Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I had a couple of unplanned deaths... Not the end of the world, they lived longer than they would have in the wild.

well, I have to say that the seaweed extract cleared out almost entirely. where did it go? the plants couldn't have "used" it that quickly, could they? seriously, it went from cant-see-the-fish-at-all to slight-tint-of-amber in a week and a half.

Weird.

The 4 fish seem to be doing splendidly. (seriously understocked system will do that I suppose) They have finally figured out the eating thing and its fun to watch them attack the food!!!

Love your setup. It's inspiring for a beginner like me.

OMGosh I inspired somebody!!!!!?????!!!!! wow! You just made my day!

I remember the first time that happened to me. Your baby just had an important milestone!

Great little indoor system there Spindog

also love the pictures of the snow outside the window, not something we will ever see where I live, well not in less we get another Ice age perhaps then we will have to grow indoors too

Thanks!

I just had to do my first water change. Nitrites and ammonia were through the roof. And I haven't fed my poor fish for four days. After water change, nitrite readings were still VERY high: 5ppm? but ammonia is down to .5ppm.

some nitrates showing now. How do I know when it is cycling? is it cycling because there are nitrates showing?

I went ahead and fed them a pinch of food because they were looking at me and I couldn't take it.

you're still cycling, you're closer to "done" when nitrites and ammonia both stay near 0,
you can test by dosing to about 1ppm of ammonia and the next day both ammonia and nitrites are 0

cool! found this chart.



now...do I really let my values get that high?

Cycling up a new fish tank (or aquaponics system) is not for the faint of heart. LOL... I had no idea I would be biting-my-fingernails-to-the-quick over ammonia and nitrite levels. I feel like I am starving the poor fish just to keep the poisonous substance levels down, praying for the good bacteria to show up and save the day...

And I didn't know I needed to somehow magicly acquire two whole sets of good bacteria, one for the ammonia and then a second set for the nitrites. sheesh. wish you could just purchase them off of e-bay.

no reason whatsover to go above 2ppm for ammonia to cycle..

Green, Purple, Yellow/orange turns to
Yellow, Blue, orange/red when your fully cycled

It handballs across the spectrum as it cycles (winter might take 4 weeks)

So if I shouldn't let my ammonia get above 2ppm, then should I scale down the rest of the chart and do emergency water changes if the nitrites get above 4ppm?

my system is in my basement, so temperature is aprox 60 degrees F at this point. is the timeline on the chart relatively accurate or should I lengthen it because my water isn't 80 degrees like in a tropical fishtank?

The chart shows a water change with nitrates, not nitrites. So not nessisary with AP. Water changes should be treated as an absolute last resort.

yesterday my Nitrites were through the roof and Nitrates were very hgh (amonia good though)

Today, suddenly, my Nitrites and Nitrates were negligible. I didn't believe it so I did the tests a second time.

'Sup with that???!!!???? I was expecting the Nitrites to eventually drop, but what happened to my Nitrates?