Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Does anyone have any tips on ways to get a system cycling quickly? I've seen bacterial samples advertised on the web here, would a large innoculation of nitrate producing bacterial hurry a system along?

Timmy you're right there are products out there on the market....

and certainly utilising any "gunk" from an existing aquarium will help "kick" start your system.... as will the use of "pure" ammonia or even urine.... if you so inclined...

but it will depend on temperate and just what size your system is and how much "stuff" you put in... just for example....

We could probably give better answers if you were to post your system design/specs up on the forum...

Normally it'll take 2-3 weeks to cycle a system .... if it's cold it'll take longer....

Keep reading... there's plenty of material in the forum here which should answer most of your questions....

If not, post your specs and I'm sure people will help you.

So it's extra ammonia that will kick off the system naturally and an extra bacterial culture isn't required?

I'm looking at a small system to begin with of just 60L tank and a couple of 150mm pvc pipes in 1.5m lengths, with pea gravel in the top 1/2 and rough sand in the bottom 1/2. the idea being that i place all my plants in the bottom 1/2, so when i flood the system the solids are caught in the sand. A 600L/hour pump used for pc water cooling will be on a timer to run for 15m in the hour. a small solar panel and battery will be it's power source. the water will run down the gravel and into the sand at the bottom, then out the bottom of the pipe back into the fish tank.
The pvc pipes will be standing vertically above the fish tank.
I plant to start out growing tomatoes.

Timmy, the ammonia produced by fish and food waste decomposition and fish respiration is what provides the food for the nitrifying bacteria....

Produce ammonia (from whatever source) and you'll encourage bacterial growth.....

So adding ammonia, from one source or another (including fish) and adding a bacterial culture will certainly benifit your system and speed up the rate of cycling....

That's exactly what is acheived by utilising the "old gunk" from an existing aquarium/filter.... it already has the bacterial culture growing in it.

A 60Ltr tank is only a small tank, so you wont be able to stock a large amount of Silver Perch in there...

Just think of the amount of space that would be taken up by, say six to ten plate sized (500gm) Silver Perch.....

In a 60L tank, there wouldn't be a lot of room left... and remember that you'll also be romoving a percentage of the tank volume to flood your pipes.....

I don't think you could grow out more than six Perch in a system that size and even then you'd have to watch your water and feed parameters like a hawk..... you might be better off thinking of using Goldfish or Koi



Tomatoes grow pretty big even normally, let alone in an AP system where they thrive...

How are you going to grow Tomatoes in a "vertical" pipe system?

1. A 60L tanks is TINY. Thats a 2 foot tank. I would not keep big fish in there at all. Goldfish or tilapia at most.

2. Small fish = less nutrients = only leafy greens or a single tomato. You won't be growing much.

3. Why do you need it to cycle quickly? What is the rush? Get it setup, make sure everything is done right.
- Fill the tank with water.
- Add your growing media.
- Forget the plants for the time being.
- Get a filter sponge out of an EXISTING aquarium and dunk it in your water and ring it out over your growing medium.
- Now you can add a few small fish or sumpliment with pure ammonia or other sources.
- Add the ammonia on a regular basis. Test for ammonia nitrite and nitrate.
- You will most likely see the level of ammonia dropping, then the nitrite will rise. Later both the ammonia and nitrite will be low and you will detect levels of nitrate.
- Once you get to the stage where the ammonia and nitrite read 0 and nitrate reads high then your tank has been cycled.
- The common myth now is that once the tank is cycled you can add a lot of fish all at once.... WRONG. Start with a few fish. Then a few more. Gradually build up the fish population.

I hope this helps.

The reason i'm in a rush is i rent, and i'm only here for 6 months. the plan is to get a working system (or stuff up and make lots of mistakes and learn from it).
Once i buy my own place, i'll expand on my existing setup.
I see from a bit of the reading 60L is way too small for fish, would red claw be a better option? by the looks of it you can stock them at a much higher density. i'm also pretty partial to garlic butter lobster tail, so they'd find a good home in my stomach at the end of it.

And to answer the question about why grow the tomatoes on the side like that? they actually do really well grown upside down or in any hanging position.

The only advise I can offer is to take it one step at a time, if you start counting off the weeks/months you will tend to rush and then not learn anything (except how to kill fish) - we have what is called the "P" word - it is for "P"atience

i'm quite patient, i garden a lot I can wait for things to grow. I think the smaller version idea sounds like the go, so it's easy to move when i move out and i can spread the "infected" grow media in a larger system later if i'm successful

Pity you aren't in Brisbane Timmy.... I'm sure there's a few people over there that would sell you a 60ltr system that they'd cram 6-10 Silver Perch in for you right from the start.......

And you' be able to keep it in your Kitchen or on the table as an "Educational" kit perhaps.....

But those guys live on the "dark side" and are only interested in your money....

Over here we try and give practical advise and we are all trying to say...

Patience Timmy, patience.... there are no shortcuts, or at least none that aren't likely to put you on a knife edge and/or kill your fish....

Patience....

fyi http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... php?t=1348
that's exactly what i was thinking of for my system.

just go steal some gravel from eb's system and add it to your bed. i can't think of a better way to quickly cycle a system. he must have colonies of colonies of bacteria by now.

welcome to the forums btw timmy.

what do you think of my red claw yabbie idea? They won't be fussy about eating our meat scrapes either which is a plus.

With you Timmy.... note though that Jays aquarium is 55 gallons... or 200 litres....

Note also that he only stocked his 200 litre system with a dozen (12) talapia...

Here's the original specs to his system for you to read ...

http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... php?t=1248

Redclaw are a good alternative for a small scale system, particularly if you're thinking of doing something indoors, as they will dispose of your scraps as you say.....

Just be sure that you can cover the tank, most of the crays, marron, yabbies are all great escape artists apparantly....