Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have finally completed my set up and have vegetables growing in the grow bed for the last two weeks. Expecting some trout from FBN in a day or two and my question is do i need to do anything to the water before adding the trout?

Hi Juliab and welcome to the forum .

Have you cycled the system yet? Filtration for the fish is the most critical issue early on so you'll want to make certain you have enough and that it's ready to handle the number of fish you have coming.

Hi we cycle the water from grow bed back into the pond 4 times an hour and have been doing this for 2 weeks now. Will that be sufficient?

@Juliab - Hi and welcome, I think Scotty was talking about the Nitrification Cycle. Sorry if i missed it, is there a link to your system setup?

Regards

Hi
I am new to this and probably have it mixed up. What do you mean by the Nitrification cycle? the water goes through a filter and pumps from the tank to grow bed. I am just waiting on a water tester to arrive so I can test the pond water. By a link to my system set up do you mean pictures? If so I will take some and post them here. Actually, how do I post pictures???

@Juliab - Usually, members will have a system thread in the "members system" category where they provide a summary and photos of their system as well as a place to keep track of their progress. Any questions and answers about the system are discussed there.

For photos, when you hit reply, there is an "Upload attachment" selection below, Choose the file you want to share and hit the "add the file" button.

Read the attached link for a better understanding.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=107&hilit=resizing

Regards

Fish give off Ammonia, which is extremely toxic to them. Certain beneficial bacteria living on wet surfaces in the system (grow bed gravel etc) convert the Ammonia into Nitrite, which is also extremely toxic to fish. Another type of beneficial bacteria convert the Nitrite into Nitrate, which plants then take up... This is referred to as the Nitrification cycle.

Ideally you should develop a sizeable colony of these bacteria in your system prior to adding any fish. This process can take anywhere between 2 weeks and 2 months, depending on temp etc.

You do this by adding an Ammonia source (ie: a capful of Seasol Powerfeed per 500L) and testing the Ammonia level the following day, repeating the process until the Ammonia reaches somewhere between 1.0ppm to 2.0ppm. You then stop adding Ammonia and test both it and Nitrite daily. Your system is considered cycled and safe for fish once the Ammonia has dropped to 0.0ppm and the Nitrite has appeared, spiked, and also dropped to 0.0ppm.

If starting with fingerlings, depending on your water temp and pH (if both are low), you may be able to cycle your system with fish in it, using them as the Ammonia source, but you need to be prepared to do daily partial water changes (30%) if the Amm and/or Nitrite get to dangerous levels during the cycling process.

>> For photos, when you hit reply, there is an "Upload attachment" selection below, Choose the file you want to share and hit the "add the file" button.


try this link, it covers the posting of images better > viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21754


>> I am just waiting on a water tester to arrive so I can test the pond water.

what testing are you planning to do ?

As Mr damage notes you really need to be focusing on pH, Ammonia, [soon] nitrites and [eventually] nitrates

some information here:
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/infor ... gen-cycle/
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/guide ... -a-system/

Hi
I have just been reading through my notes and now understand what you mean by cycling. I have been trying to get the levels of Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia to acceptable levels but have not had much luck at this stage. Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite are all 0. PH is at 7.4.
I am a bit concerned as my fish will arrive tomorrow.........

I have attached photos of my system.

The testing kit I was referring to is te water testing kit. I have the API Fresh Water Master Kit.

All suggestions appreciated!

Julia

How many fish, how much water, how much wetted grow bed area?

Nothing like jumping in the deep end :-)

@Juliab - You will need to follow Mr damage's advice if you have your fish already, monitor your Amm and Nitrite levels daily. Good luck.



Regards

Thanks for all your help - really appreciate it. I did the course with Floyd 3 years ago and was a little hazy on some of the details. I am not having much luck with my Ammonia/Nitrite levels- this mornings readinds were 1.0 for Ammonia and 5.0 for Nitrite so i will empty a 1/3 of my tub when I get home tonight is there anything else I can do? I received delivery of my fish on sunday so I am worried they might die......

PH was 7.4 this morning

Sounds like you aren't cycled- better add some salt to protect the fish from the nitrite, say 2or 3ppt, after you replace some of the water.

Hi, I did have my system cycled nicely and this week when testing the water Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia all are zero. How does this happen? Vegetables still growing ok. What can I do to raise the Nitrate and Nitrite levels?
TIA