Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I got ahead of my self

I'm getting my fingerlings before my grow beds are ready. I had a delay in getting my gravel and beds so my fish will be arriving before my gravel. So now my question is what do I need to do to keep the fish alive while my grow bed is set-up and cycled?

Can I cycle the water through a large tray of duckweed to remove the ammonia?


As a side note:
The owner of a local fish store claims that a tank can be ready in 4 days by using some of the water from his tanks and a rapid start formula (which he gave me for free).

My fish are tilapia.

If you cant tell I'm totally winging it here. I ordered the backyard hydroponics manual but I have now idea how long it will take to get it. Being impatient I started getting it done the day I ordered the book, lol.

I did the same thing and had to set up a bio-filter to keep the fish happy. Now I have the bio-filter as part of the grow bed system and it works well. I also have tilapia. See what I mean in picture 4206 and 4207 on my site http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... &start=120

ok, great, So how do I make a bio filter? Get a few bags of gravel and put in a barrel? Sand?

Not going to be easy..... first off, how many fish do you have arriving and what size tank?

Secondly, do you have a test kit and/or the ability to get accurate readings of your tank water?

Thirdly, do you have lots of dechlorinated water available, at least twice the capacity of your tank?



Yes and no, duckweed will certainly remove ammonia, how much in relation to the capacity of your tank plus fish load... unknown




Using some of the water from his tanks and a microbial bacterial solution will certainly speed things up.... normally it would take 2 weeks to cycle under optimum conditions, longer if it's colder.

Think the quickest I've heard is about a week using the methods above...

Might depend on the size of your tanks/growbeds etc.

Have you got your tank and pumps organized?

Joyces suggestion of incorporating a bio-filter will also help, if you've got the time to put it and everything else together.....

No matter what else, when you get your fish ... DO NOT feed them for several days....

Test your water and post results here at least daily and be prepared to do at least 50% water changes daily.... i.e de-chlorinate your water before hand....

Everybody is here to help and there are many who have had very real experience of what you're about to face....

We call it HSM...... holly shit mode....

I have well water that test pH 6.2(I have pH meter). So 50% changes daily will not be a problem. Perhaps I could set up a drip to overflow 50% of the water during the day?

I have only 12 fingerlings arriving. I am putting them in a 100 gallon tank.


I have drop test for nitrate and ammonia. Also, the guy at the fish store is willing to test my water for free.

A bio filter will take just as long to start, right? I have a small barrel with 1175 cubic inches in it that I will set up today for a bio fiter. I will get some starter bacteria.

HSM! I feel it coming!

12 fingerlings is going to assist you.... in as much as you're not overly stocking your tank.

Yep set up a bio-filter in the small barrel.... gravel would be good and put all the aquarium gunk and bacterial stuff in it.

Start cycling that around your tank and drum bio-filter ASAP.....

Build those growbeds pronto..... and DON'T, repeat DON'T feed your fish for at least the first two or three days.....

And I would strongly suggest you read this .... Ammonia - The Silent Killer

Your well water pH of 6.2 may actually give you a greater margin for error in terms of reducing the toxicity of your ammonia.....

But will effectively work against your bio-filter.... effectively stunting the the growth of the "nitrifying" bacteria...

See this.... TT's Recent Aquaculture Class

You need to move the pH to somewhere near 7.0 so I'd suggest that you also add some potassium bicarbonate to your bio-filter... see Janet's post a couple past the one quoted above.

As indicated in TT's post..... another buffering effect would be to introduce as much aeration into your tank as possible....perhaps include multiple airstones....

Great additions Rup. The pH should be brought up. The little fingerlings are going to grow fast. Are you making preparations for another tank? When I got my fish I had a 500 gal tank and 200 fish. I was in big fish poo fast. Steve was the one that got me started with the first bio-filter. My first filter was with gravel and it worked well. However because I had so many fish it got full to fast of poo and I had to clean the gravel. I now use spring flo filter material that works great, but it is expensive. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... catid=9523 I have also used lava rock. It was great because of its porus nature that encouraged bacterial growth.
Cycle is a great additive to start with, can be bought at Wal*Mart. You need to get the test drops for your pH. pH will affect other areas, if it drops to quick fish die. Also when raising it you want to monitor it as you don't want it to go to fast or to high.

