Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ok starting my new indoor system

Planning on using a 100 gallon tank with a GB sitting on top

Will post as I go along

To get started. I had posted a few days ago about roots overtaking the GB, and my thought was to put the media in pods to be able to take that plant out easily and bring the roots along with it.

Does anyone find that necessary or would I be ok skipping that step and filling the whole bed with expanded clay?

Very excited to start a new system as my first one went extremely for the few months I had it

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You could investigate "Root Pouches"

https://rootpouch.com/

Like a shopping bag.. heavy duty.. made from recycled bottles..

I am planning on putting them to use,

I have used similar eco-shopping bags, but they break down in sunlight, spilling the contents of pearlite..
..
.

Ended up going with a 55 Gallon tank I had at home. My last system I had a gutter as a gb resting on top of the fish tank. I wanted to put something larger but I'd assume there is the risk of the weight breaking the tank. Pictures to come

here she is! ordering test strips tonight to measure levels as it cycles.

Going to have to take some pebbles out but waiting till the morning

Ok so I put fish in and by the second day they were all dead. This was 12/13. I just got the Master Test Kit and checked it out.

Here's what I got, and I'm assuming the cycle is at a standstill due to the lack of ammonia.

pH: 8
Ammonia: 0.0-0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 5.0 ppm
Nitrate: 0.0-5.0 ppm

Going to get more fish hopefully the water is conditioned enough for them to survive.

With these numbers should I assume another 3 weeks of cycling at least?

It doesn't appear that the system is totally cycled yet but you're getting there. Either ammonia or nitrites probably did your fish in. If you salt the water to 1 ppt (1KG per 1000L or 1gm per L) it will help the fish deal with the nitrites and stress as well. Check the ammonia (if any) against the chart located here - http://ibcofaquaponics.com/information/tables-and-charts/ which gives you the toxicity based on temp and pH of the water. No point in putting more fish in to die if there's something you can do about it or you know conditions won't be survivable

Cycling time will probably be less than 3 weeks since you're already getting some nitrates. Apparently at this point the bacteria aren't in high enough numbers to process the nitrites as fast as needed. I should also add that the nitrite oxidizing bacteria will still be processing the nitrites so cycling is still proceeding even though the ammonia levels are low. There may already be enough nitrate oxidizing bacteria - I can't tell from these numbers.

Thank you!

I will give the salt a try. The fish I bough are about twice the size and seem to be holding up better than the previous ones. The feeder fish from Petco aren't as hardy as they used to be.

Two Questions:

1. I have brought sea salt from Greece over to cook, is this a good salt I can put into the tank?

2. Is there a sticky somewhere showing what to do in cases of low/high levels of pH, nitrites, nitrates, or ammonia in case of emergency so things don't start to die?

Thank you!

1. It might be. You generally want a salt that is not iodized and you also don't want any anti-caking agents added. If your's fit this description then it should work as I've used sea salt from the bulk bins and it works just fine.

2. I can't prepare you for every issue you might have along those lines but a couple come to mind. One of the usual things to do is a water change out (usually up to 50% at most but a problem can be bad enough that you might have to do more). In a pinch, there are some potential problems related to rapid changes for either the fish, bacteria, or plants that you should know - for instance -

a. Most of the time water changes help but if your change out water is chlorinated or chloraminated, you could kill off the bacteria you're trying to establish.

b. A change in pH or temp that went the wrong way would convert more of the ammonia to the toxic form.

c. Too rapid a change could send the fish into shock even without the ammonia issue. More likely it will just stress them and may make them more susceptible to disease.

You also have the option of pulling the fish out of the tank and sometimes this makes more sense.

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No sticky that I can think of but if you search you'll find some options. This will give you a basic idea for some of the things you mentioned but keep the potential problems I mentioned above in mind.

For ammonia
Water changes, altering pH to make the ammonia less toxic, altering temp to make the ammonia less toxic.

For nitrites
Salting generally works but water changes are another option (just remember you may need to add some additional salt because the water changes removed what was already in your system water)

For low system pH - different things work for different people. Putting shell grit or crushed coral (or some other type of calcium carbonate) in a mesh bag is good for raising the pH or keeping it stable. If the pH starts to go too high just remove the bag. Sometimes you may have to add something stronger, like potassium bicarbonate, potassium hydroxide or Calcium hydroxide (Use appropriate precautions).

For high pH - this normally only occurs when you're just getting started unless something's messed up with the media or bacterial processes in the grow beds. If everything is working as it should then the system pH will eventually come down on it's own. If you're in a rush you can use hydrochloric acid (aka muriatic acid) to adjust the top up water to around pH 6.5 then add this to your system (don't adjust the system water directly and use caution with strong acids or the strong bases mentioned earlier - they are dangerous if handled wrong and are capable of causing rapid pH changes as well). Try to make pH changes of 0.4 points or less to avoid stessing the fish.

This should be enough to get you started but have a look around or ask if you run into problems.

Thank you very much for your information!

Happy new years to all!

New numbers!

pH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0.0-0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 2.0-5.0 ppm
Nitrate: 100 ppm

Looks like a pretty high Nitrate level to me. I put seeds in and they started sprouting hopefully they'll be able to take some of the nutrients out?

Not sure if the nitrate level is dangerous, but the fish seem to be doing fine in it

Thoughts?

I'd try to get the nitrates down a bit from where you have them. People have had higher than that without problems but there is some evidence that it can affect fish. Under 40 might be a good point to shoot for and many of us run without showing any nitrates at all (they just get used fast but the system is still generating them).