Inside My Wet Lab – UV, Pond Filter & Oversized Biofilter

Описание: Welcome to Wolf-Aqua, your channel all about horticulture, aquaponics, and aquaculture! 🌿🐠
In this video, I take you into my wet lab to show you the two fish systems that form part of my decoupled aquaponics setup. Let’s dive in!

Here in my basement lab, I test and develop new recirculating aquaculture and aquaponic system concepts. Both of my aquariums are identical in construction, but the water treatment units were built by two different companies on my request. I wanted to see who could implement my ideas better.

⚙️ System Overview

Two glass fish tanks, each with a volume of 500 L

Pumped system design (since no drain holes were pre-drilled)

UV unit for disinfection → pond filter for solid removal → oversized biofilter for biological treatment

The biofilter is a 500 L black cylinder, intentionally oversized (1:1 ratio with the fish tank). This allows me to pre-colonize biofilter media for client projects, drastically shortening their system start-up time.
⚠️ Note: Even with healthy fish, transferring media between systems can carry the risk of spreading pathogens, something to always keep in mind!

Inside the biofilter:

A divider plate directs water downwards, countering the upward heat and air flow from the built-in heater and aeration.

This setup ensures optimal oxygenation and prevents media from being stirred up by airflow.

Water then rises back up through the media (kept in mesh bags for easy maintenance) and returns via gravity to the fish tanks.

Each aquarium also has air diffusers as a backup in case the water pump fails. The membrane air pump is placed safely above the water line, so no check valve is needed but if placed below, a non-return valve is essential.
💨 I even left an extra connection to run both tanks from one pump if necessary.

🐠 Fish Species

I currently culture largemouth bass and African catfish both growing well so far. The catfish grow exceptionally fast, and I’m working on a time-lapse video to show their growth rate over time.

Part of the fish water is also used to feed nutrients to my plant production system, which is decoupled from the fish loop. 🌱
I’ll explain exactly how the plant side works in my next video, so make sure you don’t miss it!

If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas, post them in the comments below!
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#Aquaponics #DecoupledAquaponics #FishFarming #RecirculatingAquaculture #Biofilter #AquaponicSystem #SustainableFarming #Hydroponics #WolfAqua #IndoorAquaculture #AquaponicDesign #FishTankSetup #AquacultureTechnology #Horticulture