogs enjoy "hunting" for fatalities in the greenhouses. Since we usually have in the order of 250,000 fish, there are always some for them to eat. Charles
I’m glad to finally hear some more about the workings of this amazing and inspiring system. It’s not easy to get concise, general information from a man who has so many interesting stories to tell. I’d love to hear more information on a system level: what goes in, what goes out, water parameters, how stable is it, etc.
So Awesome & Endless amount of knowledge greatly appreciate all the hard work & all the time you are putting into the new videos. Thank you all so much
So nice Carl to see you looking and sounding better. Glad things are looking up. Admire your tenacity dealing with it all. Would Love to have some of that hornwart. Always been one of my fav plants. I also grow miniature orchids as a hobby too. Have a good one Carl. 👍
Thank you. By the way, I got a start of Vanilla Bean Orchid to try out in the greenhouses since it is supposed to like high humidity and temperature. It has added some leaves, so I guess it will do well. Also, Carl is my son and is doing the videography. Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 ah, ok sorry Charles. Yeah it should do great for you in greenhouse. It's a vine type plant, a slow grower at first, and when mature it will produce a white color bloom and if hand pollinated it will produce a vanilla bean or seed pod. 👍☺️
I doubt you would remember me, but I managed a fish store in fort worth and yall would personally deliver your livestock. I loved getting orders from you because everything was healthy and absolutely gorgeous. You would deliver truly top show quality looking animals and we almost never lost anything that came from you. Sorry to have learned yall took such a bad hit from the storm. I look forward to watching you rebuild.
Seeing how you have set your greenhouse up has inspired me to try something similar in my backyard for my turtles in a Harbor Freight green house on a smaller scale!
I'll have to think about that. I recommend a lot of sun and a lot of passive exercise. Passive exercise is what you get doing what you like. Exercise for its own sake bores me. Also, I walk rather than ride. Before breakfast everyday I walk a half mile just to check the greenhouses and get the newspaper from the road. Multiple trips a dayfrom house to greenhouses add up to several miles of walking per day. We try to eat a healthy diet. Charles
It is a great plant. It does really well with cichlids since it is a rootless, floating plant and they can't dig it up. It is the primary food for our scud cultures, providing habitat and food. It provides refuge for fry of all types. Charles
Great video, glad use got to take a little break at the weekend, you our just a world of knowledge charles and im soaking up the info like a sponge, can't wait for the next upload, amazing, stay strong
Awesome Video Thankyou. I Love Floating Hornwort in my tanks and Tubs. Awesome hide to help Baby Bettas Guppies and other fry survive. Plus its amazing water cleaning ability, it also keeps the water surface free of any film.
We got our start of hornwort from a nursery on the edge of the French Quarter years and years ago. The nursery didn't survive Hurricane Katrina. Charles
You would expect anyone that has been through all you have in the past 10 (never ending) days to look worn out and beaten down... But you're looking pretty good ole man....lol Great to see things coming back together do to your dedication and the hard work of you and yours... Best wishes..!
Amazing set up, amazing educational content. So good. Glad u had time off. Love your Shepard. I had one. Interested in the mountain line story! And any other wildlife stories u have
I'm sure you are all stressed and exhausted. One day at a time. Grandbrat I laughed so hard! That's something my Dad would say. 😁 Keep up the great work. Things will get better.
Tyvm Charles for mentioning the scud questions in general! With the Piper Auritum, I wonder if it could alsp be dried for aquarium botanical use, just like mulberry and other leaves are? Could be another use for it instead of culinary!
I'm not sure. I will place a leaf in a scud vat to see if they eat it. I also have some dried leaves and will see what they do with them. I have noticed that guppy and molly fry like to stay on top of a leaf that is just floating under the surface of the water. Charles
I wonder if a black bucket would help show the paramecium milky swarm? Glad to see how many fish have survived. So sorry to see how much you lost. Thanks for the updates!
I tried a blue bucket, but a black bucket might work better. It's frustrating that we can see the swarms of Paramecium but can't video or photograph them effectively. We should be able, it seems, to rebuild most of the breeding colonies. It does appear that we have lost at least a year's worth of future revenues, but we will recover. Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 Another option is a clear container against a plain background, dark or light depending on what might show the cloudiness better, probably dark. Just thought of it. 😊
I am so happy when your channel came up on my discovery feed. I find what you are doing endlessly interesting. I am sorry you were hit with two disasters relatively close to each other. As difficult as the loss was it seems you will recover with your ingenuity and perseverance. I do have a couple questions about the feral fish. How did they become feral like that, do you feed them and do you ever harvest them to put back in the vats or sell? Thank you.
Thank you. The feral fish become feral mainly two ways. One: since the floor of the greenhouse is a water filled gutter, any fish that is dropped or jumps becomes instantly feral. Two: feral happily spawn in the floor gutters and sumps. We sometimes harvest feral fish for wholesale customers. Also, if I see a fish that I think might improve a strain or maybe begin a new strain, we collect it. We do feed the feral fish while feeding fish in the vats. If you look back through early videos there should be one of a feral fish feeding frenzy. Charles
I hope you don’t lose no more we are fish this year so sorry mother nature is a very fickle friend that just doesn’t care what she drops on us you need a wetland filter of aqua blocks at least a 2000 gallon system to keep all the good bacteria and all your ponds and all the water being fed through and back it would do you justice I’m just saying maybe you should look into it thanks for the great videos And bringing us into your life and all your work
Nature can throw the occasional curveball. After we get our new generator fully installed we should be ready for spring thunderstorm power outages and possible summer hurricanes. Our greenhouses are effectively internal wetlands with plenty of plants to handle any normal situations. We can't use outside wetlands because even in our mild climate outside winter water temperatures are too low for tropical fish. Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 I appreciate you letting me know that I wish you the best of luck love your videos love what you do you are truly a very gifted breeder and fish keeper I would love to get a few pairs of guppies from you males and females I don’t care what they look like they don’t have to be anything special let me know if we can work something out you could email me at brianbikelife@gmail.com I look forward To hear from you thank you have a blessed one
Being a biologist I am loving the simplicity of your set up. What are your nitrate levels? What percentage water change do you do for your entire systems? For my fish room iI change 60% of the water twice a month. I wish I lived closer by i would work for free.
