Comment

Comment by Sylvia Bernstein on January 22, 2012 at 10:46am

I thought maybe there was a chance that you sunk the tank into the ground.  If it is holding pretty steady you are fine, and at 6 ppm I recommend you just hold tight...especially now that nitrites and nitrates are showing up you'll start seeing that ammonia going down pretty soon.

Comment by Michael Welber on January 22, 2012 at 10:32am

Well it's not increasing much. It's just  not coming down. No dogs could pee that high and I haven't seen any decaying flesh. It's hanging around 6 ppt. It's possible that I added too much at the beginning and then kept adding when I shouldn't have. Obviously I'll keep monitoring it. 

Comment by Sylvia Bernstein on January 22, 2012 at 10:19am

Michael, I'm surprised that ammonia is increasing with there being no fish and you not adding any powdered ammonia for a few days.  Ammonia generally doesn't rise on it's own...something is introducing it.  The only other thing I can think of that might be causing this is if there is decaying flesh or something (a dog?) is peeing in your tank.  Any ideas?

Comment by Michael Welber on January 22, 2012 at 9:02am

I used Sylvia's fishless cycling system with powdered ammonia. So there is no danger to fish. I gather that I will have to wait until nitrites and ammonia come down before introducing fish. It all happened surprisingly quickly but it's been warm here (mid to high 70s) so that might be why. If ammonia gets high should I change out water even though there are no fish? 

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on January 22, 2012 at 8:54am

Michael, Chi's diagram is great!

Once you have the system set up and the fish in the tank, start watching the chemical balance. There are 5 things to measure:

1. Ammonia (produced by the fish waste and bad for fish)
2. Nitrites (converted from ammonia by bacteria, also bad for fish)
3. Nitrates (converted from nitrites by another bacteria, not as bad for fish, but bad at high levels)
4. PH (plants like it low; around 6.5 - 7)
5. Temperature (depends on the range for your fish)

If ammonia gets too high, you have to change out some water to keep it safe for the fish. Eventually the bacteria will consume it all, but at first it will be an issue.

The same applies for nitrites.

NItrates are what plants love.

Comment by Sahib Punjabi on January 22, 2012 at 8:10am

Excellent Chi...love it :-)

God bless,

Comment by Chi Ma on January 22, 2012 at 8:00am

Comment by Michael Welber on January 22, 2012 at 6:07am

Is it "normal" to have nitrites and nitrates at the same time. Yesterday nitrites showed up in my fish tank and today nitrates at about 5 ppm. Also, ammonia spiked to 6 even though I haven't added any in several days. Is this the way it should go or am I having a problem. 

Comment by TCLynx on January 20, 2012 at 6:31pm

Sounds like you might want to move up to the advanced Aquaponics Group Shane

With the 3 foot deep grow bed, you will need quite a lot of height to make it all work with flood and drain without needing extra tanks and pumps.

Comment by Shane Mackay on January 20, 2012 at 7:20am

I am planning on building a new system that combines PVC, Deep Raft and Flood an drain systems. My plan is as follows:-

1. Pump the water to a 3 foot deep gravel bed to act as a biofilter and that plants can be placed in.

2. The water moves from this into a deep raft system

3. through another gravel bed (again we put some plants here as well)

4. to a PVC pipe system (which runs above the pond)

5. back into the pond.

In the pond I plan to stock tilapia, however in the deepraft system I would like to put tropical fish (to control the mosquitos, etc.) I was thinking either swordtails or mollies with a few ground feeders such as Plecostomus. The deep raft will be for lettuce.

I am also trying a solar power areator which will be used for the deep raft and ponds?

Would love some feedback on this idea.

Shane

 

 

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