Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone, I set up my first system this summer and clearly I have next to no experience in regards to this subject, so help on this matter would be very much appreciated.

I was wondering if I could use regrown bacteria to kick start the nitrogen cycling process. Apparently this takes about four weeks to start by itself, and that's quite a bit of time seeing as my growing season is halfway over.

I don't see why I couldn't use pregrown bacteria, it seems to make sense, however I have yet to read anything which says that I can' necessarily use it.

If its relevant I have about 25 3" koi and a 200 gallon tank. I was thinking of dumping some of this stuff in there:

http://www.amazon.com/Cycle-oz-Treats-9 ... B0002563FO

Best if you know someone with an aquarium, then you can pinch some of their gunk from their filter... Plenty of bacteria there and it's free...

If you already have fish in the system... there's no need to add anything else...

You'd be better off getting some water, or filter gunk from an existing aquarium...

Personally, I think the "bacteria in a bottle" products... are pure snake oil.....

Ha... beat me to it EB...

quick fingers today...

I cleaned out 4 filters from my fish tanks into my growbeds.
In the middle of one of the coldest winters we have had for a long time.
My system is still cycling 2 weeks later, however my nitrate level has stayed pretty steady between 10-20ppm.
This tells me that the bacteria is there, just taking its time to grow to the required levels.
I have also purposely been over feeding to try to keep a high nitrogen source.
My ammonia levels have never gone over .5 ppm. and nitrites havent gone above .25ppm.

Seems to have worked for me!

It will work... but as you say... temperature plays a significant role in cycling...

What time frame can I expect until stabilization between the bottle and some bacteria rich water / filter goo?

Who knows.....

AP is something that you really can;t rush that much, trying to hurry things up too much often leads to.

Doing it naturally - 4 weeks in summer, 8 weeks in winter

Doing it from a bottle sold in aquarium shops - 4 weeks in summer, 8 weeks in winter

Doing it from a scoop of gunk from an old system - ???

Joel: That gif is awesome!

Yep, and there is no "magic wand".... despite the plethora of "brands" in a bottle that might claim otherwise...

took me around 9 weeks to cycle my system this winter...
that was with a handfull of fish in the tank too.

probably no help but i even seeded with a bottle of bacteria.

saying that now im cycled some things are going nuts (chard watercress) and others not so much (brussel sprouts, broccoli, beans, peas) i guess overall until you have a mature system its really a waiting game.
Waiting for approval from the wife
Waiting to cycle
Waiting for HSM's
Waiting for fish/veg to grow
Waiting for system maturity.

Yes, there's the whole range of them under "view more smileys". But I'm trying to remember who made them?

Was it Dan or Dave??? One of our members in the US, but I can't remember now... Shame on me....

Temperature is a huge factor when cycling. You can cycle a tank in 80deg water in 8-12 weeks, if you want to cycle a tank in 60deg water it could take 4 months...Ive had lobster holding facilities take 6 months to get online because they stock with animals immediately (why...yeah) and have to play catch up in cooold water. 6 months of water changes and ammonia binding chemicals...fun.

The keys to fast cycling are:
warm water temps (preferably in the mid 80's)
7.5-8 Ph
Keeping the available ammonia between 1-2ppm
haveing a trace amount of phosphates in the water

Even if you are running a cold water system, cycle it in warm water and adjust the temp down 2 deg a day until you reach your desired temp. They don't have a problem living in the colder temps but they do not divide/replicate much... thus slowing down the process a lot.

Ive been cycling tanks and selling bacteria for almost a decade and there is clearly a difference between cyling times when inocculating a system with bacteria vs just letting it happen naturally (at least with the bacteria I deal with). They also sell pricy ultra concentrate bacteria for emergencies and institutions with money to burn. You can effectivly cycle a tank in 3-4 weeks using the ultra concentrate but it does come at a price.