We just checked ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate this morning. Both greenhouses are almost zero ammonia now (less than 0.05 ppm). They spiked about a week and a half ago as 1ppm ammonia. Nitrite is both greenhouses is zero. Nitrate is 10-20 ppm in Greenhouse 1 and 20-40 ppm in Greenhouse 2. The plant filters and associated bacterial colonies have done their assigned work. I estimate that we add several hundred gallons of water a day due to operational and evaporative losses. Since we have 75,000 gallons of water in the systems, that's less than 1% daily additions. Charles
I know this is kinda late but to prevent this from happening again. You can install a wood heater or if you have a chimney in your house you can replace the tubing with a special kind of chimney wall that has a copper tube in it. This chimney uses thermal dynamics to heat water through the copper coil and returns hot water. So you could in theory have a oil burner outside or something like a big steel fire box with a chimney that can heat water for you on demand and return it into the greenhouses hot and help heat the greenhouses and prevent this from happening again. Just an idea.
We had vented greenhouse heaters (fairly expensive) that were destroyed by Hurricane Harvey. They were overkill for every winter but this one. The big problems with this event were two weeks of cloudy weather so our greenhouses didn't get solar heat gain, record cold for much longer than we've ever experienced, long power outages, and propane shortages that made it difficult to heat while also running our generator. We are working on hardening up our systems, but the combination of events leading to this disaster isn't likely to occur again. Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 I would beg to differ as the worlds climates are changing year by year. Especially here in north America. Weather patterns aren't the same and it's always best to have. More than one system to maintain the desired effect. But charles thanks for your reply and I hope you recover. P.s. if our government and military rely on redundancy why shouldn't you? If the grid goes down again next winter, propane sky rockets, another arctic blast comes down south can you really rely on this to. Pull through this is just the beginning of a weather system that is new. I hope you survive and you truly are a bright and intelligent man and I respect you sir for your efforts and respecting nature for your benefit.
We occasionally drape a net in the sumps to get the fish used to it and then feed above it and harvest the sump fish. We have certain customers who await that. Charles
If you had a small drop into a little pit for instance, and the outflow had some fine mesh you could slowly catch all the feral fish over time without having to do anything really.
We really only try to harvest the feral fish when a customer wants a bunch of them or I see a fish I want to use in our breeding programs. It's very easy to feed them and they don't require any care other than food. Charles
I had two siphons between tanks for that reason. Redundancy is critical when flooding could occur. One reasons we went from galvanized channel gutters to floor gutters was leaks, overflows, and flooding. Our systems have evolved to minimize problems. Charles
The plants inbetween the vats are just in water and not potted. We just drop a stalk between the vats and they root rapidly. Their roots do collect mulm and convert it into very rich soil. Next time we pull some plants out, we'll video the process and show how they are growing. Charles
Those are "fry cages." They are large cylinders with a bottom. They are on stilts to keep them off the bottom and to provide hideouts for larger fish. Fry and juveniles as well as livebearers in with cichlids use the fry cages as refuges. We place two of them in each 300-gallong breeding vat. Charles
Yes. Water leaving the greenhouses flows out through screened pipes into an isolated wetland that is populated with water hungry Black Willows. In our hot, dry climate the "wetland" quickly dries out. Charles
We've looked into solar and haven't found it to be economically feasible so far. But we are working with an electrical engineer friend to revisit solar. He has his own solar array nearby. An issue is that our local electric coop has low rates. That is good, but also means that power we sell back to them is also at a very low rate. We are looking into using solar panels for heating water in the winter and cooling water in the summer without connecting to the grid. Charles
Yes, we do. We collect them for some wholesale customers periodically (not as often as they would like) and when I see a fish I want to use in an aquarium strain breeding program. We never use feral fish in pure species breeding programs because we can't be absolutely sure of identification and purity. Charles
I'll have to look into that. We have Philodendron growing in our yard. We'll see if it survived the storm. It survived 13F about 10 years ago. I just looked up "variegated monstera deliciosa" on EBay. Those are some high prices! Charles
Why don't you sell your horn wort as extra income instead of throwing it away? One more question could you attach a swimming pool heater to atleast 1 of the greenhouses as a saftey net.
We do sell some hornwort. But, when we "throw it away," we are placing it on litterworm beds where it is converted to wonderful compost. We also fed surplus to our scuds which provide a significant revenue stream. The problem wasn't heating capacity as much as the lack of grid power and shortages of propane for our generator. We weren't able to run all our electric heaters due to lack of power. Charles
Thank you. UA-cam just approved us for monetization. I apologize for the ads that are apparently beginning to run. We will continue providing content for revenue to carry us through the next year since we have essentially lost a year's worth of future revenue due to fish losses. Susie and Carl are already pressuring me to raise fewer of many more types of fish to provide content. I like raising more of fewer types since large numbers of fish allow my breeding programs more raw material for strain improvement. I suppose I must change with the times. But, maybe I can talk Susie into another greenhouse? Charles
The overflows are 1". Yes the snails are blocking them, but someone suggested that we put a small cylinder of aquaculture mesh in the overflows. That's a good idea and we will do that. Charles
I'm just wondering, how did you setup the greenhouse at the start, is there a concrete floor under the aquaculture tarp? Also how did you come with that unique gutter/walkway? Must be exciting to see fish dart through the cinder blocks
The floor of the greenhouses is native soil with a layer of sand for leveling. Placed over that sand is an aquaculture grade pond liner. The liner is fastened to the four-foot high side rails of the greenhouse. At the entrance of Greenhouse 1 there is a concrete pad that the liner laps over a bit. In Greenhouse 2 we used 8"x8"x16" hollow concrete blocks instead of poured concrete and covered the blocks with pond liner. The sumps in each greehouse are four feet deep, dug out with a backhoe and lined with 8"x8"x16" hollow concrete blocks filled with sand and held in place with 7 foot t-posts. The sump is lined with pond liner. The floor gutter pond liner overlaps the sump liner. Next time we video our recirculating and plant filtration systems, I'll make sure to highlight all of this since I've finally discovered that a minute of video is worth pages of typing. Also, when we rebuild Greenhouse 3 (I hope this summer), we'll video document the entire process. Charles
We do sell them both wholesale and to online customers, but have suspended sales until we complete our inventories and finish rebuilding breeding colonies. We don't presently ship to Canada. Last time we looked into shipping there, it seemed a bit too onerous. We'd need a Canadian business license and a USDA import/export license. We are open to suggestions how to ship there without too much hassle. Charles
The only time we had to medicate the entire system was when somehow Chilodonella got into the system. We cured that by adding solar salt to 6ppt and added a few grams of malachite green (which we don't like using since it damages Nitorsomas and Nitrobacter that control ammonia and its metabolites). Solar salt is cheap. We do feed praziquantel as a preventative wormer a couple of times a year. A kilogram lasts a couple of years. Charles
There are a number of aquaculture supply companies selling fish quality pond liners. We currently buy from a local company whose main business is selling liners to oil and gas drilling companies. Search for "aquaculture pond liners." Charles
You were talking about snail problem try my snail trap all you need is a potato or a carrot tie a string to it drop it in the tank wait awhile the snails will go to it remove slowly scrape the snails off and put back in.