Thanks for the input! I have my tank and bio filter put together and running a I bought a bottle of duel action bacteria to start it. I put a drain tap at the bottom of the barrel for clean out. I placed a small bucket upside down with slits cut in it and I put the gravel on top then a 2 inch layer of filter and some more gravel. From there it simply overflows through a pipe back to the tank.

I will put two of the large walmart air pumps on it.

This 100 gallon is a starter tank. My goal this year is to reach a capacity of 400 pounds of fish per year. I think I can do that with two 700 gallon tanks.

Should I get some of those ammonia remover pellets? charcoal? Can I use ammonia cleaner to get the bacteria started?

Charcoal won't really help anything here, except maybe add a little surface area for bacteria, and it would remove contaminants, but not ammonia. The ammonia remover pellets could be used in an emergency if your ammonia gets too high, but it is probably cheaper for you to do water changes. You want ammonia, just not too much. The posts above are very good, so take them to heart. You can manage your ammonia level by testing every day, and checking that against pH. Given a lower pH like you have now, your ammonia can get a little higher and not hurt. I'm pretty conservative, and if ammonia goes over 1.0, I do a partial water change. Aftre some time, the ammonia will start dropping, and nitrite will rise. You do want a nitrite test kit (as well as the nitrate test kit), because you do the whole thing over again to get through the nitrite phase of cycling.

I think you will do fine managing the ammonia with 12 fingerlings in 100gal. Although, you know bardpaper is going to send you 30 fingerlings, right?

I have chickens and there are cows near by. Can I use chicken or cow poop to raise ammonia levels while I wait for the fish?

Here is my temporary 100 gallon tank. It was $50 new(sale). I hope they can live there while I set up the first 700 gallon tank and grow beds. The bio filter is the barrel on the right. It using about 20 gallons. I let the return drip into the tank to help add oxygen.



I will go to the fish store tomorrow and ring out some of the sponges from the tank cleanings into a bucket and add that to the tank.


If I get 30 fish I how long do you think they can live in this tank?

I would add the water from the LFS to the biofilter directly.
As long as you have a good flow rate and get good aeration from the return line, they would be ok in that for a while. But I would still work on getting a larger tank soon.

Agree- put the LFS squeezings in the biofilter directly.

I have 40 fish in a 150gal tank. And mine are eatin'-size to near-eatin' size, not fingerlings. The issue isn't the total space, just that you are not cycled. Monitor your ammonia daily and respond appropriately with water changes, restriction of food, or ammonia-absorbing pellets if you must. Cycle your water through the bio-filter often. 5x/hour if you can!

Assuming you are healthy (no meds, drugs, or unusual illnesses), and that no one in the house is unhealthy (like immuno-suppressed), consider urine to help cycle up rather than cow/chicken poop. However, your fish are going to be here pretty fast, aren't they? Might be best just to wait for the fish poop.

I wouldn't try to jump start things with other sources of amonia at this point. The bacteria you are getting from the LFS will be a good jump start and the fingerlings will give you enough waste in no time to support it.

As Janet said, the more you can cycle through the biofilter the better. It will help with aeration. Another thing to consider is to put a layer of pillow batting in the top of the biofilter barrel to work as a solids seperator. It will help things in the beginning.

Best of luck and keep us posted...
and of course pics would be nice, and I'd be happy to post them for you.

Keep in mind too that I have had 12 tilapia in a fish 100L fish tank with just an airstone for over a week. They are VERY hardy fish.

Do as much as you can, but don panic too much, just don feed them as much and you will be OK. You only got like 1 cm of fish for every gallon. Which is a very small stocking density at this stage. But these fish will grow very fast if you let them.