Cycling questions (New to aquaponics)

[Danny Daniel]

Hi, My system is almost up and ready, waiting on different pump because the one i had was to big, while i wait i have never done aquaponics before and want to know the basics to cycling the dos and don'ts of cycling.I am using a bell siphon tote system , fish tank is bout 200 gallons the GB is about 70.

 

My questions are once i have my system set up what is the next step?

Do i add my plants first or the fish?(sorry i am brand new to this )

is it better to add baby fish or bigger fish?

does the water need to be at certain ph and nitrate before i add the plants or the fish?

how do i go about creating ammonia?

What nutrients am i going to need to help boost growing. also how much worms to add, is a hand full enough?

I Heard Chelated iron is good to add, if so at what stage do i start to add it.

how many times a year should i cycle?

 

I am very thankful for any help i get, once i have a better understanding of cycling and AP as a whole i will contribute much as i can, i will be keeping recordings and experimenting, because i want to eventuality grow commercially on bout 10 acer's of land. :)

  

 

 

 

 

 

[TCLynx]

Hereis a blog post I did about Fishless cycling that may be useful to you or if you prefer to cycle up with fish here is another blog post

There are other threads and posts about cycling here on Aquaponic Gardening if you wish to search for them.

 

Provided your system stays stable and you don't kill the bio-filter somehow, you should only need to cycle the system up once.  However if you were to leave a system dormant for a long period of time the bio-filter might die off and require some help cycling back up or if you were to sterilize the system for some reason then you would need to go through the process from scratch again.  Really cold temperatures can slow down and even let bio-filter bacteria die off so a system that freezes over winter will have to start up slowly in spring.  Extreme pH situations can mess up the bio-filter as well so most people are advised to keep the pH between 6-8 and most people will recommend a pH between 6.8-7 as being pretty ideal.  I've got one system running at 7.6, another at 7.2 and my tower system was running around 6.5.

 

Chelated iron should be used if your plants show signs of iron deficiency.

[Danny Daniel]

Thanks i will look into those posts :).

[Danny Daniel]

I have a question from one of you blogs it says

"Dose system to an ammonia level between 1 and 2 ppm
then wait and test till ammonia levels start dropping.
If the ammonia levels drop below 1 ppm and the nitrite level is still below 1 ppm,then dose again.
If ammonia or nitrite levels are still high then wait and keep testing."

 

do i do this with the system running or not running, should i have my pump on and running while im doing these testings. also should the plants be in the grow bed at this time when im trying to level the GB out or wait till it is leveled out then add the plants.

Also should i add the worms and the castings when i add the plants?

[TCLynx]

The pumps should be functioning during fishless cycling since you need to cycle the water through the filtration or grow beds in order for the bacteria to work on the ammonia and nitrite.

 

I would add the worm castings right away since they are a good source of all kinds of beneficial bacteria.  The plants you could add right away or wait till the first dose of ammonia starts to drop.  You want the plants to be settled in and ready to start using up nitrates before they get too high.

 

You will have to pump the water around to let it mix after you add the dose in order to have an accurate reading.

 

You are not actually running the tests in the system so if the pump is running or not when you actually test the sample makes little difference but I would want to be pumping as much water as possible during the cycling since the water flowing through the media is where the bacteria get to do their work.  You will take a sample of your system water to a good location to do your testing under consistent lighting where you have a timer and a pad and pencil.  I like an old towel under my testing station as well and a turkey baster to fill the test tubes.  Here is a page with some videos about water testing.