Snails can be annoyance. We reduce populations of pond snails and red ramshorns by netting when we process vats every 3-4 months. 55-gallon vats with cichlids are clear of those two species since the fish are crowded and eat egg cases and small snails. The comments about birth control for Gold Mystery Snails was a bit tongue-in-cheek. We sell a lot of them and control is simple since they lay egg cases above the water line. Susie doesn't like them in 300-gallon breeding vats, since large numbers of them make fish sorting slower, so we are removing them as we go through those vats. The most annoying snails are tiny trumpet snails that most fish won't eat. They are the perfect size to clog the strainers we put on vats to prevent fry from leaving the vats. The snails clog the strainers and cut your finger when you sitck it in to clear the clogs. Your suggest for trapping the snails is good except that we have over 700 vats. That's a lot of string, carrots, and potatoes, not to mention the labor. We've learned to live with the snails. We can't use any chemical snail control because we raise some snails and some invertebrates that would be killed. Having a large recirculating system precludes tank-by-tank treatment. Charles
After 20+ years, we haven't had to do change out pipes. The buildup of calcium carbonate seems to only occur where evaporation happens, such as where water flows down the side of vat. We do get some buildup on straners, but that can be cleared by soaking them in dilute muriactic acid (HCl). Charles
Over what period of time did you end up at your current set up? Did you buy all the vats more or less at once, or did you just add to it over time as you needed to or could afford to?
We added vats as we needed. We started in Santa Fe, NM in 1997 a 1,500 sq. ft. greenhouse with 200 barrels. We acquired those barrels from a recycler over a period of a few weeks. When we moved here in 2000-2001, our first greenhouse was 3,000 sq. ft. with about 400 barrels. We moved the barrels from Santa Fe and added the other 200 over a period of weeks from a recycler in San Antonio. When we built Greenhouse 2 in 2003, we moved those vats from the destroyed Greenhouse 1 (thanks to Hurricane Claudette). We rebuilt Greenhouse 1 in 2004 to it's current configuration with 240 55-gallon barrels and 28 300-gallon vats acquired from Tractor Supply. Later we reconfigured Greenhouse 2 to have 160 55-gallon barrels, 23 110 gallon vats (also from Tractor Supply), and 30 300-gallon vats. We have various other vats (45-gallon, 600-gallon, 1200-gallon, etc.) acquired over the years that were in the now temporarily decommissioned Greenhouse 3 and outside locations. Charles
The large plants are not potted. We simply drop a stalk between the vats and let it root and grow. Periodically we have to pull the plants out since they begin to interfere with water overflow fittings and piping. Next time we do that, we'll video that process. The liners are very tough. The liners are similar to the liners used in the oil field to line brine ponds and oil slush. They have been manufactured to be aquaculture friendly, meaning they don't shed a lot of formaldehyde. Root cannot penetrate the liners unless there is a hole. The liners are very puncture proof. The liners in Greenhouse 2 have been in place since 2003. Those in Greenhouse 1 since 2004. Greenhouse 1 was destroyed by Hurricane Claudette in 2003 and was rebuilt in 2004. Greenhouse 2 was built after the hurricane and before winter to move the surviving fish from Greenhouse 1 before it got too cold. Charles
We built our first greenhouse in Santa Fe. New Mexico in 1997. In 2000 we built Greenhouse 1 here on our Texas farm that has been in the family since 1870. We completed our move from Sante Fe in 2001. In summer of 2003 Hurricane Claudetter destroyed Greenhouse 1. We hurriedly build Greenhouse 2 before cold weather arrived and moved the surviving fish into it. In 2004 we rebuilt Greenhouse 1. Both Greenhouse 1 and Greenhouse two are ~3,000 sq. ft. We added the smaller Greenhouse 3 (~1,800 sq. ft.) in 2014. The genesis of our recirculation systems with plant filtration was in the late 1970s when I built a 30 10-gallon aquarium prototype in a spare bedroom. Charles
Yes, it is. Any plant that will grow roots into the water and grow fast is feeding on ammonia. A great plant to use inside is Pothos (house ivy) because it doesn't need a lot of light and still grows rapidly. Charles
That type of a system is designed for self-recovery... just a matter of time now before the fish will be back in full force as well. I absolutely LOVE all those feral fish living in the sump... I could endlessly watch them all day. It's its very own community... :)
The feral fish are part of the greenhouse ecosystem. We have customers who want to buy sump fish. We're thinking of having a fish festival here once the pandemic is under control. We could offer sump fish to attendees.
Charles
This is a guy I could have an endless conversation with.
I wouldn't have anything to say. It'd just be endless listening.
As people may have noticed, I can talk longer than most can listen...
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 I, and I'm sure hundreds and thousands of others, would gladly take that challenge.
@@goliadfarms7029 🤣❤️🙏
Following Goliad Farms's recovery has been absolutely fascinating.
Yeah this is my new favorite channel!
Hasn't it!!! Soooo educational and interesting. Love it.
Thank you. Now that we are getting some experience at producing videos, we will continue making them.
Charles
I'm glad you and Suzie took some time for yourselves. You have to take a break. Continuing to pray for you guys.
Susie is like the soul of the business
Thank you. We needed the break and enjoyed the time with brats and grandbrats.
