Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Did you get Nitrites and Nitrates swapped in that last list?

has the water currently in the system come from city water. I'm wondering if they used Chloramines to treat the water. Ammonia is one of the breakdown products.

Yes I did. Good catch.



I reviewed our entire water quality report and have searched the web and there has been no indication of chloramine. But, I will call the water company today.

Question on reducing ammonia. I have not herd back from the water agency yet, but will hopefully soon.

Would running the system constant flow for a while help reduce the ammonia. My pumps are currently running full time with some flow running to the bed with a bell siphon and the rest being diverted for aeration. I was thinking that it might be helpful to pull the bell for a couple of days and run constant flow.

Would it be? If I do that do I need to reduce the bypass and run a higher percentage of water through the grow bed?

Probably but I'm not sure about this.

Just pull the bell, you don't need to change the amount your using for aeration (if that's the bypass you're talking about). You might need to see how high your media floods in the growbeds but even that should be fine. Worst case I can think of is that you'll need some slightly different height standpipes but it should be close enough it doesn't matter.

Cheers

Bullhead catfish?? I used to throw them back by the hundreds, the ones we had in the lake tasted like mud, everyone called them mud cats. Do they taste different in clean water? How do they compare to channel cats, blues or flatheads. Or are we talking about a different species of bullhead all together, all the ones I caught were light brown in color.

Probably the same. There are 2 or 3 different species. I've only ever eaten one and it came from the river. They have they'd reputation because they can live in just about anything. One of the reasons I chose them. The other is that I am keeping them as bait for channel cats. This all started because I wanted to keep bait at home. So I got the brilliant idea that I would get some vegetables out of the deal. A couple weeks later and I have bullheads. Once it warms up I will add tilapia as the main eating fish in the tank.

Yeah they can live just about anywhere even stagnate backwaters where even the gar have to come up to breath, but if you want to see the ultimate survivor the gasbergoo (bowfin) can live in river silt sludge where only air breathers and crawfish dwell. I used to work in the swamps around here and they are the hardiest fish like thing I have ever seen, but I don't know if you would want something that ugly and dangerous in your system, they could take a finger off once they reach a couple of pounds.

System full of little and big changes, I think.

The little changes. The numbers on my tests aren't moving. Nitrites are a bit elevated, but ammonia is constant 1-2 and nitrates are somewhere between 10-40. I really can't tell as all the oranges look alike. pH continues to be at 8.2 and I am doing foliar applications every couple of days. As for the plants, the broccoli and cauliflower look good and the spinach is growing new growth. The romaine lettuce looks like crap. I lost about half of the vines I planted but that was probably due to a crappy planting job. Not a big deal as I probably had too much there as it was.

The big changes. The cauliflower has developing crowns. These were starters from home depot, but it is exciting to see something growing and the crowns forming. The other big thing, at least I think, is the presence of green dots growing on the walls and the pipes of the FT. I believe this to be the elusive biofilm that I have been waiting for. We are getting some decent temps this week, the system has been running for a couple weeks now and I think we are getting close to really getting the process started.

The fish seems plenty happy. Well, except for the fact that they probably would like to eat every day instead of once or twice per week. But that will come soon enough. I am still trying to decide on a food for them.

Water temp is coming up nicely. Touched on 70F today which will hopefully yield a quicker cycling. Temps are supposed to be in the 80's into the weekend then cool a bit, with some rain and then warm back up next week. It's about time to order tilapia since it looks like the water will stay warm enough.

On the plant front, some are doing well and some haven't done anything. The asparagus dormants haven't done a thing since they were planted. Another week or two and I will yank them. They have nothing on them right now. Same with some of the strawberry dormants that I tried. I ordered some more seed to try for some of the stuff we are growing.

Ammonia is finally dropping. It stayed at 2 for the longest time and then dropped to 1 for a few days and now .5. The nitrite is definitely spiking. I diluted the test with distilled water to get to a measurement of 10 after multiplying it out. Nitrates continue to be orange. Not sure if it is 10 or 20, but I am calling it 10 until I see it get to 40. I think I am not far away from the tank cycling which will be nice.

The fish are doing fine. They are getting more active and swimming all around at night, probably hoping I will feed them. Once the nitrites drop down I will feed them some more to put some more ammonia in the system. I don't want to lose any, but at the end of the day, they are bait fish. So, if one dies, it will get cut up and used for bait on the next fishing trip.

On a different front I am trying to figure out a winter time proposition for this. I am thinking a small tank in the garage just to keep bacteria going and to use to grow some minimal stuff and start seedlings for next year. Haven't figured that piece out yet, but I am thinking about it. We spend enough time below freezing that I think the outside system will have a complete kill off of bacteria. I could be wrong, but it is what my gut tells me.

Today's readings.

pH 8.2
Ammonia .5
Nitrites 10
Nitrates 10-20.
Temp 70F

Yikes, are you sure you have the Nitrites posted correctly SB. That's way to high especially if you haven't salted. I'm concerned for the fish since I know you're not salting with the strawberries in the system.

The Asparagus here came up about two weeks ago although the asparagus in the system came up more like two months ago. The Mary Washington asparagus plant in AP has 15 or 20 spears on it and is growing much better than the ones in the wicking beds. The only thing is all the spears are thin (may have to do with planting depth but I'm not sure). This is only it's second year in the system.

Scotty, its correct, at least within the capabilities of the test kit. I did a normal test and it looked like 5 + so I diluted with 1 part ft water and 4 parts distiller water. Retested and it was 2. Multiplied by 5 to get to 10. I'll be doing some water changes over the next few days but I don't want to slow the process down too much. The nitrites should start falling as the ammonia is almost back to zero and I won't be feeding until nitrites do drop quite a bit. These fish are extremely hardy and live in some of the worst water quality around. I don't want to lose fish but they are bait fish after all.

Yep they are tough, I can remember catching them out of stagnant pools as a kid. Be interesting to see how they do.

Ammonia is finally back to zero after almost a month which is good.

pH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 20
Nitrates 5

I did a 15 gallon (10%) water swap and will do the same. If we get some rain tomorrow I will exchange more with the rain water.

Nitrites continue to rise which I know is no good for the fish. Their behavior is fine and they are not showing any signs of issues. If I lose a couple, they will get turned into bait which is the reason for having them anyway. Once I cycle then I can add tilapia which I will raise to eat.

My question is Nitrates. They dropped while Nitrites are through the roof. I am assuming that plants are using the nitrates up since they are starting to grow and I am just waiting for bacteria to start or more effectively convert Nitrites to nitrates.

Before anyone suggests it, I am not salting because we have strawberries in the system. The fish are bait fish and are expendable. In fact, at some point I will catch them for the purpose of bait so it is not a big deal of I lose some.

How long does it normally take for Nitrates to kick in once Nitrites spike?

Well I caved. Though the fish were acting fine, many had red at the base of their pectoral fins. As a precautionary measure I pulled the fish I have and put them into a separate tank without the nitrites. Starting tomorrow I will salt that water at 3ppt for a few days and do 50% water changes to keep them healthy and keep the ammonia levels in check. No food for the fishies until they get back to the main tank.

What a pain it was to catch those little buggers. They are fast.