Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So I've been researching and following aquaponics for WAY too long (probably 2 years now), and I've finally found myself in a living situation where I can start playing with it. I'm pumped and ready to go! I've enjoyed immensly following as peoples' systems have grown up, and I'm stoked about finally being able to contribute and take part in this community!

I'm going in 2 directions right now, one short-term system in a 10-gallon aquarium with goldfish, and the other a larger system entirely dug into the ground, using pond liner for the grow-beds, tank and sump.

The 10-gallon tank is really so I can experiment a bit until it's reliably done freezing here. (Oh unpredictable weather - it's 75F/24C today but we'll certainly have hard freezes again before summer comes.)

So, my first big question: We have a wonderful river meandering by. Would it be reasonable to get my gravel and potentially my water from this river? And could this help kick-start my tank cycling? I don't know much about the aquatic nitrogen cycle... is it as readily present in things like rivers as it is in our tanks?

Two problems I might have with the river: 1, Treated sewage. Although our mayor drank a glassful of this to prove its safety, so maybe it's a nonissue. 2, Overloaded septic systems in houses near the river. Probably a bigger issue.


Anyway, hello all! I look forward to what's to come...

Welcome in from lurking Stellar

I probably wouldn't get the water from the river, but the gravel may be okay. There would have to be the usual checks regarding permits for taking gravel etc.

The water nitrogen cycle will be happening in the river too.

However, if you are using the water for the goldies in your first tank, it might be alright. Thinking more.... Yeah, on second thought I probably would use the river water to kickstart your goldies. That way if there was something not quite "friendly" in the water, you would only be affecting goldfish, and not the fish you will end up eating. It would be a good test to see how healthy your river is.

Then in a few months you could seed your bigger system with gravel and water from the goldies to start it off.

Have fun!

Hi Stellar, welcome in.

Welcome Stellar!

Thanks for the welcome and the advice!

I went ahead and took a bit of gravel and a few gallons of water from our river/creek, and decided to run the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate tests on it before bothering to add either to my tank. Each test registered at 0ppm. Is it reasonable to assume that this means I won't get a bacteria boost by adding the gravel or water to my goldfish tank?



Also, I just added 3 cute new goldfish to the tank last night, after killing 4 off a week ago and then letting the thank run empty for a week. The kill-off was due to me leaving them in a non-airated bowl while I took a few days to set up my tank. The new guys look happy enough for now!

The weird thing is that, as a new tank, I registered 0.5ppm on ammonia (reasonable), 0.25ppm on nitrite (dunno?) and ~7pm on nitrate (bizarre). I expected to see some ammonia but nothing else. If my system is miraculously producing nitrates already, I'm ready to get some veggies in there right away! But is it more reasonable to assume that the nitrates came with the bit of water that came home with the fish from the pet store? 7ppm sounds too high if you account for diluting a small bagful of water into 10 gallons.

I suppose that one other possibility is that the fishies that died about a week ago, who lived in the tank between 1 and 3 days, loaded it up with a bit of ammonia and the bacteria could still work on establishing themselves even after the fishies died?

sounds like the nutes came from the aquarium shop water to me

My tap water registers 20 nitrate. Welcome to civilization.

You will get a bacteria boost from the gravel or creek water. In a natural environment, the ammonia and nitrite would be consumed as quickly as it is produced. Ideally nitrate would be, too. If nitrate is also 0, congrats! You must not get a lot off run-off pollution from local agriculture.

I considered taking from our bigger river but then realized that a little creek that only really serves as runoff from forests was probably a lot healthier, so I went for that.

Janet, if your tap water registers like that wouldn't that almost mean you could grow plants in it alone? Or at least that it's like a super-fertalizer when you water plants in soil?

Well yes, my plants should do nicely in tap water alone, but mostly I think it's a bit spooky that I have nitrates with no fish.

Makes you want to go out and take a big drink of water out of the tap!

I also have nitrates in my tap water. Adds body and texture.

Thats ok fish drink the water they pee in

Oh yeah, Welcome Stellar!!!