Charles
Great smile Mr. Charles! 😁 Thanks for the updates and taking us through the vats!
I really enjoy learning about the specific fish in each of them!!
I sure do appreciate you answering our questions!! Love and prayers to you and Susie and everyone that is lending a hand!!🙏❤️🌿🐟🌿💚
Thank you. We will continue with the videos. Today we will show how we raise scuds.
Charles
Grandbrats- priceless!!
One commentor objected to the term, but it is meant affectionately and our grandbrats realize that.
Charles
Yes - I pointed out that out on that comment but it rapidly began entering SJW territory and thats not why any (most?) of us are here. Fishkeeping hobbyists is the main thing
This channel has become the reason I check UA-cam everyday. Love it. Using Barbara Walstad’s method before it was popularized as the Walstad method. OG.
Thank you. I had to check out the Walstad method. Very interesting. I'm going to have to read more about it.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 Her book is a fascinating read. It’s very in depth ( some people find it dry) and you already have so much insight that I don’t know if it’s worth you’re time, but it’s been a guiding principle in my fish keeping.
You have quickly become my favorite UA-camr! Good luck with the recovery!
Thank you. We are working on recovery!
Charles
Love the pups they must giving you great comfort right now.
There is little more comforting than the love of a good dog (I had to say "there is little more comforting" because I have a wife and would like to keep her).
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 German Shepherds of the Bay Area are thinking of you , Susie, and your beautiful working dogs Oso, and Mia.
your big smile throughout this challenge that was set before you is an inspiration .
LIFE often goes where it wishes , i just try to enjoy the ride.
You have to maintain a sense of humor and happiness to survive events like this.
Charles
THE HAIR CUT AND BIG SMILE JUST REALLY INSPIRING ! THE HAIR DO!!!
Susie (wife and business manager) finally got around to cutting my hair. I'm way too impatient to go to town and deal with barbers, so she cuts my hair and puts up with my, "Are we done yet?"
Charles
How about a feeding tour someday?
Good idea. We will do a feeding tour soon.
Charles
This is an amazing system. Thank you for taking the time to record all of this content in the midst of a disaster.
Thank you. One potential blessing of this disaster we that we discovered the benefits of having a UA-cam channel. We will be posting a lot of informational content after we complete documenting our recovery.
Charles
I've loved the way your system runs, and doesn't rely on any mechanical, chemical, or uv filtration! It goes to show that it can be done
In a lot of ways, it's a very simple system relying only on pumps for water movement.
Charles
It’s great seeing how much your recovery is coming along, and the increase I subscribers! Praying for continued success.
Thank you. We'd like to thank Cory and @aquariumcoop for their help.
Charles
Hope you guys can catch a break from a weather disaster or otherwise! I love the setup of your farm and the fact that yall use a lot of natural ways to rid yourself of waste, including feeding deceased fish to your dogs. I became aware of your farm after watching the tour that aquarium co op did awhile back and I'm so glad that they made that video. You guys have in my opinion the most impressive fish farm I have ever seen. The amount of knowledge you have about all the plants and fish and everything is so entertaining. If i had to choose between going to a large zoo aquarium or touring your farm i would choose your farm and attempting to soak up some your knowledge 10/10 times! Best wishes from West Virginia!
Thank you. Cory and @aquariumcoop have been a huge help. I hope to get him down for another visit.
Now that we are sort of mastering videography, we intend to continue even after we complete documenting our recovery.
Also, after the pandemic is under control we plan on allowing hatchery visits.
Charles
Only a little ways in, happy to see you guys again. There are bulk head strainer parts that will pop right onto those pvc fittings. it will raise the water level slightly but should work perfectly. Excited for the scud tour! Im watching this one twice for sure, love the plant info too! :)
I am going to contact you via phone call soon, I have a bunch of used strainer parts. Would love to send them to you guys if you can make them work.
We use some strainers but they clog up fairly easily so we don't use then on 300-gallon breeding vats where there is a lot of water inflow. The idea of netting coils is going to be implemented shortly.
Charles
I have a 10 gallon tank with one beta in it. I love my tank I love my fish and I love the plants grow inside. But I have to say watching your videos have been a revelation to me. The mind boggles at how wonderful nature can be if we treated with respect. Obviously nature didn’t wait you probably a properly last week, But watching all these videos of your recovery process has been food for my soul.
How are you all have worked so hard to recover after such devastation is morally uplifting to all of us that are watching. Thank you so much for sharing this time with us no matter how hard it has been for you. I have learned a lot not only about fish in water and nature but strength and stamina from you and your lovely wife. Again I thank you.
Here in Alberta Canada the snow you received would have been a slap on the wrist to us.
Your climate was not prepared for the devastation, but how you have reacted to the situation is very impressive.
It just goes to show, but certain things can be absolutely devastating when they happen in the wrong place.
Thank you. We try to work with nature, but it does throw us a curve occasionally.
Charles
9:52 Breeding for longevity. What great advice!
These are nice, expensive fish. Why not increase the time you have to enjoy them.
Charles
Kinda getting addicted to your videos 😁
Super glad you were able to take some time for yourselves...it shows. Keep up the great work and content.
Thank you. We needed a short break after non-stop storm work and the beginning of recovery.
Charles
Sorry for your loss
A couple of pond gas heaters will do you justice for the future.......like this comment 500k times so @Greg Woodstock & the @pond professor can come hook it up hopefully finger's crossed lol
prayers go up blessings come down
Thank you. We are looking into water heaters. The problem with this event was the simultaneous long power outages and lack of propane supply. We couldn't heat and run our generator at the same time.
Charles
I love seeing the dogs too
The dogs enjoy "hunting" for fatalities in the greenhouses. Since we usually have in the order of 250,000 fish, there are always some for them to eat.
Charles
I’m glad to finally hear some more about the workings of this amazing and inspiring system. It’s not easy to get concise, general information from a man who has so many interesting stories to tell. I’d love to hear more information on a system level: what goes in, what goes out, water parameters, how stable is it, etc.
That will be a good topic for another video and we will do that.
Charles
You're very humble farmer 🙌👏🙌👏👍🧐
Nature has a way of making you humble.
Charles
I could watch your videos all day! Hope you recover quickly! Cheers, Ed from Margate, UK
Thank you. We will recover and video our progress.
