Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have a 100 gallon fish tank that I set up and began cycling 3 weeks ago. The first couple days I just let it bubble with 2 air stones to offgas the chlorine. Then I added 20 gallons of established aquarium water along with the old biofilter and a couple handfuls of gravel from the aquarium.

Second week I added a couple guppies and other aquarium fish, 6 in total, into the FT. Along with 1/2 Cup of locally harvested Hawaiian Seasalt and a dozen lettuce seedlings floating on a raft DWC style. The lettuces have been getting misted with a kelp/worm tea spray. I got my API water testing kit in the mail and I tested my water. pH 8.4, everything else 0. Over the week I have added 2 doses of humonia (about 3 beers worth each time ) couple days apart, juice of 4 medium homegrown limes 1 every other day, 2 tera cotta pots, a 1/2 C of the kelp/worm tea, and another 1/2C of Hawaiian salt into the water. I kept on testing the water every day and I still got the same readings of pH 8.2-8.4, everything else 0

Today I finally got an ammonia reading of 1 with a pH of 8.2. Why haven't my bacteria started to kick in? I'm sure I got a good innoculant as my indoor tank has been well established and stable for over 10 years. The fish I put in there seem fine, zipping around the tank and eating the flake I put in. Do I need to keep adding lime juice or more of it to get my pH down. What about steeping a buffer like oyster shell or peat moss in the water directly over the airstone bubbles? The tapwater I used to fill is pH 7.4, the aqarium water pH is 8.0 with everything else 0, how did my water get such high pH?

Do I just keep on doing what I'm doing, humonia, lime juice, kelp/worm tea mists and have patience? I am in the process of building a couple grow barrels that will be filled with red and black cinder and hopefully hooked up in the next week or so. Is there a chart available that shows the ideal range for all the water tests and what I should aim for? I am having a hard time securing fish stock, so I will probally have to continue with humonia and kelp/worm tea till I find a source for tilapia or koi. How often should I dose the tank? Can I also use organic hydroponic fertilizer like fox farms big bloom in the water or is that better off as a foliar spray?

Thanks for the help.

Aloha,
Cory

If your system pH is higher than all your water inputs, it's probably due to the media you are using. If your media is limestone, it'll stay at that high level for a long long time.

I don't have much media in the system right now, no grow bed attached yet. Right now there is 24 2" cups full of red Hawaiian cinder, maybe a gallon bucket of cinder. My FT is a 110 gallon rubbermaid farm bucket, the kind you use as a horse water trough.
I've read that red cinder will raise the pH, but I've read of readings in the 7.4-7.6 range, they bring it down to 7.0 and in a couple weeks it will drift back up to 7.6 Thats why people over here use black cinder because it has a tendency to lower the pH a little. I used red in the cups because it is larger in size and won't fall into the FT, in my GB I will probally use black cinder or a mix, smaller black cinder on bottom, bigger red on top, hopefully will be a neutral media mix.

Cory

Be a little wary about mixing the sizes of media... anything smaller than 15mm, especially on the bottom... will tend to clog with solids over time...

As to water pH, ya might read this explanation.
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3894

I would not keep adding much hummonia if you have fish in the system, especially with the minimal amount of bio-filter you have and the fact that hummonia is too easy to overdose because of the delayed reaction from when you put it in till it actually starts to read as ammonia. Fresh urine takes time to convert to ammonia.

Running only 3 weeks, need more patients. Yes the aquarium filter and water can help but regular cycling usually takes at least 6 weeks. Completely fishless cycling with actual grow beds already installed still takes 3 weeks under perfect conditions.

You are trying to cycle with fish and added ammonia but you don't have grow beds hooked up yet, just some filter media, gravel and water from an already cycled aquarium. More patients, take it easy on the hummona additions and work on getting your grow beds hooked up asap.