Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Once a system is cycled and running, what is the response time of the biofilter to an increase in the production of ammonia? I know this will vary according to ph, temp etc though I wanted to know if anyone had any graphs illustrating this. I assume it is quicker than the cycling time for the same ph and temp though how much less?

The reason I wonder this is if you add mature species to an all ready 'cycled' system (or just go from say 10 trout to 40 trout) - how quickly can the food input to the system be ramped up (within the capacity of the biofilter). I'm not sure if its a question of the time to create more bacteria, or whether the existing bacteria are able to process a range of ammonia. (or perhaps a bit of both)

Nitrospira ... (conversion of nitrites to nitrates)... can double their population within hours...

Nitrosomonas... (conversion of ammonia to nitrites).... can take days to double their population....

A fully cycled system... can adjust to extra feed load... and nitrification... rapidly....

If the capacity to process the load is present....

thanks Rup - I'll let the trout know with an extra handful of food

Another way to approach things... is to lessen the overall load on the bio-filter.... and incrementally nudge the bio-filter...

Split your feed into multiple smaller increments/feeds.... rather than a single dump/bump per day...

Yea, I prefer multiple small feeds rather than the one or two big feeds per day. Keeps the system active on many levels without exhausting it. Especially if your at the top end of stock densities.