Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

SO excited! Been cycling with no results. Double checked instructions and was doing the nitrate test wrong! Performed properly and now I have some plants in!

I have two 27G totes as a sump tank. They are connected with 2" PVC. Water is pumped up and split. One side goes to a 55g drum fish tank. Water then is lifted with an SLO and over to the swirl filter, then down to the right side of the sump. On the other side I have two GB's made out of a 55G drum that bell siphon down on the left side of the sump.

CatRun6,
Welcome to the BYAP forum and congratulations!


When you have a chance, please upload some pics of your system. Everyone loves to see pics!

--
Sam

Tagging along, +1 to Sam's request for pics!

I tried last night to no avail. Was able to get them uploaded today!


How can I be sure when I am safe to add fish?

You discovered you were doing the nitrate test wrong and are seeing nitrates now, but did you see ammonia and nitrites go up then back down before the nitrates showed up? Have you been adding anything to the system to provide food for the bacteria (fish food, ammonia, urine etc.)?

Having nitrates could mean that either 1) your system has cycled and you have some bacteria there to convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate, or 2) you have nitrates in your tap water... so if you didn't witness the ammonia and nitrite process and you have not been adding a food source for the bacteria then I would recommend adding something that can easily breakdown to see if ammonia/nitrites spike. If you have been adding a food source then I would ask how long the system has been running... in my experience cycling fish tanks it typically takes about 30 days for them to cycle on their own to be ready for fish. If you've been adding a food source and have no ammonia, no nitrites, and seeing nitrates go up then it might be time to try adding a few fish (don't go crazy... there is only enough bacteria in the system to support the amount of waste they have been processing, so if you add a ton of fish at once there won't be enough bacteria and the fish will cause ammonia to spike and end up dying, so only add a few fish at first until you see that they are doing well).

I will check the tap this afternoon. (That may very well be what is going on) I haven't seen a nitrite spike. While the system has had water and has been running for a few weeks, when I started cycling last week, I put in way too much ammonia and had to remove/replace water in/out of the system to get the ammonia down to a decent level (1ppm). During this time I was only testing Ammonia.

As of last night the ammonia was at .5ppm, Nitrite was a 0 and the Nitrate was between 10 & 20,000.

I was thinking one or two fish would be ok to add and test. Now, I want to test the tap for Nitrates before I jump the gun on a sweet little fishie.


So if no Nitrates in the tap, do you think one or two fish is a bad idea? Of course, if there are Nitrates in the tap, waiting is a must.

the official test is to put ammonia in at a known amount (ie. read it after couple hours after it has flushed through system) and then track it through to nitrates - you are looking for reduction in ammonia without any rise in nitrites... if it all happens in a couple of days then you are cycled. If you system is sitting at 0.5 then it is not cycled....(see bottom)

I doubt you have nitrates in your tap water (but test anyway as it does happen - not good for babies).
It is more likely that you have chloramines.
These add ammonia to a system as they break down. (search on this forum - it is well discussed).
you want to know if you have chloramine as it can affect fish stocking and may need to be pre-treated.

as above - adding one or 2 fish initially wont hurt *if ammonia is down*, but at that point you have to stop playing around with system water and additives etc and just let things take their time. At present you have 0.5 - that is higher than you want - a good system ok for fish should stay around 0-0.25 ammonia (ie. yellow in the API test kit, any green is bad...).

as dlf said if you have 0.5 ammonia then you need to wait a little longer.

NitrATES is not harmful to fish, at least not at levels that you are likely to see when you have plants eating the nitrATES... nitrITES are still bad for fish... not as bad as ammonia, but it is still an irritant that they don't like. Ammonia is a major killer... if you've ever used ammonia to mop your floors you know how badly it stinks and burns your eyes... ammonia in water does the same thing to fish, my favorite anology is to imagine walking in to a small broom closet, closing the door and opening a bottle of ammonia... it will only take a few seconds before your eyes start watering... basically the same thing that happens as an irritant to the fish gills.

The only reason I mention checking your tap water for nitrATEs is because it might give you a false sense that your tank is cycled because you are seeing nitrates in the tank, but they could come from your tap water and not mean that the ammonia->nitrite->nitrate cycle has completed yet.

Ok. So. Yes we have cholramines and yes we have nitrates in our tap water. Fail. So I dosed system with a small amount of vitamin c and bought some strip test from Lowe's. They are from Lowe's so not perfect. But the system is definitely better off than the tap sample.

Um... If I was successful at killing the chlorine element. What should I expect next?

PH. = 7.2
Ammonia = .5 ppm
Nitrite= 0ppm
Nitrate = about 30ppm
Should I wait for the ammonia to subside more, then add some fish food to try and cycle? Or start now with some?

best to wait until you can get your ammonia steadily between 0 and 0.25 before adding fish.

Hi again.

SO...System seems to be actually cycling now. Just adding fish food no actual fish. The ammonia is low, Nitrites are growing, Nitrates are at 80 ppm. However, My PH is going through the roof.

I checked the conditioned water and that PH is fine there. Will this be ok and eventually work its way out? Or should I make effort to adjust?

Plants also seem fine. Except the garlic. Garlic notdead but loving it either.

Help?!?

How high is the pH? It will adjust itself and stabilize over time but that's usually a slow change, if you are seeing it increase quickly and it's not due to the water being added then I would think it has to be coming from something else (gravel or something leaching?)

It's at 8.4. I have a handheld PH meter coming tomorrow. If the garlic is going bad would that cause it to rise? It's really not "happy". I called myself checking the gravel before adding in.

SO glad I didn't add fish yet!

Hey Guys, OK So this is my testing from this am. Having trouble determining PH and I haven't calibrated the band held as of yet. Temp is at 72deg. Or 40C. Also, Do you this the Nitrates are at 2.0?

What are your thoughts?