Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

One particular thread in this Forum has had a lot of communication for toilets, Composting and Sawdust toilets, etc., including someones household Septic Tank Being Backed up.
I'm sure that they were old postings, but it stimulated a thought... We have a product in the U S, called Rid-X, it is bacterial organizms (sold in a box for you to Flush into your Septic system periodically),thus breaking down the solids in septic systems and allowing the liquids to drain out of the Tank and into the drain fields.

Noting an old saying of Erma Bombeck "The grass is always greener over the Septic Tank";

I wonder if adding a small amount of this product to the plant growing tank/tray system would be of any benefit at the start up of a Bio-system, concerning bacterial needs.

Just a thought, just a question?

Your expertise is appreciated!

I would like to know the experiential thoughts for use in my new system when I startup in the near future.

Thanks,
Pete

....don't do it...the nitrifing bacteria, nitrosomna and nitrobacter are present in the air and everywhere.....there has been much discussion about this since I have been on the forum....the cycling process will take 3 to 6 weeks depending on the temperature of where the system is situated....

i did buy bacteria on line from the Eastern States in Australia, for some unbelievable price ( $ 200 US ) big mistake

The easiest way to get bacteria into the system is to to to an aquarium shop and ask for the gunk out of their bio filters....or ask a mate that has an aquarium and sqeeze the gunk out of the bio filter and add it to the growing medium and fish tank....this will start the colony off......

or patience, and a colony will begin by it self..

+1. My understanding is that the bacteria we want are fairly short-lived when out of water, so I would have doubts as to if the stuff would be effective or not. I doubt it would hurt, so you could certainly try a pinch in a system and report back...

Many septic systems are based on anaerobic principles and slow decomposition of solid wastes....

And human/warm blooded wastes can potentially contain levels of e-coli....

I suspect the product you mention contains bacteria designed to break down solid wastes in an anerobic environment....

Aquaponics on the other hand is about aerobic nitrogen waste conversion....

IMO... most of the bacterial supplements available... aren't worth the money you pay for them...

And from a technical point of view... for any beneficial bacteria to survive... they require, not only an aerobic environment... but a source of nutrient food....

Most pre-packaged products simply don't meet either requirement....

Anaerobic bacterial products however don't have such requirements, to the same extent anyway, and may survive a period of shelf life and transportation...

I don't see the benefit of such products in an AP system... and believe that an AP system cycles just as quickly without them....

Get some gunk from someone elses system, or from an aquarium tank to help speed the cycling ....

AP systems cycle up from bacteria available in the air, apparently...so they can't be too hard to transport

Nope... the wind blows them in....

They settle on available media... where they begin to thrive ... in a nutrient rich environment ... [/b]

Stick them in a bottle, leave them on a shelf... starve them...then mail them around the country... for what ever cost...

Nah... I'm a cheapskate.... I'll take the freebies....

at least I agree with the not worth buying bacteria part

Knew you were Steem... post might have seemed otherwise... point was.. no sense buying them.. and I knew you were too smart for that...

I´m about putting up my first system and I wonder if it would work to fill up the FT using the water from a stream near by (containing trout) to get the bacteria or just wash the clay in it and get some bacteria that way?

that might help. You can also use water from an aquarium. I cleaned out one of my aquarium filters into the FT. Realistically you are only going to shave off a few days to a week or two by going to extra effort. Whack some fish in and forget about it.
Check the parameters in 4-5 weeks, no sense in even bothering before then.
Or don't even check them, who cares. After 6-8 weeks its going to be cycled if you have had a constant source of ammonia. You don't even need to test it.