Aquaponic Gardening

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I am at the very beginning of a fish less cycle. My water is at PH 8.3. I've added ammonia for two days now and today I added bacteria. I can't get my PH to go down despite adding a whole bottle of PH Down over the last two days.  The city water comes out of the tap at 8.3 PH. I'm wondering if I can add my plants yet or is the PH to high? 

Thanks,

Dan

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Hi Dan. Nice pic. Great looking system you have there.

Cycling usually takes about 6-8 weeks, so for two weeks in you're doing great. I'd let the ammonia fall to zero now for a couple of days. Then dose at about half the rate that you were dosing (maybe 1 to 2ppm would be good). After the nitrite spike subsides and your nitrite readings fall to zero... and you can dose ammonia to 1-2ppm and within 24 hours have both your nitrite and ammonia readings be at zero...and you can do this at least 3-4 days in a row...you can add your fish.

How many fish you can stock is going to depend on your bio-filtration capacity (how many cubic feet of media you have)...The 1 lb per 1 cubic foot rule is about THE MAXIMUM amount of fish your bio-filter can handle. It shouldn't take nearly that amount to grow plants well.

Thanks, I've put a lot of work in the last three months. It's amazing how the addition of a simple thing like wood trim can transform the appearance. I wanted to create something that was aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The wife is pretty happy too! Do you think i can get away with only an awning and no walls? We live in Santa Barbara, Ca where the climate is pretty tropical. 

I'm assuming the 1 to 1 ratio of fish is after the fish have grown out. But what about in the beginning when the fish are just a few inches long. I'd be lucky to get a couple of pounds out of 150 fingerling fish. How do I stock in the beginning. Certainly 150 fingerling Talapia can't give off enough waste to feed the system appropriately. Can they? 



Vlad Jovanovic said:

Hi Dan. Nice pic. Great looking system you have there.

Cycling usually takes about 6-8 weeks, so for two weeks in you're doing great. I'd let the ammonia fall to zero now for a couple of days. Then dose at about half the rate that you were dosing (maybe 1 to 2ppm would be good). After the nitrite spike subsides and your nitrite readings fall to zero... and you can dose ammonia to 1-2ppm and within 24 hours have both your nitrite and ammonia readings be at zero...and you can do this at least 3-4 days in a row...you can add your fish.

How many fish you can stock is going to depend on your bio-filtration capacity (how many cubic feet of media you have)...The 1 lb per 1 cubic foot rule is about THE MAXIMUM amount of fish your bio-filter can handle. It shouldn't take nearly that amount to grow plants well.

That's a really pretty design Dan.

My two cents are that you have to stock based on approx grown weight of the fish. I have 50 bluegill in my 300 gal system, and at fingerling size you are right - they are probably only a couple of pounds. Even though I plan to harvest them once they get big enough, I think overstocking would not be good. You might end up having to harvest fish not big enough to eat just to reduce the stocking density. Not to mention possibly creating problems with oxygen or other variables that could kill all the fish and require starting over. It seems like much of AP is a lesson in patience... and waiting for fish to grow is another such area for me.

 

While they are fingerlings, you could always add extra seaweed fertilizer to add more nutrients to allow for better plant growth until the fish are bigger. I would think with tilapia, this may only be a couple of months until they get big enough to fuel plant growth on their own.

Thanks, I built it all from wood I got off Craigslist for $150. 

So I have 108 cubic feet of grow media. Assuming that all my fish grow out to 1 pound, I should purchase 108 fish according to Vlads 1 to 1 ratio statement in the previous post, right? 

Daniel said:

That's a really pretty design Dan.

My two cents are that you have to stock based on approx grown weight of the fish. I have 50 bluegill in my 300 gal system, and at fingerling size you are right - they are probably only a couple of pounds. Even though I plan to harvest them once they get big enough, I think overstocking would not be good. You might end up having to harvest fish not big enough to eat just to reduce the stocking density. Not to mention possibly creating problems with oxygen or other variables that could kill all the fish and require starting over. It seems like much of AP is a lesson in patience... and waiting for fish to grow is another such area for me.

 

While they are fingerlings, you could always add extra seaweed fertilizer to add more nutrients to allow for better plant growth until the fish are bigger. I would think with tilapia, this may only be a couple of months until they get big enough to fuel plant growth on their own.

