A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Using Fish Tank Filter for Aquaponics bacteria - HELP!

Hi All!

I heard a lecture by Sylvia Bernstein where she said that you can use the filter from an existing Fish Tank to start the bacteria for the aquaponics system. But she did not say how this can be implemented. Can someone give some advice on how to make this happen? After I remove the soiled filter - how can I start making the nitrates/nitrites?

Thank you in advance for your expertise!

All the best,

Stacey

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Scott Roberts on September 25, 2014 at 12:22pm

Once your new aquaponic system is set up, filled with water, and dechlorinated, find someone with a fish tank. There are a couple of ways to do this:

1) When the fish tank owner does a water change, have them put 5g of their old water in a bucket, and clean the filter (swish, squeeze, etc) in the 5g bucket. Take that home and dump it into your system.

2)Take the filter from the old tank, and swish it around in the new system. If it's a sponge type filter, squeeze it and get that nasty brown water into your new system. It's all bacteria and stuff you want in the tank!