Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Not sure if I did what is normal however, when I started I was over excited about my Aquaponics garden and my thoughts were, why do the fishless cycle? so I made my garden and put my fish in and planted my garden. 18 months I have had troubles, testing each day average 7.6 Ph, Ammonia Nil, No2 Nil, No3 Nil. tried everything and could not get it up and going like it should. added extra fish. over feed my fish. killed some fish, lost all my water with a leak, refilled and lost my water again, used seasol and kept the plants alive but then i did the the hardest thing EVER. I took my fish out. (got a tank for the fish)(IBC) and started my fishless cycle. dead prawns for ammonia=not much differents (my tank is 2500 lit and at the moment I have only two garden beds 2400 x 1200 x 400 and there are more to go in) so I did not think I was over filtering. I read somewhere about house hold Ammonia so I went to coles, Cloudy Ammonia $1.39 lit
and decided to put in about a cup. next day Ammonia 1.0ppm, PH 7.8 high range, No2 nil No3 nil.
another cup the next day. Ammonia down No2 up. So I thought about it and hell why not, no fish in there, put a full liter in. that was on the 29th Jan. BUT My fish tank how ever had the ph spike to 8.8 ph on the 03rd Feb. Went to add 5 mil of hydro acid and Murphys law hit. 5 liter container, yep into the drink to swim with my fish. however the fish did not want to swim with the acid and the PH now (within 2 min) was at 6.0 if not lower. so I got my fish ( that pretty much jumped into my hands) and pitched them back into the pond. at that stage the readings were ph 8, Amm 2.0, No2 0.50, No3 80. and the next day 04th Feb. 7.2 , 0 ,2.0, 160
then I was amazed on the 5th feb ph 7.2, Amm 0ppm, No2 0ppm and No3 between 80 and 160ppm and has now dropped to 40ppm. the readings are perfect for me but is it possible to do your fishless cycle in only 7 days? have I done damage or have I just had a lot of luck.

After 18 months with fish i would suspect you were already cycled. You just gave it a massive dose that way more than the system could handle and so you got some readings. I wouldnt be surprised if you go back to all 0 reading over the next few weeks as you plants use all the nitrate.

Or i am just talking crap.

Wow, what an adventure!

Seems to me you have cycled, amm gone and nitrate are available. You got plants in?

Yes got a good range of plants and in the last week I can see the difference in growth. my strawberries have grown 3 fold and my tomatoes. WOW. I know I need more fish. At the moment I have 4 gold fish about 20cm long, 8 Silver perch around 15cm - 20cm and a bass about 25cm. (had more silvers but the bass found them) now separated.

would it hurt if I keep adding small amounts of Ammonia until I get my knew fish?

I wouldnt be adding any ammonia with fish in there. At ph 7.2 ammonia will become toxic at 2
Source some more fish, Jades perhaps

Don't add ammonia with fish... there's absolutely no need..

And don't use "cloudy" ammonia...

You're lucky if you haven't killed your fish... and your plants...

Don't add acid... unless you know what you're doing.. and why....

The only thing that you've done right at all... is coming here to the forum...

What are your current readings... and where, if you have any left... are the fish.. (what type)???

feels a bit harsh Rupertofoz I`m still learning. and only being doing things that I have read about.anyway the question was should I still use it and I see the answer is NO. I have not used it while the fish are in the tank and the fish only went back in the pond as all the fish would have died if I left them in the tank. The acid was meant to be going into a drip bottle (I had seen on i think this forum). but I stuffed up and never made it to the bottle. lesson learnt
My readings at the moment
PH = 7.2
Amm = 0
No2 = 0
No3 = 40
and the list of fish is above.

Sorry Dreamcatcher... didn't mean it to appear so "harsh"....

I actually meant to put a "smilie" charater at the end of the post...

Your current readings are fine... and there's no reason why fish and plants wont both thrive...

Just don't go adding anything else to the system...