Cycle Problems - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-28T18:36:06Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/cycle-problems?feed=yes&xn_auth=noThank you everyone who replie…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-12-01:4778851:Comment:2587362011-12-01T00:42:06.850ZBillhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/Bill
<p>Thank you everyone who replied. The tank is officially cycled and I added the plants this morning! Woohoo!<a style="cursor: pointer;"><img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif"/></a></p>
<p>Thank you everyone who replied. The tank is officially cycled and I added the plants this morning! Woohoo!<a style="cursor: pointer;"><img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif"/></a></p> I agree. Get the plants in t…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-30:4778851:Comment:2582622011-11-30T13:42:08.320ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>I agree. Get the plants in there and avoid the water changes. I regularly run high nitrate levels on my big system and it doesn't seem to affect the fish at all.</p>
<p>I agree. Get the plants in there and avoid the water changes. I regularly run high nitrate levels on my big system and it doesn't seem to affect the fish at all.</p> Plant your plants... and let…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-30:4778851:Comment:2581672011-11-30T05:31:38.239ZRupertofOZhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/RupertofOZ
<p>Plant your plants... and let them suck up the nitrates...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Add your fish, don't worry about the nitrates... and don't water change...</p>
<p>Plant your plants... and let them suck up the nitrates...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Add your fish, don't worry about the nitrates... and don't water change...</p> Ok I'm almost there! (Thanks…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-30:4778851:Comment:2580912011-11-30T05:13:25.211ZBillhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/Bill
<p>Ok I'm almost there! (Thanks to TC and Co.) My system went from ~2ppm ammonia to <.25 ppm nitrite in 24 hours. I dosed again and we'll see if it's finally fully cycled tomorrow. I have 2 questions:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The nitrates are getting high (~80 ppm and rising) and I was wondering if I can add plants at this level or will this amount burn the roots?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Before I add fish, do I have to do a large water change to lower the nitrate levels or is there another method--about how…</p>
<p>Ok I'm almost there! (Thanks to TC and Co.) My system went from ~2ppm ammonia to <.25 ppm nitrite in 24 hours. I dosed again and we'll see if it's finally fully cycled tomorrow. I have 2 questions:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The nitrates are getting high (~80 ppm and rising) and I was wondering if I can add plants at this level or will this amount burn the roots?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Before I add fish, do I have to do a large water change to lower the nitrate levels or is there another method--about how long will plants take to remove the nitrates to a safe level for the fish? I'm assuming there must be a way to lower nitrates without doing a large water change because it wouldn't be practical for people who have tank water or very large systems to do such a large water change. I have chlorine in my tap water so I'd have to use some type of purified water and it wouldn't be economical to siphon out 65+gallons and replace that amount with purified/reverse osmosis water.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Almost there, thanks for all your help!<a style="cursor: pointer;"><img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif"/></a></p> Tiny amounts ... got it.
TCL…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-30:4778851:Comment:2580592011-11-30T03:44:06.887ZJonathan Kadish NYC AA Chairhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JonathanKadish
<p>Tiny amounts ... got it.</p>
<p><br></br> <cite>TCLynx said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/cycle-problems?id=4778851%3ATopic%3A254149&page=2#4778851Comment258057"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Depends on what you are dosing with I guess.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A good initial dose (provided you have neutralized any chlorine or chloramine first) would be somewhere between 1-4 ppm.</p>
<p>With a 26 gallon system it won't take much of most anything to…</p>
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<p>Tiny amounts ... got it.</p>
<p><br/> <cite>TCLynx said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/cycle-problems?id=4778851%3ATopic%3A254149&page=2#4778851Comment258057"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Depends on what you are dosing with I guess.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A good initial dose (provided you have neutralized any chlorine or chloramine first) would be somewhere between 1-4 ppm.</p>
<p>With a 26 gallon system it won't take much of most anything to get an initial ammonia level that is high enough to get things rolling. (I've cycled a 50 gallon system using doses of like 50 mil of aged hummonia before.) So if you are using pure cleaning ammonia you will probably be adding much smaller amounts per dose. I think Sylvia has a blog post about the mystery of the missing ammonia that might have some helpful clues to figure out how much you might use to get the right dose.</p>
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</blockquote> Depends on what you are dosin…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-30:4778851:Comment:2580572011-11-30T03:16:22.036ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>Depends on what you are dosing with I guess.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A good initial dose (provided you have neutralized any chlorine or chloramine first) would be somewhere between 1-4 ppm.</p>
<p>With a 26 gallon system it won't take much of most anything to get an initial ammonia level that is high enough to get things rolling. (I've cycled a 50 gallon system using doses of like 50 mil of aged hummonia before.) So if you are using pure cleaning ammonia you will probably be adding much smaller…</p>
<p>Depends on what you are dosing with I guess.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A good initial dose (provided you have neutralized any chlorine or chloramine first) would be somewhere between 1-4 ppm.</p>
<p>With a 26 gallon system it won't take much of most anything to get an initial ammonia level that is high enough to get things rolling. (I've cycled a 50 gallon system using doses of like 50 mil of aged hummonia before.) So if you are using pure cleaning ammonia you will probably be adding much smaller amounts per dose. I think Sylvia has a blog post about the mystery of the missing ammonia that might have some helpful clues to figure out how much you might use to get the right dose.</p> TC what is a good initial dos…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-30:4778851:Comment:2580502011-11-30T02:52:41.142ZJonathan Kadish NYC AA Chairhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JonathanKadish
