Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey folks general question if I could, now the beneficial bacteria grow in the bio filter in our case our growbeds,is the benficial bacteria also in the water.

In a home aquarium, where does the beneficial bacteria grow,

Would filling an aquarium compleltey with the water from our back yard systems, kick start the beneficial bacteria process or really achieve nothing

Thanks

I kick started an indoor tank by using AP water. The bacteria is in the water but does not like a lot of light. Generaly AP systems need more bacteria due to the amounts feed to eating fish.

Cool, having never raised a goldfish and then doing aquaponics, Ive come to enjoy the fish bug / compulsion /obsession, so I went out and bought a brand new 300 litre home aquarium and have filled it up using the aquaponics water to try and kick start the process

If your doing an aquarium just for pretty fish you should look into saltwater. I've got some clown and angel fish in a saltwater tank. Didn't realise how easy saltwater tanks were.

Yep... it'll do the trick... just make sure the water didn't have a high nitrate level... as an aquarium is just going to recirculate... and eventually compound nitrates without a water change... coz there's no plants to take them out.... unless you've hooked a little growbed to the aquarium...

Cool, so how does it work in an aquarium, how do you remove nitrates normally in this situation

With water changes.

Dang, not happy with that

String up plumbing all over the house and hook all house plants into the aquarium aquaponics?

Seriously though, once you get the aquarium cycled up, you will have to do water changes unless you have some plants hooked to it to remove the nitrates. As to where the bio-filtration happens in an aquarium, usually aquariums have some sort of filter that provides the surface area for the aquarium and the water gets pumped through that, there is where most of the bacteria will be but since most aquarium filters are pretty small, they also need regular cleaning and replacement to go along with the weekly water changes. Keeping aquarium can be a huge hobby all it's own but if you don't like the idea of water changes, you are probably best figuring some way to hook it up as aquaponics so all you have to do is top ups.

Could one have water plants, macro-algae, and micro algae in a salt water tank (or in a refugium) and pull out nutrients by removing excess growth? My cousin had an aquarium last summer that showed huge growth in the sea lettuce and no water changes. Perhaps even edible macro algae: out of the aquarium and into the soup!

Yep... saltwater plants will remove nitrates...

Well must say disappointed in the idea of doing water changes in fish aquariums, what a waste of water and nutrients, it is feasible to simply drain some out but seems wasteful.

I have a couple of small hyrdoponic setups in the house at the moment, couple of small cherry tomato plants and herbs but dont want to have pipes running from the fish tank to them etc, would look ugly. Aesthetics is very very important.

I may research into getting an external cannister filter for the fish tank and plumbing that through a couple of small grow beds in the cupboard under the tank, grow some mushrooms or something that needs no light to grow.

Mmm thinking

Cupboard is big enough to maybe fit a few growbeds into

Its not a waste to do water changes. Just use the water to give some other plants a feed. Or dump it into an AP system.

+1 that's what I do. I have a 45 gal tank and I take 5 gals a week out of it and put the 'waste'
water in my AP system.

I've been doing a bit of research on compost tea brewers for my earth garden. Has anyone tried something like this: http://www.youtube.com/user/OrganicTexa ... 8_PuUon5_Q

For a painfully detailed explanation, there's a 9 part series explaining it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhSkLBgIhN8