Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Still learning whatsLFS and were do you get bacteria in vic

Sorry, Local Fish Store, and they will havebacteria for starting/cycling a new tank

Disregard that questian have just notised you are in usa you possably dont know where victoria is

it's ok. But your local fish store will have bacteria, wherever it is located...

Hey MF:
Why would my ammonia and nitrites be 0 if the bacteria were dead?

Fresh water (tap or rain) doesn't have any ammonia or nitites so that is what I am inclined to think. Basically, unless there was a disease (which you would have noticed), the only other plausible explanation for fish mortality is rapid water changes and absence of healthy bacteria. Excessive water changes will wipe out bacteria quickly in a small system less than 100 gallons and zero all of your readings

Couldn't fish live in tap water (I guess distilled water) if the pH, temp, etc don't fluctuate much? They would only need bacteria to keep the ammonia down? If the ammonia were 0 why would I need bacteria anyway? I.e., couldn't fish live just fine in an overflowing bathroom sink?

I have been wondering if the AmQuel masks the readings somehow.
The #1 theory (which you've mentioned earlier too) to me is that since pH is the only thing out of whack that this all started from adding the oyster shells which made the pH too high. I still haven't gotten the pH down after all this water changing.

No-tap water contains chloramine which burns thier gills. De-ionized water can be explained a little better here http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/purewatr.htm

I am using AmQuel+ to neutralizes the chlorine/chloramine (not sure which we have) before I add it to the fish tub.
http://www.novalek.com/kpd79.htm
I guess imagine an overflowing sink where a dechlorinator/dechloraminator is added upstream. No bacteria necessary?
My ammonia and nitrites have been 0 all through this dying period.

"flow through aquaculture" is, from what I've read, cost intensive because of the need for expensive bio-mechanical water quality management of the influent. Not being an expert in water chemistry, I do know that commercial facilities de-ionize incoming water, sterilize it with UV sterlizers and then run it through a rather large reverse osmosis unit to get it all the toxic minerals out before building it back up in nitrified bacteria factories before giving it to the fish. Water chemistry hurts my head when I start reading about ions and atomic particles being seperated or added to adjust water quality. So I deal with it as an aquarist would. I make sure my filters are healthy with nitrifying bacteria, change water in small doses and make sure it's not getting too hard or salty over time. I don't ever check Ph or Ammonia for two reasons. 1) Can't do much about Ph over time. Rapid changes will hurt fish. All Ph adjustments are temporary 2) I can smell ammonia when and if it ever becomes a problem. Stick my nose to the surface and that's as easy as it gets.

When nitrites are zero, so is ammonia, both are mostly associated with a new tank and the intitial stages of the nitrogen cycle. NitrAtes are what you are looking for in a mature system. Bacteria IS necessary to convert Nitrite into NitrAte. Zero'd ammonia and nitrite means one of three things

1) No fish in system, or so few fish that the cycle is occuring below the radar of cheap test kits.

2) Large percentage of water is being buffered, typically when you do major water changes.

3) Your system is healthy and mature, in which case you should be testing for NitrAte.



The variable you want to know is what your Nitrates were at. If you had Nitrates present over a week long period, then your bacteria was alive and well. If you had zero's all across the board, then you were changing water to much, and maybe the AmQuel wasn't helping.

Unless you are running UV sterilizers/RO units/deionizers, all water conditioners are temporary.

Best thing is add fish slowly after cycling the tank. Get the bio-filter nice and healthy, and do < 5% water changes every week. Monitor NitrAte until it stabilizes, then add fish as you grow comfortable. In a small system I would keep an eye in NitrAte and hardness every other week or so... sit back and start naming the fish again;)

Haha, nope this system has self-harvested itself enough. The next fish will not be goldfish.

I moved the survivors (1 goldfish 1 algae eater) into a 20 gallon tub in the garage. The 50W heater should be able to do something for them now. I hooked the continuous pump up to my auto siphon experimentation bucket. I have a 3/4" inner pipe with a 1" outer pipe and a cap, and nothing else. This is cycling through the bucket every minute. The main reason I am not doing it direct from the pump is that the current would be too strong. I improved the cutoff by cutting the end of the pipe at a very slight angle (like 5 degrees). It cuts off after three or four restarts at the bottom.

I want to bring the water parameters closer to the living room aquarium's, then move them inside. The nitrates in the living room aquarium are quite high.

Here are pictures. Ignore the big pipes in the bucket - they do not do anything. The small pipe in the center is the siphon.

Oh yeah, I added some gravel to the tub. There are a ton of little roots all throughout the gravel. I now think adding composting worms is a must!

The roots

Update Dave, whats going on in your basement?

John...welcome back.