Comment

Comment by Butch Pornebo on October 26, 2014 at 10:18am

oh yeah def no more ammonia. thanks for the heads up.

Comment by Leo White Bear on October 26, 2014 at 5:04am

That is correct, just let nature take its course and you will start to see the ammonia drop.  Keep the temp of the water above 60°F and you will be doing good.  No more ammonia, let the bacteria feed on it, give it time and it will work out.  I have found that with new aquapons, that patience is their worst enemy.  Let it alone and check every day or so and you will soon be fully cycled and ready to add your fish but not until the ammonia reads .05 - 0.0

Comment by Butch Pornebo on October 25, 2014 at 8:20pm

I've read some threads that high ammonia inhibits or slows down bacteria colonization. Since I'm going fishless cycling, my concern is towards unnecessarily delaying the cycling process.

Comment by Leo White Bear on October 25, 2014 at 8:14pm

Butch-

  As long as you do Not have fish in your system, don't worry too much with a water change, just don't add any more ammonia untill you system is cycled.  You will know when the Nitrites drop and the nitrates climb.  In the mean time you can decide on what fish you want.  Be Patient let things work out, just no more ammonia.

Comment by Butch Pornebo on October 25, 2014 at 7:51pm

so it's been 12 days since I have started my fishless cycling and 10 days since I last added ammonia. I'm afraid that I might have overdid the ammonia. It's definitely 4 and 8 based on the API color graph. Yesterday Nitrite showed up @ 0.125 and today it was @ 0.5. However, ammonia still looks the same as yesterday and I have a feeling that it might be higher than 8 or at least at the very top end of the API color graph.

Is my concern reasonable ? is a water change recommended at this point ? and if a water change is done will it affect/decrease the Nitrite I have right now which is @ 0.5 ? Obviously, my objective is to lower ammonia levels BUT by doing a water change affect my nitrite levels too.

Comment by Butch Pornebo on October 19, 2014 at 1:04pm

well noted. just can;t help it. I'm a tech guy and I'm all about tinkering BUT WILL RESTRAIN 

Comment by Rob Nash on October 18, 2014 at 11:23pm

Jim, glad to still have you with us..

blessings to you

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on October 18, 2014 at 9:58pm

Also I cycled a pretty big-ish system (2,100 sq. ft) starting in mid Oct. and finished the process at the beginning of Dec. in temps much worse than yours Butch. And grew and sold veggies all winter. 

Insulate EVERYTHING as per everyone's suggestions, and do what you can to stave off the OBVIOUS fail points, but don't fret too much...it works better than the charts and published data would have you believe.

http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/plant-growth-a...

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on October 18, 2014 at 9:48pm

No, no water changes. Ammonia begins to be somewhat inhibitory (quantifiably so) at about 6ppm...8ppm being the begining of the "no-go" zone...so your good.

Your just being impatient 

And once cycled, don't fret too much about water temps below 50F-55F.

Your cool weather crops and bacteria will be fine (as long as everything else is in check). Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to sit back and be patient and resist the urge to tinker...

Comment by Butch Pornebo on October 18, 2014 at 9:00pm

what should be my expectations in regards for the nitrites showing up ? It's been 3 days since my ammonia was @4ppm. was that too much ammonia that I need to do a water change ? or just being impatient right now ?

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