Charles
So Awesome & Endless amount of knowledge greatly appreciate all the hard work & all the time you are putting into the new videos. Thank you all so much
Thank you.
Charles
I really want to spend a week with you guys! You guys are awesome
Thank you. Once the pandemic is under control we will be allowing visits. Preference to those who want to chainsaw mesquite.
Charles
So nice Carl to see you looking and sounding better. Glad things are looking up. Admire your tenacity dealing with it all. Would Love to have some of that hornwart. Always been one of my fav plants. I also grow miniature orchids as a hobby too. Have a good one Carl. 👍
Thank you. By the way, I got a start of Vanilla Bean Orchid to try out in the greenhouses since it is supposed to like high humidity and temperature. It has added some leaves, so I guess it will do well. Also, Carl is my son and is doing the videography.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 ah, ok sorry Charles. Yeah it should do great for you in greenhouse. It's a vine type plant, a slow grower at first, and when mature it will produce a white color bloom and if hand pollinated it will produce a vanilla bean or seed pod. 👍☺️
I doubt you would remember me, but I managed a fish store in fort worth and yall would personally deliver your livestock. I loved getting orders from you because everything was healthy and absolutely gorgeous. You would deliver truly top show quality looking animals and we almost never lost anything that came from you. Sorry to have learned yall took such a bad hit from the storm. I look forward to watching you rebuild.
The "Fish Place?" We will recover and continue to document our progress.
Charles
Seeing how you have set your greenhouse up has inspired me to try something similar in my backyard for my turtles in a Harbor Freight green house on a smaller scale!
Good luck with your new turtle habitat!
Charles
I like when you talk to your dogs. :)
Oso and Maya are very smart and sometimes listen better than our children (brats) did.
Charles
Really like the huge dieffenbachias.
They were a bit damaged by the cold and some over-exposure to carbon monoxide, but they love the heat and humidity in the greenhouses.
Charles
So wonderful you are sharing your recovery - the good and the bad. Good luck from across the pond!
Thank you. We will continue to document the recovery. Afterwards, we'll work on informational videos as we work on breeding fish.
Charles
Glad your back to recovery.👍
Hope in the future you can afford to update some and prepare for whatever mood Mother Nature hits us with .
We are planning hardening up our systems beginning with completing the installation of our new generator. We will document the improvements.
Charles
This man is inspirational
Thank you.
Charles
I am glad to see the progress
Thank you. So are we.
Charles
70! Think we need your whole diet and lifestyle on video so we can all take note lol. Great videos,enjoying them all. Thanks
I'll have to think about that. I recommend a lot of sun and a lot of passive exercise. Passive exercise is what you get doing what you like. Exercise for its own sake bores me. Also, I walk rather than ride. Before breakfast everyday I walk a half mile just to check the greenhouses and get the newspaper from the road. Multiple trips a dayfrom house to greenhouses add up to several miles of walking per day. We try to eat a healthy diet.
Charles
Thank u for all the information you share with us
Thank you for watching our videos. We have several done that will be released soon.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 love to watch so much free knowledge it’s fun I stay up all night watching
Thanks for the camera work Carl. You're doing a great job.
Thanks! That means a lot to me. Glad you're enjoying it.
Carl
Hornwort is incredible!
It is a great plant. It does really well with cichlids since it is a rootless, floating plant and they can't dig it up. It is the primary food for our scud cultures, providing habitat and food. It provides refuge for fry of all types.
Charles
Thank you for your instructions 🌳🪴💐
Thank you.
Charles
Great information. The dogs tried to steal the show. :)
The dogs love working in the greenhouses because with 250,000 fish there are always some fatalities to eat.
Charles
Amazing set up!
Thank you.
Charles
Loving all of this information about the goings on Krupp them coming!
Thank you. We will keep the videos coming.
Charles
Awesome setup. Thanks for explaining it.
We will be discussing the systems more in future videos.
Charles
Great video, glad use got to take a little break at the weekend, you our just a world of knowledge charles and im soaking up the info like a sponge, can't wait for the next upload, amazing, stay strong
Thank you. The break helped a lot. We intend to continue to provide informational videos on fish breeding and how we do things.
Charles
Awesome Video Thankyou. I Love Floating Hornwort in my tanks and Tubs. Awesome hide to help Baby Bettas Guppies and other fry survive. Plus its amazing water cleaning ability, it also keeps the water surface free of any film.
Thank you. Hornwort is a great plant and is wonderful with cichlids since it is rootless and floats. The cichlids can't dig it up!
Charles
That's awesome I live right Outside of New Orleans Louisiana and the Coontail plant that you use so much of it can REALLY grow at a fast rate
We got our start of hornwort from a nursery on the edge of the French Quarter years and years ago. The nursery didn't survive Hurricane Katrina.
Charles
You've got this. I've been watching you from Day 1. Go get 'em
Thank you. We will recover.
Charles
This was so interesting I shared to 2 fish keeping groups I'm in in Australia xx
Thank you.
Charles
What a wonderfully information packed video. Thank you!
Thank you. We will continue with recovery videos but also produce informational videos. We plan a video on how we produce scuds today.
Charles
You would expect anyone that has been through all you have in the past 10 (never ending) days to look worn out and beaten down...
But you're looking pretty good ole man....lol Great to see things coming back together do to your dedication and the hard work of you and yours... Best wishes..!
I'm really looking forward to your Scud video... hope it's a long one, tell us everything you know about 'em.!
Thank you!
Charles
Amazing set up, amazing educational content. So good. Glad u had time off. Love your Shepard. I had one. Interested in the mountain line story! And any other wildlife stories u have
Thank you. Oso and Maya are great dogs. We'll have video them trying to keep our two horses in line when they come up for oats.
Charles
I'm sure you are all stressed and exhausted. One day at a time. Grandbrat I laughed so hard! That's something my Dad would say. 😁
Keep up the great work. Things will get better.
Thank you. We tired, but encouraged that we're able to rebuild some of our breeding colonies.
Charles
70? Damn I would’ve been way off had I taken a guess. Lol. Raise fish everyone, keeps you looking young apparently
He looks more 60
Yes, working fish every day is the Fountain of Youth! Everyone keep fish!
