Comment

Comment by Jim Fisk on December 1, 2014 at 10:26am

Jeff, you may run into problems where the siphons will not break and your GBs will stay empty. Better to slow the fill time but that may result in slow starts. It is a balancing act as I am sure you are aware. I really see no advantage to slow drains. The faster the drain the better the air gets pulled down into the media and that is very important. You would probably be better off with a timed F&D if you want to play with flood times. If I am reading correctly, Portable Farms floods just 2 times a day (but for how long?) so the timing seems to be all over the board. They seem to have great success nonetheless.

Comment by Jeff S on December 1, 2014 at 10:12am

I have a thermostatically controlled propane heater that I used last year and this year. No problems.

Comment by Phil Slaton on November 30, 2014 at 8:12pm

Anyone use propane powered heaters in the Fish house or greenhouse??

Comment by Phil Slaton on November 30, 2014 at 8:11pm

Snowed up here in NW Washington.  Temps down to 20 degrees.  Power, of course, went out.  Glad we have a 37KW Kohler stand by generator set.  Fish are fine.  Will have fingerlings after Christmas for sale.

Comment by Phil Slaton on November 23, 2014 at 3:14pm

Come on over and join West Coast Tilapia.  We look forward to your input!

Comment by Jeff S on November 22, 2014 at 8:46pm

Jim, I am thinking about reducing the outlet on my IBC siphons from 1" to 3/4" to slow the drain time. What would you say are the pros and cons to doing that?

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on November 9, 2014 at 2:38pm

@Butch...with the possible exception of of the missing 8% from that ingredient list... no, nothing listed there would cause problems like sodium would...

You might want to give the bacteria a chance to become more established before you start to only feed them once per week. At least 3 times per week might be more appropriate for the next month or so...just to give them a chance to firmly colonize the system, before you enact the "feast then famine" strategy of one weekly feeding...

Comment by Leo White Bear on November 8, 2014 at 8:22pm

Going fishless it may be prudent to add what is called Maxicrop, in Austrailia it is called seasol.  This will give your system needed nutrients for your plants.  Carefully add ammonia up to 2ppm when it falls to zero.  Without a means of fresh ammonia you will have to provide this food to keep your bacteria healthy.  I do not know what the ammonia and Maxicrop will interact so err on the safe side and don't use both.

Comment by Butch Pornebo on November 8, 2014 at 5:17pm

@ Vlad

little short on funds right now. my brother has some Type S lime lying around. so instead of using baking soda which you mentioned that sodium could have some negative effect later on if frequently used.

aside from the fact that Type S lime will require frequent usage, does it have a negative effect as baking soda/sodium bicarbonate does ?

as soon as funds clears up then I plan to get some Potassium Bicarbonate.

However, if I placed some eggshells and.or oyster shells in my system, would that work as a long term solution ?

gotcha in regards to cycling.

as you are aware I want to go a try fishless for now, with that said, AFTER my system is cycled you stated that keeping Nitrates between 40 and 80 is optimal. Since I am fishless there is NO constant source of ammonia.

Therefore, the only time I add ammonia is to check my system maybe WEEKLY and if Nitrates dips below 40 then add more ammonia.

Or maybe I should be tracking ammonia WEEKLY instead of Nitrates and if it ammonia dips below 1 on the API test then add enough ammonia source to get it back between 1 and 2 ?

What will happen to the nitrification bacteria(s) if ammonia 0 ? will it die off IMMEDIATELY therefore never get ammonia @ 0 at any point in time ?

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on November 8, 2014 at 3:05pm

Hi Butch, both the pH up kit that Terry linked, as well as that Chemstar Type S Lime will raise your pH...BUT neither will offer much in the way of creating a buffer. So you will be making very frequent pH adjustments using either of those products.

Potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3) will 'buffer' your water so that it stays at your desired pH longer...instead of daily adjustments. Sylvia sells it, I sell it, beer and wine making stores often sell it...Folks on Amazon...e-bay also sell it...

Typically your are done cycling when you can dose ammonia to the tune of 1-2ppm and have both NH4 AND NO2 back to zero within 24 hours. When you can do that 3 days in a row...your done cycling...

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