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New system started from a newbe

Hello guys,

first off all i don't have any practical experience in Aquaponics:

Before starting testing the water i run the system for tree days.

No fish in the tank (18G)

day 1 after the test i added some liquid ammonia

day 2 after the test i added "Cycle" to start the cycle (added for three days)

what do you think?

thanks fo your help

Gabriele

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Permalink Reply by Gabriele Barocci on February 18, 2012 at 5:14pm

i have another tank of tap water (it has been there more than 2 weeks ,it should be Chlorine free.

can i put hydro-ton without a net, just in the fish tank?

i bought 500ml of growthmax 0.3-0.3-4,

the water should be around 15 G

now i put 10ml of seaweed

questions:

1 it is enough?

2 now that the water is dark, how can i test it??!?

thanks

Gab

Vlad Jovanovic said:

Well hopefully your nitrites will come down soon. Putting another little bagful in the DWC (maybe next to an air stone could only help)...Man, any sized Box - o - rocks bio-filter helps

Do you have any top-up water prepared (chlorine free)?

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Permalink Reply by Vlad Jovanovic on February 18, 2012 at 6:57pm

Normally, it probably wouldn't be wouldn't be the best thing to put any gravel or hydroton in the bottom of the tank as your solids would tend to settle out there and you'd probably need to vacuum them up after a period of time. You would want these to normally go to your bio-filter, might be best just to keep it in the onion bag/netting.

That stuff colored your water huh? Is it so bad that you can't tell what the test colors are at all? Some MaxiCrop (probably plus Iron) will do that too (not Kelpak though). I think the MaxiCrop clears up after a couple of weeks maybe yours will too. Maybe when you add the top up water might help out a bit to dilute the coloring effect.

If you can't even read the tests at all don't add anymore. Foliar feed the next time.

There are also pH, nitrite, nitrate, and NH4 test strips which might work even if your water is now dark. (I dont like using them though because they seem pretty cheap, but work in a pinch, to get you an idea at least of where your at.

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Permalink Reply by tiffany smyth on February 20, 2012 at 7:57am

I'm about to do a fish less cycle. I heard in a worksho I just took that it takes 30 days to set up a bio filter. They said 2 caps of ammonia each day. When you test the water 24 hours after adding ammonia when the test levels read 0 you are ready to add fish.

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Permalink Reply by Vlad Jovanovic on February 20, 2012 at 9:41am

Basically that's about it, although I'D STRONGLY CAUTION AGAINST USING THE "2 cap fulls" AS A GUIDLEINE FOR NH4 DOSING. Go to an aquarium pet shop and get a test kit (they are super cheap) and figure out how much ammonia it takes YOU IN YOUR PARtICULARLY SIZED SYTEM to get to 2ppm.

Gabes situation may have some 'special' considerations because he doesn't have a dedicated bio-filter, and its a really small system. So it's probably bound to be a bit more finicky...

Gabe how's the water color today? Can you make out the tests?

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Permalink Reply by Gabriele Barocci on February 20, 2012 at 11:27am

water color was fine for the test:

ammonia still 0.25

nitrite overscale

nitrate maybe (not so clear) 10 ppm

now i added water and i'm going to test the water after few hours , theoretically(mathematically) everything should be diluted ...

after the test , i'm going to add another 10ml of seaweed

zucchini is the only plant that is going well (green and "fast" growing)

Gab

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Permalink Reply by Vlad Jovanovic on February 20, 2012 at 11:36am

The seaweed might be 'faster acting' if foliar fed Gabe. Might not be a bad idea, especially since it wont then further color your water. Just dont do it with that MH on! Turn and keep it off til the leaves dry off...

Good that you can still make out the readings (esp NH4)...

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Permalink Reply by Gabriele Barocci on February 20, 2012 at 11:59am

i'll try the foliar fed then...

i'm wating for the uniseals i ordered in the US, to build a biofilter (constant flood)

the hydro-ton is in the "fish thank" right now.

i'm seriously thinking in NOT adding gold fish in the future(i don't like to much the idea off "abusing" them), and use liquid ammonia first, and edible fish then(i didn't look for tilapia here in Canada yet...but i guess it will be not easy),

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Permalink Reply by Vlad Jovanovic on February 20, 2012 at 12:33pm

Way to go with the bio-filter Gabe. Yeah fishless cycling does have the advantage of not abusing the fish as much :)

Talapia in Canada seems like it might prove problematic, unless you can get a few (since you don't need many of them), from from some of the other aquapons there...

But really, there are a lot of other great edible fish that would be appropriate. (And cheaper for heating, too)