Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

i just want ta know if any one got info on the actual bacteria it would be nice ta read now.

not as yet

?? like what info?

just info on the bacteria part in detail. eg life span,how it feeds, move etc...

there are some specs in the useful info section, been there from the start, as for more info, just google the names of the bacs and you should find some info.

FYI they are non-motile (don't move)

I wouldn't be too concerned about life span, you need to look at bacteria as a bacterial colony, not individual bacteriums. Bacterial numbers double every 20 minutes in ideal conditions.

Like any living creature, ideal conditions revolve generally around food, moisture and temperature ( in the case of bacteria, the presence or absence of oxygen is a critical factor- Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter need oxygen to multiply and convert ammonia and nitrite to nitrate). Am guessing here but I presume flood and drain systems would make more oxygen available. However as long as there is dissolved oxygen in the water then the all important nitrosomonas and nitrobacter will survive (and fish too!!)

Moisture is not a problem in aquaponics, although if there is a dry layer in the top of the grow bed there wouldn't be any living nitrogen converting bacteria in that layer.

Food is simply the fish waste. The size of the bacterial colony is limited by the amount of nutrients in the water. For example if you had 5 fish in one system and 50 in another, than there would be more bacteria in the system with 50 fish. If you loaded a new system with a large amount of fish waste it would take time for the bacteria to multiply to levels that are capable of converting the waste as it is produced. This is why it is important to not overload a new system for the first month or so, otherwise the fish will become poisoned by the unconverted ammonia and nitrite.

Once the bacteria mentioned above have converted ammonia and nitrite into nitrate, they no longer play a role in the utilisation of nitrates. Nitrates are used by plant life. If you do not have enough plants in your system and nitate levels get high then you'll get an algae bloom (algae is a plant).

The bacteria are non-motile ( ie they do not have any organ parts that enable them to move). However they are moved about the environment by physical means. For example if you dumped a heap of filter muck onto your grow bed, then the rise and fall of the water will move the bacteria throughout the grow bed. These bacteria need surface area on which to grow and multiply. The size of the gravel used is a critical facter here. By comparing the same volume of small gravel to large gravel, the small gravel media has greater overall surface area and is capable of supporting more bacteria.

As far as how the bacteria actually convert nutrients is a chemical process that I can't recall.

In summary all that really needs to be known by the aquaponicer is the nutrient readings in the water. When there are fish in the tank, as long as ammonia and nitrite are low then there is sufficient bacteria to cope with the nutrient load input. I think nitrate is not irritating to the fish compared to nitrite and ammonia, however if nitrate levels get too high then the water will begin to turn putrid and in turn the pH and oxygen levels drop, ultimately affecting the health of the fish. If nitrates are too high and the fish are suffering then you need to either reduce fish numbers, add more plants or do a water change to reduce the amount of nutrients in the water.


I'm glad to see my studies in Environmental science and natural resource management have come to some use..........I hope........

Liz

Awesome miss piggy,

The doubling time for Nitrosomonas is about 8 hours, so going from 5 fish to 50 fish should take at least 1 day to respond. But I expect that it will take more than a day for the NH4 levels to jump to the new steady state anyway. Handling a jump in NH4 levels is far easier than the initial seeding process.

Ah thanks miss pigy the info is just what i need you cleared up a lot of things for me.

So once i got a 'mature' system any changes should be 'absorbed' in a mater of a week or so?

Yes... assuming that its not a DRASTIC change - most system changes should be absorbed easily