Charles
Amazing setup!
Thank you.
Charles
Tyvm Charles for mentioning the scud questions in general! With the Piper Auritum, I wonder if it could alsp be dried for aquarium botanical use, just like mulberry and other leaves are? Could be another use for it instead of culinary!
I'm not sure. I will place a leaf in a scud vat to see if they eat it. I also have some dried leaves and will see what they do with them. I have noticed that guppy and molly fry like to stay on top of a leaf that is just floating under the surface of the water.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 my Least Killifish (Heterandria Formosa) do the same thing when I put in Almond or Banana leaves!
Thank you for the lesson, learned a thing or two from your greenhouse
Thank you. We're glad to provide information on how we do things.
Charles
Very nice set up.
Thank you.
Charles
It's a mammoth job. Best thoughts to all
Thank you. We are just taking it one day and fish at a time.
Charles
I can't believe you are 70. I thought you were probably in your mid to late 50's.
100%
He looks younger then aquarium coop Cory and he's 34
Thank you. Birthday: August 12, 1050.
Charles
Thank you.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 You look great for being almost 1000 years old! 😉
I wonder if a black bucket would help show the paramecium milky swarm? Glad to see how many fish have survived. So sorry to see how much you lost. Thanks for the updates!
I tried a blue bucket, but a black bucket might work better. It's frustrating that we can see the swarms of Paramecium but can't video or photograph them effectively.
We should be able, it seems, to rebuild most of the breeding colonies. It does appear that we have lost at least a year's worth of future revenues, but we will recover.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 Another option is a clear container against a plain background, dark or light depending on what might show the cloudiness better, probably dark. Just thought of it. 😊
I am so happy when your channel came up on my discovery feed. I find what you are doing endlessly interesting. I am sorry you were hit with two disasters relatively close to each other. As difficult as the loss was it seems you will recover with your ingenuity and perseverance. I do have a couple questions about the feral fish. How did they become feral like that, do you feed them and do you ever harvest them to put back in the vats or sell? Thank you.
Thank you. The feral fish become feral mainly two ways. One: since the floor of the greenhouse is a water filled gutter, any fish that is dropped or jumps becomes instantly feral. Two: feral happily spawn in the floor gutters and sumps. We sometimes harvest feral fish for wholesale customers. Also, if I see a fish that I think might improve a strain or maybe begin a new strain, we collect it. We do feed the feral fish while feeding fish in the vats. If you look back through early videos there should be one of a feral fish feeding frenzy.
Charles
My favorite video you've put up so far! Wondering if you sell the feral fish and shrimp. :)
Thank you. We have sold feral fish to wholesale customers in the past. We are working on how best to offer them to hobbyists.
Charles
I hope you don’t lose no more we are fish this year so sorry mother nature is a very fickle friend that just doesn’t care what she drops on us you need a wetland filter of aqua blocks at least a 2000 gallon system to keep all the good bacteria and all your ponds and all the water being fed through and back it would do you justice I’m just saying maybe you should look into it thanks for the great videos And bringing us into your life and all your work
Nature can throw the occasional curveball. After we get our new generator fully installed we should be ready for spring thunderstorm power outages and possible summer hurricanes. Our greenhouses are effectively internal wetlands with plenty of plants to handle any normal situations. We can't use outside wetlands because even in our mild climate outside winter water temperatures are too low for tropical fish.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 I appreciate you letting me know that I wish you the best of luck love your videos love what you do you are truly a very gifted breeder and fish keeper I would love to get a few pairs of guppies from you males and females I don’t care what they look like they don’t have to be anything special let me know if we can work something out you could email me at brianbikelife@gmail.com I look forward To hear from you thank you have a blessed one
Yes please show "the milky cloud" for fish fry!
We are working on some way to pick up on video what we can see live. When we do, we'll post it.
Charles
Being a biologist I am loving the simplicity of your set up. What are your nitrate levels? What percentage water change do you do for your entire systems? For my fish room iI change 60% of the water twice a month. I wish I lived closer by i would work for free.
We just checked ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate this morning. Both greenhouses are almost zero ammonia now (less than 0.05 ppm). They spiked about a week and a half ago as 1ppm ammonia. Nitrite is both greenhouses is zero. Nitrate is 10-20 ppm in Greenhouse 1 and 20-40 ppm in Greenhouse 2. The plant filters and associated bacterial colonies have done their assigned work.
I estimate that we add several hundred gallons of water a day due to operational and evaporative losses. Since we have 75,000 gallons of water in the systems, that's less than 1% daily additions.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 impressive, so do your nitrates generally run less than 20 ppm under normal circumstances?
I know this is kinda late but to prevent this from happening again.
You can install a wood heater or if you have a chimney in your house you can replace the tubing with a special kind of chimney wall that has a copper tube in it.
This chimney uses thermal dynamics to heat water through the copper coil and returns hot water. So you could in theory have a oil burner outside or something like a big steel fire box with a chimney that can heat water for you on demand and return it into the greenhouses hot and help heat the greenhouses and prevent this from happening again. Just an idea.
We had vented greenhouse heaters (fairly expensive) that were destroyed by Hurricane Harvey. They were overkill for every winter but this one. The big problems with this event were two weeks of cloudy weather so our greenhouses didn't get solar heat gain, record cold for much longer than we've ever experienced, long power outages, and propane shortages that made it difficult to heat while also running our generator. We are working on hardening up our systems, but the combination of events leading to this disaster isn't likely to occur again.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 I would beg to differ as the worlds climates are changing year by year. Especially here in north America. Weather patterns aren't the same and it's always best to have. More than one system to maintain the desired effect.
But charles thanks for your reply and I hope you recover.
P.s. if our government and military rely on redundancy why shouldn't you? If the grid goes down again next winter, propane sky rockets, another arctic blast comes down south can you really rely on this to. Pull through this is just the beginning of a weather system that is new.
I hope you survive and you truly are a bright and intelligent man and I respect you sir for your efforts and respecting nature for your benefit.
If/when I ever set up an actual fish room my plan is to do a filtration system from seeing your successful setup.
I need to write up a description of the first recirculation system with plant filtration that I first set up in a spare bedroom in the 1970s.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 My game plan is to do rack systems feeding/recirculating into 200+ gallon tubs at the end of each rack.
