Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,

Been reading on here for some time now, adicted already. I started a littel system from barrels still working on cycling it at this point, finally just in the past day things are starting to come into line............I think.

Here are the numbers, PH 7.6, down from 8 last week, Amonia 4, was up to two days ago, Nitrites, 5PPM, Nitrates are 80PPM.

The system is small, about 40 gallons in the FT, and I have about 15 gallons of the expanded clay media in the grow tank - the media is in buckets with holes in them so the water floods around the buckets and in and out of the holes, I had to do this to get some depth with the limited supply of media that I have.

I currently have no fish, the commets all died, so my question: Now that the sysstem seems to be on it's way from a water test perspective, when should I try to add fish back in? I don't want to kill anymore of the poor little things if I can help it.

Thanks

Welcome Bartman

You've still got a ways to go before you're cycled - ammonia readings that high will kill most things you put in there.

Don't put any more fish in until your ammonia is almost zero.

Is there any way you can hook up more filtration - what you there is a very small amount.

Welcome Bart,

Pictures help us understand your system a little better so Ill just make a few assumptions..

Im guessing you were using the commets for an amm source, now that they are gone have you any plans on using anything else to continue fishless cycling? Your nitrate colony has developed so it would be a good idea to continue with a slight amm source to continue feeding it until nitrites are at zero. At that stage you could add more fish.

How are the plants going?

Your aim is nitrite - 0 and amm - 0.

I like to add fish after my system is what I called "fully" cycled i.e. when all the ammonia I add to the system has been used, fully converted to nitrates within 24 hours of addition. This can happen only when sufficient of the beneficial bacteria have colonised and established themselves. As this process takes longer, it also means that a few other aspects have settled and therefore the system should have found it's centre of gravity i.e stability.

With the numbers you have, I'd certainly not be adding any more ammonia and planting some more if you can find the space; too much ammonia will sterilise the system and kill everything! Only add more ammonia after your nitrites have dropped to zero.


Scott

Reply stats = Chilli - first

Charlie - second

Bunson - last

I thought it would be ok to keep up with a little amm Bunson... I stand corrected.

Thanks for all the input, and the warm welcome.

1 of the commets went MIA, so i'm thinking he might be the source of the AMO at this point, but I can't find him to remove so figure I just need to hang tight till he's been processed through the bacteria as it were.

What is a good ratio for FT to grow bed capacity? Right now I'm about 180L FT and maybe 40L grow bed media in the buckets and maybe another 40L around the buckets but that wouldn't do much how I see it.

My system is very simple, two barrels one as the FT the other as a floadable grow bed with the pails in it, I have a timer hooked up, it cycles 30min's on 30 min's off 24/7. there is a slow drain less than two inches from the bottom of the grow tank and a large drain about an inch below the top of the expanded clay in the buckets, so when the timer kicks on it fills to the higher level, when it kicks out, the bed drains to the lower level in about 5 minutes ish

Also, I have a few lettuce seedlings and few onion transplants in the media. Do I need to add a lot more plants to bring down the nitrate levels?

I'm thinking I might do a raft DWC outside to add plants fast, I have lots of lettuce started in the garden and could transplant them.

Can I just use the SM Blue styrofoam board for the rafts and EDPM (or is it EPDM??) to construct the tank?

I saw somewhere on here where they were using the sm blue styrofoam board but were painting it? That sort of freaked me out a bit using paint on a surface that would be exposed to the water in an AP system?

Thx I found the thread for GB/FT ratios, clearly I have some GB expansion requirements to deal with.

I found some 3/8" river stone at the Rona store (a Canadian Home Depot) when drop it in vinigar only a small number of the rocks maybe 10% continue to bubble so what are the chances that this will up my PH in the water? I'm reluctant to include it in the system right now without knowing.

Is there another way to test this?

Fill a container with your media and the top up with distiller water and leave it for a while. Do pH tests after a few hours, days and weeks.