Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have a fishpond with filter that has been in for a couple of years and the water is crystal clear although it only has a few gold fish in it. Would it be beneficial to take some of the sludge from the filter and add it to the new AP system to start the bacteria off?

Should i add it to the grow beds or into the water?

Thanks, Terry

yes, use it. Squeeze it over some of the mid level gravel

Absolutely, there will be plenty of bacteria in there to help you start off. I dont suppose that it really matters where you put it as it will start to multiply and circulate through the system quickly enough, but when I did it I through it on the grow bed. Throw in some of the pond water as well.

KE, the specific ones we are after are non motile (they cant move and have to be attached to a surface)so if transplanting media jaymies instructions are sound. I'd still do it the same way if i was using sludge as i reckon some of the sludge would be just as happy a place for the bacteria to attach to as any

mid level provides a place where the gravel wont dry out but is 100% guaranteed to have good flow and O2

Yep, what they said.

If I were building an AP system where I had an established pond handy, I would take the filter from the skimmer box and lay in in a half filled grow bed to spray it out with well water. This is of course depending on well water rather than treated city water.

Another method would be to swish the filter out in a bucket of rain water, dechlorinated water or the pond water and then pour the bucket over that middle layer of gravel.

Make sure that once you seed the system, don't let the goodies dry out (that is keep the system running on schedule once you seed it.) And it will be time to start feeding the bacteria colony once you've seeded it so that it may grow rather than dwindle. Small amounts of humonia, fish food, or even adding a few fish should take care of that.

Steve, the bacteria dont have to be motile, thats one of the reasons we have a pump! We know that if you put bacteria in one place such as the middle of a grow bed they will eventually spread throughout the whole grow bed, walls of tank, pipework, and any surface, not because they can walk but because they are circulated by the pumping of the water. In that case it doesnt matter where you put them as long as its not on the surface where they will be killed by the UV or dry out.

The bacteria deal, and I am glad to tell this sad tale so no other newbies are taken advantage of aswell.

I was so worried when I started my system about not having the bacteria for the nitrofication process I went searching on line and bought Nitrosomanas concentrate and nitrobacter concentrate from an eastern states online aquaponics store for $250. Did it work, doubt it !! system still took 4 weeks to cycle.

Bugger - sorry to hear about that Jess

I cycled the long way with goldfish and it took ~3 weeks...now TCL has written a good article on peeponics - so it hurts when ppl get stung...thanks for letting us all know

If you were going to buy bacteria I would recommend getting it in a dry (powder) form as it is more stable. The liquid form could be dead and you wouldn't know it. Jes I didnt think t would be that expensive??? I paid abut $30 for a powder but in the end I probably didn't need it anyway.

powder sound just as a rip off as my liquid sludge, any way shit happens.

Just wanted to give a heads up for someone starting a new system , to be patient and not fret. to the supplier , will never ever look let alone buy from them again.

i hear ya KE, but i'm fairly sure that the bacteria live as an attached organism to a surface, hence gravel with bacteria attached wont mean that they will let go and float (be pumped) elsewhere. i'd assume that they expand out.

Dried bac would be useless as far as the nitrifying (the non heterotrphoic) type that are the basis of the deal can not survive any drying process.

The document in the useful info section contains all this.