Thanks.😎
Thank you.
Charles
Will work for fish!
We are considering programs like that! Maybe a fish dude ranch.
Charles
Well now I want to see what you get in a scoop of sump fish.
We occasionally drape a net in the sumps to get the fish used to it and then feed above it and harvest the sump fish. We have certain customers who await that.
Charles
Right, the glimps of all those colors makes you curious.
If you had a small drop into a little pit for instance, and the outflow had some fine mesh you could slowly catch all the feral fish over time without having to do anything really.
We really only try to harvest the feral fish when a customer wants a bunch of them or I see a fish I want to use in our breeding programs. It's very easy to feed them and they don't require any care other than food.
Charles
Hey, thanks for all the tips! I'm curious...how did you prevent flooding with the rack of 10-gals when one of the siphons gets airlocked?
I had two siphons between tanks for that reason. Redundancy is critical when flooding could occur. One reasons we went from galvanized channel gutters to floor gutters was leaks, overflows, and flooding. Our systems have evolved to minimize problems.
Charles
But how did you plant those plants?
Are they in planters or just standing up by themselves?
The plants inbetween the vats are just in water and not potted. We just drop a stalk between the vats and they root rapidly. Their roots do collect mulm and convert it into very rich soil. Next time we pull some plants out, we'll video the process and show how they are growing.
Charles
What's this plants called and other plants that works to control water parameters
Amazing system! What are the baskets on stilts used for?
Those are "fry cages." They are large cylinders with a bottom. They are on stilts to keep them off the bottom and to provide hideouts for larger fish. Fry and juveniles as well as livebearers in with cichlids use the fry cages as refuges. We place two of them in each 300-gallong breeding vat.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 Cool! Thank you.
I was hoping for this longer video 😊 thanks hope you keep making them!!! Looks like a lot of cichlids in the sump area is it not worth checking??
There were some incredible sump fish, but many of them died.
Charles
I'm curious if you take any steps to prevent feral fish from the sump system escaping into the wild?
Yes. Water leaving the greenhouses flows out through screened pipes into an isolated wetland that is populated with water hungry Black Willows. In our hot, dry climate the "wetland" quickly dries out.
Charles
I wonder if the land was graded b4 the green house was set up so the water can flow down into the sump or if its on a natural % of decline?
The floor is flat. The pond liners on three sides prevent outflow, with the only place water can to is into the sump.
Charles
Can you run the green house off of solar power? Would that help prevent power outages or shortages? Would that run your pumps?
We've looked into solar and haven't found it to be economically feasible so far. But we are working with an electrical engineer friend to revisit solar. He has his own solar array nearby. An issue is that our local electric coop has low rates. That is good, but also means that power we sell back to them is also at a very low rate. We are looking into using solar panels for heating water in the winter and cooling water in the summer without connecting to the grid.
Charles
Do you ever collect feral fish?
Yes, we do. We collect them for some wholesale customers periodically (not as often as they would like) and when I see a fish I want to use in an aquarium strain breeding program. We never use feral fish in pure species breeding programs because we can't be absolutely sure of identification and purity.
Charles
You should invest in variegated monstera deliciosa those will sell for several hundred a leaf w a node and theyre very pretty
I'll have to look into that. We have Philodendron growing in our yard. We'll see if it survived the storm. It survived 13F about 10 years ago.
I just looked up "variegated monstera deliciosa" on EBay. Those are some high prices!
Charles
Why don't you sell your horn wort as extra income instead of throwing it away? One more question could you attach a swimming pool heater to atleast 1 of the greenhouses as a saftey net.
We do sell some hornwort. But, when we "throw it away," we are placing it on litterworm beds where it is converted to wonderful compost. We also fed surplus to our scuds which provide a significant revenue stream.
The problem wasn't heating capacity as much as the lack of grid power and shortages of propane for our generator. We weren't able to run all our electric heaters due to lack of power.
Charles
I love the content that y'all are making. It's very wonderful. You should look into monetizing your videos to earn ad revenue.
Thank you. UA-cam just approved us for monetization. I apologize for the ads that are apparently beginning to run.
We will continue providing content for revenue to carry us through the next year since we have essentially lost a year's worth of future revenue due to fish losses. Susie and Carl are already pressuring me to raise fewer of many more types of fish to provide content. I like raising more of fewer types since large numbers of fish allow my breeding programs more raw material for strain improvement. I suppose I must change with the times. But, maybe I can talk Susie into another greenhouse?
Charles
What size. Are the over flows the snails are getting stuck in?
The overflows are 1". Yes the snails are blocking them, but someone suggested that we put a small cylinder of aquaculture mesh in the overflows. That's a good idea and we will do that.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 this is what I use on overflows " here is a example"
www.bulkreefsupply.com/bulkhead-overflow-strainers.html
I'm just wondering, how did you setup the greenhouse at the start, is there a concrete floor under the aquaculture tarp? Also how did you come with that unique gutter/walkway? Must be exciting to see fish dart through the cinder blocks
The floor of the greenhouses is native soil with a layer of sand for leveling. Placed over that sand is an aquaculture grade pond liner. The liner is fastened to the four-foot high side rails of the greenhouse. At the entrance of Greenhouse 1 there is a concrete pad that the liner laps over a bit. In Greenhouse 2 we used 8"x8"x16" hollow concrete blocks instead of poured concrete and covered the blocks with pond liner. The sumps in each greehouse are four feet deep, dug out with a backhoe and lined with 8"x8"x16" hollow concrete blocks filled with sand and held in place with 7 foot t-posts. The sump is lined with pond liner. The floor gutter pond liner overlaps the sump liner. Next time we video our recirculating and plant filtration systems, I'll make sure to highlight all of this since I've finally discovered that a minute of video is worth pages of typing. Also, when we rebuild Greenhouse 3 (I hope this summer), we'll video document the entire process.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 Most impressive! Thank you for the lenghty answer and I will eagerly watch those upcomming videos! ;)
Can you show us more of what you’re doing with Cherry shrimp
Yes, we'll schedule a Red Cherry Shrimp video showing how we culture them with livebearers.
Charles
I am curious to know Charles, those SkyBlue OB Peacock Cichilds. Will those ever be on sale or even ship to canada?
