Backyard Aquaponics
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Hey guys thanks for all the replies. My buddy wants to go ahead and give me some goldfish, my question is I tested the system this morning and the readings were Ammonia 0-.25 Nitrates 40 Nitrites 1, ph is still around 8. Would it be ok to go ahead and introduce goldfish to the system. I haven't added anymore humonia to the system since the first time so I don't think that I have any issue with the ammonia. I was more wondering if the nitrates and nitrites are ok for placing the fish in.

Thanks for all the help so far. My wife and I had some of the lettuce yesterday and she kept commenting how nice the texture of the lettuce was and how it was so different from what we get at the store. I am excited to see how the system matures over the next couple of months.

one more question. For you guys that live in zone 5 and 6 what do you do with your systems over the winter?

i'd say it would be ok to add a few after the nitrites drop a little, just go light on feed and keep checking levels
i'm in zone 5/6, getting my ft monday hopefully (650gallons) and some ibc's in the next week or two.. i'm going to keep the whole thing in my basment, by late summer/early fall i'll be harvesting some yellow perch and bluegill, and i want to stock trout

I would wait until you can have the ammonia go from 2+ to 0 ammo as rites in 24 hours. Rhen your tank is cycled. With a high ph your ammonia is particularly poisonous. Search the forum for 'ammonia, the silent killer'

I'm not a humonia expert, but from what I remember TCLynx saying, unless the humonia was aged for a couple of weeks, it'll not have completely converted to ammonia yet. I expect you still have some urea floating around waiting to convert to ammonia.

Therefore, I'd wait to add fish, until your ammonia readings have been 0 for a few days. Otherwise, you might get an ammonia suprise (wow, there's an unpleasant mental image...)

But again, not an expert here!

yeah, i mis understood, i'd wait for it to drop

the Ammonia dropped to <.25 so I added 7oz of hummonia to bring it back up. The Nitrites are still at 1 and the nitrates are at 40 or so, its hard to tell when they get that high. I need to add more plants.

So I added the 7oz of humonia yesterday and last night I tested ammonia, it was at 1. This morning I test the system again and the ammonia is .25 Nitrites are 1 and Nitrates are 40. Ph is still pretty high above 8 I would think. I need to get a high range ph tester.

I did start a 5 gallon top off bucket and I put some murric acid in it to add at a later date. That water last night had a ph of 6.5, so at least I know my tester works.

Seems to me that I am really just waiting around for the nitrites to cycle because it is the only thing that is not going up and down. Another thing that I am going to wait on is the Ammonia. Although this hummonia that I put in the other day has been waiting around since the first time I placed hummonia in the system I don't know if maybe it hasn't converted to ammonia just yet (it has been sitting around since the 21 of April). I will keep testing for a couple more days and we will see what happens.

sounds like a plan.. do you have seeds in yet? or seedlings? if not get them in there
good luck!

The nitrite part of the cycle is always the longest, and most frustrating. Patience!

So the other day I walk out to the grow beds and I see these tiny white things that looked like tiny shrimp. So I did some searching and found out that these things were aphids. I have heard stories about how these things will destroy lettuce, tomatoes, anything that they can eat. So naturally I started to freak out. The next morning I go back out to see how my poor lettuce made it through the night and I see lots of aphids, but I also see ants... everywhere. Turns out ants like aphids, for dinner. So I don't know how the aphids found my grow beds and I really don't know how the ants found the aphids but sure am glad they did.

Now for the pic

ants farm aphids for the sugar juice aphids produce. ants+aphids = not a good thing. i would remove leaves and get rid of as many aphids as possible before they take a hold on your system . .

Oh man, I better get on it tomorrow.

Go to your local garden center and get a bag of ladybugs. They will eat the aphids and not damage your plants.

Well quick update on whats going on. I put 6 five inch koi and goldfish into the tank yesterday. Before I did that my readings were AM 0 NI 0 NA 10 Ph 8. I let them hang out without feeding them and I was going to feed them this morning but after I did the test I came out with AM 0 NI 1 NA 5 PH 8. So I did some searching around and it seems that I need to wait till Am and NI is 0 before feeding them.

They did stir up all the dust in the tank so I can't really see them at the moment. Is there something I can put in the tank to settle it more, or is it just a wait and see game?

The aphids are still in the beds, I believe that I will be making the chilli spray and seeing how that works, they have moved from my lettuce to my pepper plants.

At this point I am really considering making a filter for the system. Maybe adding a SLO and another 55 gal barrel to increase the amount of water in the system and to take out some of the solids. What do you guys think, I will draw something up a little later.

Thanks for all the help! I feel like it is finally coming together.

Hi Kyle
I am new here to.
I live about 20 mile north of Evansville IN.
Good luck
God Bless
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