Well it shows...it looks really good...(my system is about as aesthetically pleasing as an industrial accident)...

The 1 lb to 1 cubic foot is not my suggestion, rather the one found on this forums 'Rules of Thumb' page...My personal suggestion would be 1/3 to 1/2 lb of fish per cubic foot...(unless you really, really like eating fish...and moving rocks/cleaning GB's hehe)...

Sure, if its tropical where you live...



Dan Lieder said:

Thanks, I've put a lot of work in the last three months. It's amazing how the addition of a simple thing like wood trim can transform the appearance. I wanted to create something that was aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The wife is pretty happy too! Do you think i can get away with only an awning and no walls? We live in Santa Barbara, Ca where the climate is pretty tropical. 

I'm assuming the 1 to 1 ratio of fish is after the fish have grown out. But what about in the beginning when the fish are just a few inches long. I'd be lucky to get a couple of pounds out of 150 fingerling fish. How do I stock in the beginning. Certainly 150 fingerling Talapia can't give off enough waste to feed the system appropriately. Can they? 



Vlad Jovanovic said:

Hi Dan. Nice pic. Great looking system you have there.

Cycling usually takes about 6-8 weeks, so for two weeks in you're doing great. I'd let the ammonia fall to zero now for a couple of days. Then dose at about half the rate that you were dosing (maybe 1 to 2ppm would be good). After the nitrite spike subsides and your nitrite readings fall to zero... and you can dose ammonia to 1-2ppm and within 24 hours have both your nitrite and ammonia readings be at zero...and you can do this at least 3-4 days in a row...you can add your fish.

How many fish you can stock is going to depend on your bio-filtration capacity (how many cubic feet of media you have)...The 1 lb per 1 cubic foot rule is about THE MAXIMUM amount of fish your bio-filter can handle. It shouldn't take nearly that amount to grow plants well.

Hi Vlad,

Here are my recent stats. I was wondering if you could tell me why the huge spike in nitrates. The color was much darker than the highest reading of 160ppm. I'm assuming its the addition of the microbe yesterday and the addition of the water heater. But why are my nitrites not going down at all? My lettuces are going crazy! They look so healthy and they are twice as big as they were just 4 days ago. 

Thanks,

Dan



Vlad Jovanovic said:

Well it shows...it looks really good...(my system is about as aesthetically pleasing as an industrial accident)...

The 1 lb to 1 cubic foot is not my suggestion, rather the one found on this forums 'Rules of Thumb' page...My personal suggestion would be 1/3 to 1/2 lb of fish per cubic foot...(unless you really, really like eating fish...and moving rocks/cleaning GB's hehe)...

Sure, if its tropical where you live...



Dan Lieder said:

Thanks, I've put a lot of work in the last three months. It's amazing how the addition of a simple thing like wood trim can transform the appearance. I wanted to create something that was aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The wife is pretty happy too! Do you think i can get away with only an awning and no walls? We live in Santa Barbara, Ca where the climate is pretty tropical. 

I'm assuming the 1 to 1 ratio of fish is after the fish have grown out. But what about in the beginning when the fish are just a few inches long. I'd be lucky to get a couple of pounds out of 150 fingerling fish. How do I stock in the beginning. Certainly 150 fingerling Talapia can't give off enough waste to feed the system appropriately. Can they? 



Vlad Jovanovic said:

Hi Dan. Nice pic. Great looking system you have there.

Cycling usually takes about 6-8 weeks, so for two weeks in you're doing great. I'd let the ammonia fall to zero now for a couple of days. Then dose at about half the rate that you were dosing (maybe 1 to 2ppm would be good). After the nitrite spike subsides and your nitrite readings fall to zero... and you can dose ammonia to 1-2ppm and within 24 hours have both your nitrite and ammonia readings be at zero...and you can do this at least 3-4 days in a row...you can add your fish.

How many fish you can stock is going to depend on your bio-filtration capacity (how many cubic feet of media you have)...The 1 lb per 1 cubic foot rule is about THE MAXIMUM amount of fish your bio-filter can handle. It shouldn't take nearly that amount to grow plants well.

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