Stinky Water In Fish Tank

[mellow1]

The wife is raising catfish in cement tanks. After a couple of days it starts to stink. She then does a complete water change, and the stink goes away for a day or two. Is there a way to control that, without such a heavy water change?

[esbkk]

A big BIO filter with a large enough turnover will do it.

[mellow1]

A big BIO filter with a large enough turnover will do it.

Got a big bio filter. We shut it down cause it's not economically realistic to operate it at this time. Running pumps 24/7 is expensive as compared to the return on the fish. Would need a large clientele to make it so.

[aitch52]

Hi Mellow 1

have a similar problem to you with our cement tanks, but the water usually takes about 4-5 days to start to smell, not unpleasant but a definite odour. We change water every 5-7 days, sometimes this period is even longer as we are experiencing water supply problems, (filtered but not chemically treated riverwater). We add some rock salt, say four to five handfuls and the same amount of poon kaew (powdered limestone). I also thought bio filter was the way to go but the local experts say it is a waste of money, despite my initial pessimism I am inclined to agree with them.

Cheers and good luck

[mellow1]

Hi Mellow 1

have a similar problem to you with our cement tanks, but the water usually takes about 4-5 days to start to smell, not unpleasant but a definite odour. We change water every 5-7 days, sometimes this period is even longer as we are experiencing water supply problems, (filtered but not chemically treated riverwater). We add some rock salt, say four to five handfuls and the same amount of poon kaew (powdered limestone). I also thought bio filter was the way to go but the local experts say it is a waste of money, despite my initial pessimism I am inclined to agree with them.

Cheers and good luck

The bio filter works well, but it costs about 6000Baht/Month to run . We shut it down due to a lack of customers, so we are experimenting various techniques of doing things. We are raising pla duk russia at the moment, and are switching over to big oui. The fish are healthy and the meat is firm and tasty. We had a buyer wanting to give us 32Baht a kilo a while back, but the wife turned him down. So until the customer base gets bigger, there is no sense in spending that money. The wife sells the fish 40Baht/ K when buying 10 kilo or more, and 45/K under that at the gate. We also use salt in the water, but haven't used the limestone. What's it do?

[aitch52]

Wow 6K a month, that is a lot of juice Mellow, can understand your reasoning. What sort of flow rate was that, as I understand it the water should not flow thru the filter too quickly.

We have one tank of big oui at the moment and one of lahd schia (Russia) think thats the transliteration, whatever, I thought it was Russia too. The Russians seem to grow quicker than the big oui's in our experience. The lime raises the PH level of the water, nothing too technical, we just chuck in a few handfuls. Available at hardware stores, it is known as Poon Kaew (cement white), a bag of 3 kgs or so for 20 baht. Our two tanks will be ready for market next month, will let you know what price we get. We harvested half a batch of big oui and got 60 Baht per kilo in the local market, wifes sister did the selling for which we paid her 250 Baht for an afternoon. This time there are apparently a few people interested in buying 10 kg at a time.

We plan to re-invest in a couple of more tanks, eventually building up to 6. We also have 50 frogs on the go as an experiment inside cement rings, they are growing on well.

[WatersEdge]

Doesn't it logically lead to a large garden nearby?

I flush the hog barn with fish water, then it all runs together to the field.

Fish get the fresh water, crops get total fertilizer.

Making more than one use of the same water divides the energy cost of that water.

[mellow1]

aitch52; that's why we don't use the pumps all the time, too expensive. you are correct that a slower flow through the filters works best. But if used we need the higher flow rate ( 1000-1200 L/M) to assure all the tanks get water circulating in them. Bigger filter chambers will give a slower flow through rate. Yes the russia grow faster, but the 60Baht you got for the Big Oui is a good price. Where abouts' are you located? Our PH stays at about 7.5, so don't need to use lime, but we do use the salt for nitrates. Unfortunately it's still slow selling around here. Hope to have better luck with the Big Oui. Also have to find a better fingerling outlet, the last batch where small.

