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Aquaponics For Beginners
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This is a place where Beginners can post questions and find answers.
Advanced Users are welcome to help the Beginners out.
Please KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) .
Members: 672
Latest Activity: Feb 2, 2019
Discussion Forum
A few fish for sale or good home
Started by Linda Logan. Last reply by Linda Logan Feb 2, 2019. 1 Reply 0 Likes
I need to shut down my indoor system for a few months. I have 2 mature Shubunkin, 1 albino Hypostomus to clean the aquarium. There is another small fish living in the sump.I live in SE Portland and…Continue
Aquaponics system as filter for swimming pool
Started by John Wilson. Last reply by Wade J Rochelle Jan 25, 2019. 3 Replies 0 Likes
Hi all, we've just purchased a property with a large indoor swimming pool. Around 80,000L with a greenhouse roof and plenty of room around it for grow beds. However, this is far too big for us to…Continue
Not for human consumption!?
Started by Nichelle Hubley. Last reply by Nichelle Hubley Jun 30, 2015. 7 Replies 1 Like
Well, I think I messed up big time. I've been feeding my precious tilapia koi food (I like in a small place and it was all I could get... :( ) for about 2 months and last night I read on the back of…Continue
Help!! Help !!! with new filtration and set-up.
Started by Henrique Miguel. Last reply by Wayne Mcbryde May 14, 2015. 2 Replies 0 Likes
Hi,I have a set up of 2 55 gal blue barrel with Tilapia and guppies separate. I have young ones and they are growing well. Issue of overcrowding and feeding. 1. I would like to use a water…Continue
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Comment by Butch Pornebo on November 5, 2014 at 3:34pm
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shot in the dark here. is it the bicarbonate part that is important ? Pure Baking Soda is sodium bicarbonate. Can this be a substitute ?
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@ vlad looking around now for potassium bicarbonate. with that said what is your recommendation as far as dosage is concern AND do I have a few days to work on this or definitely MUST act now ?
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Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on November 5, 2014 at 2:58pm
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Go with potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3)...you can find it at your local wine making/beer making supply store...or order it online.
You may find eggshells to be anything but fast acting...
@Leo, if you have no problems cycling a system at pH 4.4 and growing plants well, you are a special case that defies my 20 years of observing soilless systems...and your special case scenario defies every and any scientific paper written on the topic of microbiology in regards to ammonia oxidizing bacteria...along with real world observations of these man made systems.
That being said, I suspect that in such an environment as yours, (system ammonia oxidizing readily at pH 4.4) you may likely have some form of Archaea acting as your main ammonia oxidizers and not the typical, more commonly discussed bacteria.
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in a pinch right now I'm using eggshells. How fast will the eggshells help to buffer the water ?
@ Vlad Are the eggshells good enough to buffer for now and avoiding my bio-filters to crash or should I go with Calcium Carbonate or Potassium Carbonate ?
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the feedback(s) folks is highly appreciated. keep it coming ;)
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Comment by Leo White Bear on November 5, 2014 at 12:19pm
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Listen to Vlad and Terry advice and begin to buffer your water. As we all know, ask 10 aquapons their advice on a subject and you'll get 11 different answers. My water here in Central Wisconsin reads 4.4 pH. That's no typo, 4.4 very acidic. I have NO difficulty cycling my systems with this pH. If the bacteria in your bio-filter crashes below 5.0, nothing would grow and we have very diverse plants and fish growing in our area.
This is why I gave you the advice that I did, with my experience in aquaponics and aquaculture. As long as you have no fish in your system, bacteria will grow and feed off the proper levels of ammonia.
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Comment by Terry Healy on November 5, 2014 at 10:59am
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Butch: Some information about Ph buffering here: http://theaquaponicsource.com/rules-of-thumb/aquaponics-ph/
I had good luck with crushed sea shells once I was cycled. They are kind of self-limiting as they stop dissolving when the Ph gets higher. I've heard others have used egg shells also. If you use Calcium Carbonate and Potassium Carbonate, go very easy. I made a huge swing in a ~170 gallon system with only a tablespoon of each. Fortunately my goldfish are tough as nails.
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Yes Butch, you should buffer your water and raise your pH closer to neutral. Absolutely. Unless you have a digital pH meter, or a test kit that will read very low values of pH...when your API kit says 6.0 what that means is it could be 6.0 OR ANY VALUE BELOW 6.0...i.e pH5.0 will read the same color as pH6.0.
You will crash your bio-filter in the mid 5's..
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You will experience a fluctuation in the pH during cycling, don't worry too much. This is a natural occurrence. As long as you have no fish in the system you're golden. Let nature take its course and you will do good, just be patient. I do believe that your adding water due to evaporation, you diluted the ammonia. Keep testing the system water, keep the ammonia at 3 - 4ppm by adding just a little until you find that the ammonia drops to 0 after 24-hours after adding. Don't over due the ammonia and the nitrites will rise along with indications of nitrates. Do this for a few days and you can then call your system cycled and add the fish.
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ok. a little update on my cycling BUT need some advice on my PH. Nitrite have showed up between 2 and 5. Ammonia finally came down to apx 2.0. No water changes BUT I did added water due to evaporation NOT sure if that help the ammonia to come down. I have added water twice already about a couple of weeks apart. Anyway, my PH has been around 7.4 and 7.8 BUT a couple of nights ago it was 6.6 and tonight it was 6.0.
Do I need to do something and try to bring it up over 7 since the bacteria during cycling will be happier if the PH is closer to 8 ?
Thanks in advance.
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