Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi. thank you for helping me . I have a smaller 300 litre system already running ,and plan to use the hydroton stones out of that ,also the fish water ,-how much advantage would that be in terms of recycling ,could I use two grow beds simultaneously to recycle ?,where it is usually one grow bed at a time .The smaller 300 litre system ,there is something wrong with the syphon ,I bought this system last year ,I plan to leave the existing stand pipe this will make an emergency over flow pipe ,then install a new syphon ,project later on in the year. I bought this from a gardening centre second hand ,,rather interestingly ,I was told it took an expert two hours to set up the syphon ,something wrong, about that? I shall take this thing apart and find the fault ,I know they used earth in with the hydroton stones ,might be a blockage in the pipe ,

That sound a good idea ,shall try.

The hydroton is probably already colonized. Should make the cycling go easier.

Lay of the charlie carp while trying to cycle unless you need more ammonia. Maxi crop for plant nutriants and charlie carp for ammonia source.

Why is that, I used Charlie Carp while I was using urine in the system (although I was only adding urine about three times a week), and my ammonia levels never exceeded .5ppm at the highest, mostly it was around .25ppm. Is there another reason or was I just lucky to get away with it?

Charlie carp is pure fish emulsion, it is a primary source of ammonia. I cycled my system with it alone and added maxicrop for the plants. Still add maxicrop every month but no charlie carp since it started to cycle and that was Dec 2012.

HC you may have had just enough of both to equal the correct amount of ammonia required.

Lucky I didn't come a cropper then Thanks Bear. Sorry for the misinformation mrjohnpink.

How much urine did you put into system ,and how long do you leave urine to acquire ammonia, please?

DO they sell maxicrop in the U K please ?

I am still degassing the system ,could I introduce the colonizes hydroton stones into the system? during this process ,or wait Cheers

reference .just having a little trouble with the filter ,finding that ,if you stop the system ,the filter doesn't let the water through ,some syphon effect somewhere when starting ,leads to tank overflowing ,any idea's on fixing the problem ? Cheers

That sound a good idea ,shall try. [/quoteHi looking at the maxicrop product ,you have original seaweed extract .Which one do you recommend please ,several products on the market ? I will also use hydroton stones that are already colonized ,from the original A P.. set up .in the process of degassing water ,P.H .in this area ,I think you can put moss into the filter tank to reduce this ,send up more information soon. Look forward to hearing from you ,How is your system progressing?

I shall go along with using colonized stones , from the original system ,plant up ,use Maxicrop seaweed extract ,in the process of finding right product .asking several people ,to find the right one any idea's .

Reference grow bed cycling. just working out the right way to go cycling the A.P. system.

Will you be putting any type of lid/cover on your fish tank? your water level is close to the top and fish can jump. You have built a really neat system, I'm a little envious.