Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

It's mostly the pesky nitrites and ammonia you need to be concerned about. Nitrates can go a lot higher than what the kit can read without killing the fish although some are more sensitive than others.

Since you're trying to cycle and you've already salted for nitrites I'm going to recommend that you don't do another water change at this point. The bacteria have to have something to process in order to develop your biofilter. Let the bacteria process the ammonia till it reads zero (You should also see the nitrites drop some) and then do a light feeding to see how well the bacteria process it. If they do well with processing the ammonia and nitrites then increase the feed gradually. Keep checking to be sure the biofilter is keeping up by testing the ammonia and nitrites - if they aren't keeping up hold up the feed again.

Thanks for the heads up on the Nitrates.

I had a major issue after doing the 1/3 water change today.

The Ammonia and Nitrites spiked again!!!



I did some trouble shooting and tested the new batch of water in the barrel... Super high ammonia.
Tested the water from the sink/hose faucet/and hose.... 0ppm/0ppm/4-8ppm.

My water hose is pumping out Ammonia!

No wonder I never saw this last time. Jeeze.

What type of hose does not pump out Ammonia? Have you ever seen this before? I always used rain water before with a super short hose.

Marty

Today I performed another test as soon as I got home.

Ammonia = 0.25ppm
Nitrite = 2ppm Did the dilution method.
Nitrate = same.

Gave the fish just micro amount of food. Tomorrow morning I will test again and if Ammonia is lower than just now I will give another micro feed. As soon as I see Nitrites drop I will bump up slowly as suggested.

Getting one of those potable water White RV hoses soon for top offs.

Marty

That's pretty nutty with the ammonia. Might want to try letting some of your tap water sit for a while and then re-test it. Try flushing out the hose and retesting as well. I'm not really sure but I think it's got something to do with chloramine (assuming this is what they are adding to your water instead of chlorine) or with organic matter in the hose. Are you adding anything to dechlorinate your water?

I tried to research their site to determine what they use. I could not find anything. Then talked to the local major fish/pet shop and they said they just fill a stock tank out back and let it sit for at least 24hrs. So I fill my 55gal drum and put an air stone in it for at least 24hrs while making PH adjustments.

Nothing added.

At the time I performed the hose test it was about 30min after refilling the tank. I will let it run for 3mins and take another test.... and let the tap water sit for a day to see what happens. Worth a try.

Marty

I believe this is probably your water supply and their annual report - looks like they are using chlorine http://www.mawss.com/waterqualityreport.pdf. That also explains why the pet shop just lets the water sit. I think it may be a requirement that they post this but what is required depends on the size of the city. I didn't notice any testing for ammonia or any levels reported but they may not test for it at all .

That is it. Thanks! I see that the total nitrites and nitrates combined is .2ppm.

That may mean there are few ammonia particles in there right? Of course it is not an environment conductive to turns ammonia to nitrates.

I left a glass of water sitting out over night. I will test it and the hose when I get home from work.

Marty

Great News!

I did the test of the aged water. 0ppm across the board from the tap.

The water in the tank got clear. Did the full spectrum test 2 times because I didn't believe it.

Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = 40-80ppm



Do you think the system is cycled now? I am still getting a White RV/potable water hose and stepping up the feed gradually.

Marty

EDIT: My PH seems to have dropped to 6.4 making adjustments on that next.

Based on how long ago you started trying to cycle, it's pretty unlikely that your system is completely cycled Marty. Even one that's newly cycled can be touchy so proceed with caution.

Give the fish a very light feeding to generate some ammonia. Once you have a reading see how long it takes for the ammonia and nitrites to go back to zero.

Roger. I fed a while ago. I will wait another hour and test again.

OK.

I have been feeding 3 times a day now... but in smaller quantities. Slowly stepping up from here. I think using the 45gallons of clay pebbles from my last system really sped things up.

Tested 3times a day for a while. Each time yielded 0ppm Ammonia and Nitrites. Getting some lime soon to ever so slowly bump up PH.

Most beans have germinated.

Marty

And... I was going to post pics but my kindle has a full memory. PH is 6.4 to 6.6. The other two were 0. Every time. Even a few hours after feeding.

I know it cannot handle a lot of fish yet. However, it seems fine with this amount at this level of feed.

EDIT: The water temps are usually 78 in the morning and 83-85 at the ending of the day if the sun is out. So that likely sped it up too.

Yep, sounds like you've cycled Marty. I'm certain that the media from the old system is the reason but it also helps that the temperature is warm enough for rapid growth of the bacteria. You should be able to add some more fish. Depending on how many you add it might be necessary to hold off the feed or feed lightly to begin with (fish produce waste still, just not as much as when fed). Let the bio-filter adjust to the new load and of course watch the ammonia and nitrite.

That is good news! Makes me feel like I might have much smoother sailing towards maturity from here on out.

Those fish will put lots of pellets in their mouths at a time... slow down swimming while working on it a bit... then swim back up for another mouth full. After a few minutes they stop looking for food. Come back just an hour later and they are getting excited again when we open the lid. Acting like they have not been fed in weeks. Lol They each have their own personalities already.

I may make a bigger roof to keep all this heavy sideways rain out. The system flooded a little in the rain again.

I can't install my auto/indoor fish feeders unless I go full greenhouse . I can set both to go off up to 4 times a day and up to two doses each time. If I were to alternate them with just one dose... They could get fed 8 times a day. Continuous feed in small doses(like in nature) for bigger fish? The dose amount is adjustable too.

Today I got a 40lb/lifetime supply of garden lime for $3.58 plus tax... and two RV/Boat hoses. They are rated for 7years and drinking water. I want clean water to go in to the ecosystem.

The long term butter soaked beans are sprouting very well. Been 5 days and several started about 3 days ago.

Marty

I now have internet! Now I get to use the computer to upload pics. Here are the two from Yesterday...

Beans. My son planted the extra around the yard and even though it has rained almost every day... they are about a day or two behind the ones in the aquaponics system. Not much of a difference but it is there. The beans in the clay pebbles were easier to plant out. However, my little boy was able to plant out in the gravel just fine with the assistance of his toy hand trowl. The ones in the gravel were a bit dryer than the ones in the clay pebbles since I made the gravel bed 2" above the water surface. So a few days into it the clay pebble ones were further along. I just took a cup of water from the FT and poured it onto the rows. After that they immediately started coming up. They had No Issues pushing through the gravel. The ones in the clay pebbles seemed to need help with a few of them to stand up.

So far I like having the heavy gravel in one bed and the clay pebbles in the other. I will put my tall heavy feeder/long life plants into that one. The clay pebbles seem to be easy to plant into but would not even hold up the transplanted basil. I go to that bed every time I add things like lime and what not.

The heavy FT lid is solid enough for me to walk on. So it is great for the little ones to help at harvest time and planting time!

It is amazing how many green spiders, and lady bugs and such that have showed up already.

Did you know that raising your crop just a few feet off of the ground drastically decreases pest pressure? Makes sense I suppose. I read that a while back.

Marty

I just downloaded the sketchup drawing. Here is the link. I left a lot of the wood work out. The final product was different.

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/ ... dsuccess=1

Marty