We do sell them both wholesale and to online customers, but have suspended sales until we complete our inventories and finish rebuilding breeding colonies. We don't presently ship to Canada. Last time we looked into shipping there, it seemed a bit too onerous. We'd need a Canadian business license and a USDA import/export license. We are open to suggestions how to ship there without too much hassle.
Charles
Oso is my kinda dog.
Oso is a great dog, but so is Maya. Someday I'm going to film them playing chase with each other in the morning.
Charles
Yea that that would be a nice intro to a video.
Do you ever have to medicate? With so much water I have been wondering how that would be done.
The only time we had to medicate the entire system was when somehow Chilodonella got into the system. We cured that by adding solar salt to 6ppt and added a few grams of malachite green (which we don't like using since it damages Nitorsomas and Nitrobacter that control ammonia and its metabolites). Solar salt is cheap. We do feed praziquantel as a preventative wormer a couple of times a year. A kilogram lasts a couple of years.
Charles
What are the specifics of the pond liner and where did you get it
There are a number of aquaculture supply companies selling fish quality pond liners. We currently buy from a local company whose main business is selling liners to oil and gas drilling companies. Search for "aquaculture pond liners."
Charles
Curious if when you travel with fish if you use a pump for aeration.
When I speak at clubs and take fish along, we pack the fish in bags with oxygen. When we go on collecting trips, we do the same.
Charles
Freaking genius!
Things are looking up!
Charles
Is plant filtration not commonly used in fish farm?
Plant filtration isn't used often in aquaculture in general because plants interfere with feeding and harvesting. It is used in aquaponics.
Charles
You were talking about snail problem try my snail trap all you need is a potato or a carrot tie a string to it drop it in the tank wait awhile the snails will go to it remove slowly scrape the snails off and put back in.
Snails can be annoyance. We reduce populations of pond snails and red ramshorns by netting when we process vats every 3-4 months. 55-gallon vats with cichlids are clear of those two species since the fish are crowded and eat egg cases and small snails. The comments about birth control for Gold Mystery Snails was a bit tongue-in-cheek. We sell a lot of them and control is simple since they lay egg cases above the water line. Susie doesn't like them in 300-gallon breeding vats, since large numbers of them make fish sorting slower, so we are removing them as we go through those vats. The most annoying snails are tiny trumpet snails that most fish won't eat. They are the perfect size to clog the strainers we put on vats to prevent fry from leaving the vats. The snails clog the strainers and cut your finger when you sitck it in to clear the clogs.
Your suggest for trapping the snails is good except that we have over 700 vats. That's a lot of string, carrots, and potatoes, not to mention the labor. We've learned to live with the snails. We can't use any chemical snail control because we raise some snails and some invertebrates that would be killed. Having a large recirculating system precludes tank-by-tank treatment.
Charles
How often if ever do you need to change out stuff like pipes due to the buildup of that calcium and other gunks?
After 20+ years, we haven't had to do change out pipes. The buildup of calcium carbonate seems to only occur where evaporation happens, such as where water flows down the side of vat. We do get some buildup on straners, but that can be cleared by soaking them in dilute muriactic acid (HCl).
Charles
Over what period of time did you end up at your current set up? Did you buy all the vats more or less at once, or did you just add to it over time as you needed to or could afford to?
We added vats as we needed.
We started in Santa Fe, NM in 1997 a 1,500 sq. ft. greenhouse with 200 barrels. We acquired those barrels from a recycler over a period of a few weeks.
When we moved here in 2000-2001, our first greenhouse was 3,000 sq. ft. with about 400 barrels. We moved the barrels from Santa Fe and added the other 200 over a period of weeks from a recycler in San Antonio. When we built Greenhouse 2 in 2003, we moved those vats from the destroyed Greenhouse 1 (thanks to Hurricane Claudette). We rebuilt Greenhouse 1 in 2004 to it's current configuration with 240 55-gallon barrels and 28 300-gallon vats acquired from Tractor Supply. Later we reconfigured Greenhouse 2 to have 160 55-gallon barrels, 23 110 gallon vats (also from Tractor Supply), and 30 300-gallon vats.
We have various other vats (45-gallon, 600-gallon, 1200-gallon, etc.) acquired over the years that were in the now temporarily decommissioned Greenhouse 3 and outside locations.
Charles
@@goliadfarms7029 Thanks for the reply, very cool!
Are all the large plants in pots sitting in the water? Is there any issues with roots penetrating the liner?
The large plants are not potted. We simply drop a stalk between the vats and let it root and grow. Periodically we have to pull the plants out since they begin to interfere with water overflow fittings and piping. Next time we do that, we'll video that process.
The liners are very tough. The liners are similar to the liners used in the oil field to line brine ponds and oil slush. They have been manufactured to be aquaculture friendly, meaning they don't shed a lot of formaldehyde. Root cannot penetrate the liners unless there is a hole. The liners are very puncture proof.
The liners in Greenhouse 2 have been in place since 2003. Those in Greenhouse 1 since 2004. Greenhouse 1 was destroyed by Hurricane Claudette in 2003 and was rebuilt in 2004. Greenhouse 2 was built after the hurricane and before winter to move the surviving fish from Greenhouse 1 before it got too cold.
Charles
Very impressive system! How long has it taken you to expand your setup to this size?
We built our first greenhouse in Santa Fe. New Mexico in 1997. In 2000 we built Greenhouse 1 here on our Texas farm that has been in the family since 1870. We completed our move from Sante Fe in 2001. In summer of 2003 Hurricane Claudetter destroyed Greenhouse 1. We hurriedly build Greenhouse 2 before cold weather arrived and moved the surviving fish into it. In 2004 we rebuilt Greenhouse 1. Both Greenhouse 1 and Greenhouse two are ~3,000 sq. ft. We added the smaller Greenhouse 3 (~1,800 sq. ft.) in 2014.
The genesis of our recirculation systems with plant filtration was in the late 1970s when I built a 30 10-gallon aquarium prototype in a spare bedroom.
Charles
Is the dumb cane good at removing ammonia?
Yes, it is. Any plant that will grow roots into the water and grow fast is feeding on ammonia. A great plant to use inside is Pothos (house ivy) because it doesn't need a lot of light and still grows rapidly.
Charles