Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've not voted on your method since you never really gave an exact recipe to follow. I don't know how anyone is supposed to follow your method since you don't spell it out.

As to being something all that new???? And Cheaper than what's been done before????
Seems to me that simple pee ponics cycle up is cheaper since you are not buying any extra additives like ridx or sea-90. And Pee Ponics has been done before. http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2534

i haven't found where plant nutes and sea-90 have been used to start an AP sys, maybe you know of one, that is what i was trying, and it worked, yes it is an extra cost for the nutes and sea-90 BUT it boosts the plant growth and bac growth. i cycled in pond water to further boost my bac growth, as far as i can tell it cycled in 2-3 weeks, i am just trying new ideas on how to get started without waiting so long (4-8weeks), as far as the nutes go, to make 100 gallons i use (13oz sea-90, 18oz cal/nit,10oz superphosphate, 7oz potassium sulfate, 5oz iron sulfate, 2.3L of sulfuric acid, 1g borax, 1g manganese sulfate, 1g zinc sulfate, .5g copper sulfate, 30g magnesium sulfate) 2 gallons will give you about 500 ppm in a 70gal AP sys, i cycled about 25gal out over a 2 week period (some was tap and some was pond) i also added some fresh pee (about 2L), so the pee wasn't what i was referring to...

[quote="TCLynx"]I've not voted on your method since you never really gave an exact recipe to follow. I don't know how anyone is supposed to follow your method since you don't spell it out.

by simply asking, "hey, can you give your nute info and and go into more detail on your method, thanx"

no need to be a smartass

What are you using as the indication that it is "cycled"?
For fishless cycling a common test to know if it is "cycled" would be to dose so that the ammonia reads a particular level. I always used between 1-2 ppm but I know some people who would dose up to 4 ppm. Then measure the amount of time it takes for both ammonia and nitrite to reach 0. If you can dose and have both ammonia and nitrite reach 0 within 24 hours then the system is cycled up to that "load".

I know people who claim to have "fishless cycled" in 3 weeks by using some form of kick start bacteria (pond water, bacteria in a bottle, what have you.) But I have gotten systems to cycle up quickly by using starter bacteria and "perfect conditions" too. However, I don't like to advertise the fact since many people will then try to cycle up and start to panic when ammonia or nitrite is still spiking after two or three weeks and the truth is conditions are rarely "perfect" and cycling takes time and the less perfect everything is the longer it takes.

As to the cycling up with nutrients. I would want to understand chemistry and stuff a lot better as well as the requirements of your particular kind of fish seeing as there are many things in the nutes you mixed up that if in too high a concentration could build up and become quite toxic to the fish. Now you are free to do what you choose but most people run aquaponics as a relatively closed recirculating system (as in not doing water changes normally only topping up as needed) and adding many of those nutrients many not be appropriate in such a situation.

Generally we don't use "plant nutes", or hydro mixes, in aquaponics.... for the reason that TCL mentions... many of them are toxic to fish... or may be accumulated in fish flesh...

As such we advise against using such mixtures.... it is a fundamental difference between hydroponic and aquaponic practices...

I used charlie carp and pee to cycle my big system and yes it worked a treat. So been done before, but good on you for getting a system up and running

OK... let's analyse things...

As far as using "plant nutes" and/or sea-90... too start a system....

Yes it has been tried before... and is a stock standard suggestion...(albeit not necessarily with Sea-90)...

We recommend planting immediately into an aquaponics system.. whether cycled or not.... and feeding the plants with Seasol, or Maxicrop (for those in the US)....

Seasol/Maxicrop... is a liquified seaweed extract... rich in trace elements... and virtually similar to Sea-90...

Some people also use Seasol/Maxicrop... or various fish emulsions, like Charlie Carp... to start the cycling of their systems...

Seasol/Maxicrop, and Sea-90... will certainly supply trace element needs of plants... but don't contain high levels of nitrogen... ammonia... or any beneficial bacteria... Nor does Sea-90....

All of the above do promote microbiological activity and plant growth and development...

Other means of providing ammonia to kick start the cycling include...

Urine (pee-ponics)... much documented....
Urea... much documented
Fish emulsion... much documented
Pure Ammonia... much documaneted
Bacterial seeding from existing filters or system water... much documented... and widely accepted as the best and fastest way to enhance cycling
Bacterial seeding with "commercial bacterial solutions".... almost universally found to be completely non-effective, and a waste of money
Other chemical fertilisers... most of which have resulted in fish kills

So yes... your use of Sea-90... will give your plants a kick start, and improve the microbiological processes in the future...

Seeding with some "pond water"... will certainly help kick start your cycling process....

And your hydro nutrient mix...in combination with Sea-90... is certainly a good hydroponic mix.... but probably not good for fish health...

None of the above is "new".... and indeed.. your "secret" hydroponics mix... would appear to be actually that recommended by the manufacturers of the Sea-90 product you use... http://www.seaagri.com/docs/hydroponics_formulas.pdf

So I don't think you can lay claim to that as your own discovery...

As to the use of RID-X...

Well , besides the inclusion of Glycerine, fragrances, and blue colouring... and bacterial components to help clean septic systems...

None of the bacteria, or other components... would seem to be beneficial in promoting the actual nitrification of cycling...

With the MSDS listing them as...

Amylase
Proteinase
Cellulase
Subtilisin Carlsburg
Triacylglycerol Lipase

This product is listed as a "hazadous" product... and listed within the United States & Puerto Rico under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory...

From the MSDS... http://www.rbnainfo.com/MSDS/US/RID-X-S ... lish-2.pdf

I'm sorry... but the fact that it's blue, smells... and is "soapy".... means I wouldn't go near it with a barge pole...

P.S... you have a picture dated 24/04/11... showing some sort of squash or pumpkin... in an enclosure....

And other photos of your new barrelponics system dated abouted two weeks prior to that date...

Are we right to assume that the squash/pumpkin... is seperate to the barrelponics system... and has been growing for some time...

Too late I'm afraid, Curt has gone.

But I still appreciate the info. Well put Rupert

Damn - wanted a vid of him harvesting and eating something from the system. I know I'd rather eat a bowl of hair than something that's been exposed to what he's been using.

Bye Curt !

so the use of sea-90 is considered organic and acceptable for consumption of food and fish.

sea-90 supposed to have 90 trace minerals, how about maxicrop liquid seaweed plus iron ? How many trace minerals and is there a list available ?

Maxicrop is expensive compared to sea-90 and if sea-90 has better trace element profile then I would use that instead.

I am also contemplating in using sea-90 and azomite rock dust together to kickstart the plant growth and not necessarily the AP nitrogen cycling.

any comment is highly appreciated. TIA