Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,

As a new APer one of the things I am most worried about when my tank arrives next week and is set up is the water quality and monitoring it.

As well as knowing what to do and when with regard to water changes, adding calcium/salt etc. I think this is the scariest part of the AP system for a few newcomers as no one wants fish dieing.

I was thinking - it would be great if we could start a thread that firstly shows people how to use a water test kit and then allows people to post their water test results as their systems start up and cycle.

I am not sure exactly how this could work - perhaps some more experienced forum members could suggest a good format for the thread.

I sure know I am going to need all the help anyone is willing to offer to get me through my first system startup so I dont kill too many fish

Thanks in advance.

Hamish

Such a thread about water quality, testing, water prep/treatment/conditioning, what to add and what not, water changes.

Such a thread with the basic info should probably be in the Useful information section.

As far as posting test results and getting help, most people do this in their system thread and if they have problems, issues or panic, they can usually get answers and help quickly through the forum.
Posting such info in the system threads seems to be a pretty good way to do it and it helps chronicle a system's progress from ideas/design through cycling and beyond!

Do you have any particular questions right now about your water or how to use your test kit, what you might need to do to prepare your water?

Hi TCLynx,

When my system gets here I am just wondering how best to cycle it. I notice you recomend fishless cycling - which seems the kindest to the fish anyway.

What source of Amonia do you use - or do you just pee in the tank Not sure im keen on that idea

Cheers,
Hamish

I did use pee for fishless cycling. Since it is possible for bacteria to be in urine, I usually put it in a small bottle and save it for at least two weeks before adding into the system.

How big is your system going to be? It doesn't take much to cycle a system. For my little barrel system (fish tank of less than 50 gallons), I expect that it would have cycled fine using only about 100 ml of urine per day. I was usually putting in about 200 ml every other day. (well not so much at first since ya gotta get over the spike.)

Some people use Ammonia but you have to find pure ammonia that they haven't added any detergents into.

I've also hear of people using urea but I'm not sure what other issues there might be with that other than the fact you need to be careful not to overdose. Problem with urea is that it takes some time before it turns into ammonia so measurments and testing have a time lag in which it is easy to think you need to add more and then you have an overdose.

And another simple way I've heard of doing it, just use fish food. This one might have some drawbacks in the gunk and smell department along with the delayed reaction waiting for it to break down into ammonia and other stuff.

Hi again,

My system is here viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3402

To start with I have a 1250L (1150L usable) fish tank and 2 x 250L grow beds.

Trying to work out how to add in a duckweed/redclaw pond to the system as well so the duckweed can be used to suck out excess nutrients as my growbeds are small in comparison to the fish tank.

Also the Silver perch will eat the duckweed so food cost will be reduced.

CHeers,
Hamish