Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am just starting out with an indoor aquaponics set up. I don't have an aquarium, or an unfrozen pond near by for me to pull water from to begin the foundation of bacteria for the fish tank. I know using tap water has levels of chlorine that could hurt the fish. I have also read that adding chemicals to the water is bad for the grow beds. How do I make the water safe without adding chemicals? Adding salts for better fish habitat, is that a "go" or a "no". Basically, what can I add to the fish tank that is not going to have a negative impact on the grow beds after it's livable for fish?

Fill your tank with tap water then let it sit for a day or two with a air stone going and you will be good to go for fish.

Seed your plants right away. They may struggle a bit but its the way to go.

Maintain your water temp over 70, monitor your amonia, nitrite, nitrate daily until cycled and watch nature do its thing.

I don't think you need salt at first just watch your fish and if you notice any issues post your questions here.

Good Luck!

You could add a fish emulsion or urine for your ammonia source to start the cycle. Add maxi crop to help your plants until your system has cycled and you have added fish. I use maxi crop once a month to aid my plants you can get it on Amazon.

Always remove the chlorine before doing top ups and only add pure natural ingrediants.

Welcome to the forum.

http://www.premierwatermn.com/water-qua ... loramines/

You've got chloramines in your water. It's chlorine that has been fused with ammonia to make it far more stable. So it won't break down over a couple of days with a bubbler. It can take up to a month, especially if you're indoors and no access to UV rays. I doubt your cycling will start if you have chloramines running through your system killing off the bacteria.

People here are anti dechlorinators, I'm not one of them. I've emailed the place I get mine from, and they've said it's 100% safe for fish for human consumption, and I sure haven't seen any slow growth (another thing I've read). Another option I've seen is to use vitamin C tablets (ascorbic acid) to dechlorinate, but I haven't done any testing with a chlorine test to see how effective it is against chloramines, but google says it works fine.

True that with the chloramines. I Dont have em in mine but its true you may. Call your water supplier and they should be able to tell you for sure.

chlorine is gone in 24 hrs, fill the tank walk away for 1 day, done.

...and Chloramine doesn't take much longer, especially if exposed to light and aerated.

If your water definitely contains Chloramines, then there's an easy way to find out how long it takes to break down. Fill the system with only the Chloramine treated tap water and nothing else, get the system running and measure the Ammonia levels daily... as soon as you start seeing Amm readings you know the Chloramine is disassociating into Chlorine and Ammonia... and Chlorine is then gassed-off within hours with aeration.

If your water contains only chlorine it seems to be safe to add small amounts as topup water. I run a stock trough float valve to maintain my water level, and dump chlorinated tap water into my sump every day, but only in small amounts.

Tiny amounts, gently introduced seem to work ok.

I top up with water that has chloramines all the time. The trick is small doses. Obviously the species of your fish makes a difference. But in reality, a little bit of chloramines won't hurt. I have even done a large water change in my indoor system with water strait from the tap. ( mostly because the new hydroton products are NOT ph neutral)

tilapia dont care, when i was raising them in a 200 gallon tank i could do a 100% complete water change they never cared.

Yea, you can dump them in just about anything. I have even heard of sewer treatment plants with tilapia in them...