WatersEdge; our water flows into a large rain drainage ditch which leads to some rice fields, which will benefit from its fertilizing contents.

[RedBullHorn]

In my village, everyones concrete catfishes pond smell....Except mine!

Like you, they changed the water and after 2 days...the water STINK big time. Most of the villagers came to me for advise, went over to their places and i advised them to either rebuild their concrete pond with a partial shade or prune the branches over-head that is blocking the SUN LIGHT. Yes! There's your solution to your stink water problem.

Sunlight is needed to aid in water anaerobic cycle ( i won't go into detail, stress~)

For concrete pond rearing fishes in commercial level, shade should be build to sunlight exposure , not much, make sure only 2 /10 -3/10 of sunlight get throught at noon (observe you region weather). You should be able to adjust the shade level to suit water temperature, too warm you loose dissolve oxygen. Experiment and adjust to the point that you get 8/10 of sunlight at 4pm onward.

After a while, your pond water should produce Schmutzedecke (emerald green colour), maintain the Schmutzedecke, try not to scrub them off your concrete pond walls and floor, it's fine when you are spraying with your water hose to clean in it.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...t&p=3425161

My concrete pond of left over catfishes from my earthen pond harvest (about 600kg in two 1.5m by 2.5m tanks) are doing 100% water change in 5 days interval. No stink, only green colour water. My outlet pipe is 3'' inches, outflow takes only a few minutes. Water inlet is a 300 watts constant pressure water pump from Mitsubishi (55 lit/min). As usual, like aithc52, multi-tasking with a Chang in hand when changing water .

Cheers.

[RedBullHorn]

aitch52; that's why we don't use the pumps all the time, too expensive. you are correct that a slower flow through the filters works best. But if used we need the higher flow rate ( 1000-1200 L/M) to assure all the tanks get water circulating in them. Bigger filter chambers will give a slower flow through rate. Yes the russia grow faster, but the 60Baht you got for the Big Oui is a good price. Where abouts' are you located? Our PH stays at about 7.5, so don't need to use lime, but we do use the salt for nitrates. Unfortunately it's still slow selling around here. Hope to have better luck with the Big Oui. Also have to find a better fingerling outlet, the last batch where small.

WatersEdge; our water flows into a large rain drainage ditch which leads to some rice fields, which will benefit from its fertilizing contents.

My Lat-sia is half a kg now, the wife chop them up to pieces and sell them pack on a form plate and film it, she'll do 5 fishes a day and all gone in the morning talat period...

Not advisable to use lime in concrete pond, lime will burn and too much, you loose DO. Salt is the rule of thumb, must use.

The sales of my left over catfishes are the source to finance our drinking habit only.

[aitch52]

Hi Mellow and RBH

We are in Phetchabun province about 55kms South of Phetch City, according to SWMBO (she who must be obeyed) for non Brits, the market price for big oui and russians is 60 baht per kilo. We aren't producing large amounts as RBH does, so we are selling retail as the demand is there. Of course we also sell at the gate at the lower price in 10 Kg batches. My wifes sister has contacts in the market and is a good saleswoman so she has joined the payroll too. Our 2 tanks should be ready for harvest again mid July, her plan is to go for Lah Schia in both due to the big Oui being so slow growing, but I must say they have a superb flavour though.

Thanks for the input again RBH, our tanks are partially shaded by trees and so more by luck than judgement we are getting adequate sunlight. Shaded at noon and gets the afternoon sun from about 3pm onwards. The plan is to harvest and build a couple of more 5.5 x 4.5 tanks. I also intend to look at viable additional food source, some people use bananas, also thinking about home produced maggots/larvae, any thoughts on that. There was a thread about it on here a few weeks ago.