<p>TC what is a good initial dose? I am just about to cycle my system and it is only 26 gallons.</p>
<p><br></br> <cite>TCLynx said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/cycle-problems?id=4778851%3ATopic%3A254149&page=2#4778851Comment256713"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>I would say wait till you can see a drop in the nitrite before you dose any ammonia but if the nitrite is still above 2 ppm then make it a small dose of ammonia. Once the nitrite…</p>
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<p>TC what is a good initial dose? I am just about to cycle my system and it is only 26 gallons.</p>
<p><br/> <cite>TCLynx said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/cycle-problems?id=4778851%3ATopic%3A254149&page=2#4778851Comment256713"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>I would say wait till you can see a drop in the nitrite before you dose any ammonia but if the nitrite is still above 2 ppm then make it a small dose of ammonia. Once the nitrite drops to 0 go ahead and do a full dose of ammonia and see how long it takes to process from there.</p>
<p>Also watch the pH since many times you might see a sudden pH drop about the same time as a sudden nitrite drop.</p>
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</blockquote> I would say wait till you can…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-28:4778851:Comment:2567132011-11-28T00:55:10.081ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>I would say wait till you can see a drop in the nitrite before you dose any ammonia but if the nitrite is still above 2 ppm then make it a small dose of ammonia. Once the nitrite drops to 0 go ahead and do a full dose of ammonia and see how long it takes to process from there.</p>
<p>Also watch the pH since many times you might see a sudden pH drop about the same time as a sudden nitrite drop.</p>
<p>I would say wait till you can see a drop in the nitrite before you dose any ammonia but if the nitrite is still above 2 ppm then make it a small dose of ammonia. Once the nitrite drops to 0 go ahead and do a full dose of ammonia and see how long it takes to process from there.</p>
<p>Also watch the pH since many times you might see a sudden pH drop about the same time as a sudden nitrite drop.</p> Ok so my nitrate levels have…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-27:4778851:Comment:2563602011-11-27T18:10:01.502ZBillhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/Bill
<p>Ok so my nitrate levels have shot up from 5ppm to about 35-40ppm and my ammonia levels have dropped to zero. I'd say the ammonia has been at zero for about 2 days or so (I haven't added any as I wait for the nitrites to drop). The nitrite levels are still 5+ppm, but I am assuming they will start to show a decrease considering the increase in nitrate. My question is: should I wait until the nitrites go from 5ppm to 2ppm to add a little ammonia or wait until all of the nitrite is brought down…</p>
<p>Ok so my nitrate levels have shot up from 5ppm to about 35-40ppm and my ammonia levels have dropped to zero. I'd say the ammonia has been at zero for about 2 days or so (I haven't added any as I wait for the nitrites to drop). The nitrite levels are still 5+ppm, but I am assuming they will start to show a decrease considering the increase in nitrate. My question is: should I wait until the nitrites go from 5ppm to 2ppm to add a little ammonia or wait until all of the nitrite is brought down to zero? Also, will not adding ammonia "starve" the nitrite-producing bacteria; how long can I go without adding ammonia to my system before I start to starve that bacteria? Thanks for your help, your advice has proven to be very helpful so anymore would be greatly appreciated!<br/> <br/>
<cite>TCLynx said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/cycle-problems#4778851Comment254089"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Are you dosing with ammonia daily? or just that one dose?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you are dosing with ammonia daily, STOP, wait till the nitrite drops, having too high an ammonia level can inhibit the bacteria that convert the nitrite to nitrate.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I've cycled several systems and I usually don't dose the Ammonia that high and if the nitrite gets too high, I stop dosing the ammonia until I see the nitrite dropping. Once the initial nitrite spike has passed, you then dose the ammonia and then measure the ammonia and nitrite 24 hours later, once you get to the point that you can dose ammonia one day and have both ammonia and nitrite get to 0 24 hours later, you are fishlessly cycled. At that point you can keep up with small doses of ammonia to keep the bacteria going until a day or two before you will bring home fish (you want to make sure both ammonia and nitrite are down before you bring your new fish home.)</p>
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</blockquote> Your fine.
Bill said:
I've…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-24:4778851:Comment:2544402011-11-24T01:17:44.405ZEric Warwickhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/EricWarwick
<p>Your fine. <br></br> <img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif"></img> <br></br> <cite>Bill said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/cycle-problems?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A254703&xg_source=msg_com_forum#4778851Comment254703"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>I've been using phosphoric acid to lower the pH and potassium hydroxide and calcium carbonate to raise the pH. Do you think the phosphates from the acid may become a problem for the fish or is that not much of a concern? I've been…</p>
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<p>Your fine. <br/> <img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif"/><br/>
<cite>Bill said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/cycle-problems?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A254703&xg_source=msg_com_forum#4778851Comment254703"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>I've been using phosphoric acid to lower the pH and potassium hydroxide and calcium carbonate to raise the pH. Do you think the phosphates from the acid may become a problem for the fish or is that not much of a concern? I've been adding about 1-2 ml/day over the course of the week because the pH was buffered from the CaCO3, but I think the pH finally leveled off (somewhere around 7.0-7.2). Thanks!<a rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer;"><img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Tongue.gif"/></a><a rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer;"></a></p>
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