Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi, all. Question: Pool/Pond filters are listed as good places from which to get the necessary bacteria. Is this new or used filters? I don't know if the filters come with the bacteria already in them to assist with filtration, or if the bacteria develops over time as the dirty water rushes through.

Also, please correct me if I'm wrong but I'm assuming that, because of the chlorine often used in pools, a pond filter would be the better choice of the two.

Many thanks,
Jaymen

A used filter would be the way to go. Even if they said the new filter came with the bacteria I'd probably go with the used one because it's not always that easy to keep the bacteria alive if they are just sitting on the shelf.



I hadn't noticed the pool recommendation before but you'd definitely want the filter coming from a non-chlorinated water source. Some pools aren't chlorinated so those would work well as would ponds. I wouldn't expect to get a good start using filters from a chlorinated pool (it's possible, but not likely).

Cheers

Great, many thanks, Scotty. I'm glad to see I'm somewhat on the same page as the better qualified people here :-)

Glad to help

JayMen, I added a couple of buckets of manky pond water from my Labrador's puppy plunge pool, and some juice from my wormfarm to kickoff my system after I filled it and let the chlorine gas off for a few days. It only took 3 weeks to cycle. The nitrifying bacteria are common in our environment. Later on, someone else in town was setting up their systen and they grabbed a bucket of my AP water in which I washed off some onion bags that had been sitting in the sumptank to shelter the yabbies.

Thanks, joc. We also have a pool for our dog and I imagine the water inside is every bit as manky as yours . We have no wormfarm, however. I'll start cycling the water as soon as I finish testing the plumbing on the system and add the media.

You don't need to add anything to a new system!... The bacteria are magic, they show up on their own.

Adding grow bed sludge, filter goop, water etc from another pond or aquaponic system risks introducing disease or parasites into an otherwise clean, healthy system. My preference would be to consider a new system a clean slate and treat it as such.

I've cycled a few systems now and I've only "seeded" one of them, using water from an existing healthy AP system, and it didn't speed the process up IMO. I've cycled un-seeded systems in 20 and 21 days.

Mr Damage, I can see how that might be a consideration but how frequently does one run into contaminants of major concern? In my case, pretty much everything will come from and stay in my backyard. In this situation I don't know that I'll really encounter anything that wouldn't have popped up regardless at some point.

Hey Jaymen, Mr D is an experienced APer with excellent advice and I would heed his advice over mine anytime

Thanks, joc. Fwiw, I didn't mean that question as a challenge to Mr Damage's opinion or skills. I'm just so brand new to AP as a whole (I've never even had an aquarium) that I don't know what's considered an "ideal situation" vs. what's a functional concern (i.e.: the difference between changing your vehicle's oil every 3,000 miles vs. not changing it until your oil is almost gone).