Good luck in all you attempt

Edited June 1, 2010 by aitch52

[RedBullHorn]

No bananas!...but you can do this (i did, till now). Very often, you will pass by ckicken rice stalls, ask if they have chicken bones for sale(there's still some cook flesh on the bones), cost 10-20 Baht per plastic bag, i'll buy 3 bags, 2 for my dogs and 1 for maggots factory . I set up a tray suspended under my shade above the tank, 2 days later, you'll get thousands of maggots...and as they crawl about, the maggots will fall into the water and protein for the fishes. Next day i'll clear all maggots off the tray into the tank and get rid of those bones.

[mellow1]

All great info RBH and aitch52. Sunlight what a simple yet realistic solution. I must be getting a little brain dead along with my age. I have a roof over these tanks, and I will have to replace some of the panels with clear ones, find a way to create more shade when needed, experiment. We have been trimming trees and bushes in order to allow greater air flow through there, and that has helped a lot. Since the bio filter hasn't been used for it's intended purpose, due to the cost, we took out the media and have been doing 10% water changes with it daily, which has also helped a lot. The water spray coming off the spray bars seem to get rid of the ammonia. We have been running the pumps from 9AM to 3PM (hottest part of the day), this has allowed us to go for 6 days without a complete water change. This is all really the start up of our farm, and we are learning through trial and error which I expected. Thank you very much for your help, and assistance, it will minimize our losses, and allow us to move forward more quickly to having a fine operation.

[RedBullHorn]

No bananas!...but you can do this (i did, till now). Very often, you will pass by ckicken rice stalls, ask if they have chicken bones for sale(there's still some cook flesh on the bones), cost 10-20 Baht per plastic bag, i'll buy 3 bags, 2 for my dogs and 1 for maggots factory . I set up a tray suspended under my shade above the tank, 2 days later, you'll get thousands of maggots...and as they crawl about, the maggots will fall into the water and protein for the fishes. Next day i'll clear all maggots off the tray into the tank and get rid of those bones.

Medium size Big C plastic bag, contain the bones and carcasses of about 2 chickens.

[aitch52]

Hi Guys

Cheers, the chicken bone scam looks like a good ploy RBH, will be giving that ago when I get home. We also buy the chicken carcasses for our dogs when we are in the market, looks like a cheap and cheerful way to get some extra protein.

Good Luck

Aitch

[RedBullHorn]

I've tried the deep fried chicken carcasses from the market, didn't goes as planed, the wife and dogs got to it first Bones and carcasses from the chicken rice stall are very good, it is cheap, a lot of bones with some cook fleshes left and it turns bad very fast, it will attract lots of house flies....try! try!

Edited June 3, 2010 by RedBullHorn

[teletiger]

I've tried the deep fried chicken carcasses from the market, didn't goes as planed, the wife and dogs got to it first Bones and carcasses from the chicken rice stall are very good, it is cheap, a lot of bones with some cook fleshes left and it turns bad very fast, it will attract lots of house flies....try! try!

RBH, How do you protect it from the birds?

Regards.

[RedBullHorn]

The suspended tray's is out of sight as my shade had an improvised drop - down canopy. (DIY stuffs)

[mellow1]

Had a worker put in a bunch of semi clear roof panels this week for that much needed sunlight, looking for that green water and film around the inside of the tanks to appear soon. Thanks again for the info RBH.

[RedBullHorn]

You're most welcome ~

If the semi-clear panel don't give good result, take them off and try direct sunlight...experiment !

(because my shade are made of grass panel, regarded to be cheap and best in heat absorbent and release about 5% heat.

Roof tile can still release about 25% heat to the tank and zine roofing are the worst, it works like all roof does, shade...but absorb heat

and release up to about 40% of heat to the tank below.

I want the sunlight but not the release heat from the shade...so i chose grass panels.

[mellow1]

^ Thanks for that info RBH. The panels have been up for a few days now, and it doesn't seem uncomfortable there, as a matter of fact the fish seem to be enjoying the light. But yes, we will keep a eye on that, and if does get hot we will remove some of the panels to let the heat escape.