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Comment by Bob Wohl on March 26, 2014 at 9:42am

Lava rock and cycling a new system question. I've added water from another system, about 50% (I have a brand new chlorine filter - inline). It's been about 2 weeks running - flood and drain, about 200 gallons. What is the average time that it should take to cycle a system like this? I'm assuming there's nothing to worry about with the red cinders used for beds. MY guess is 3-4 weeks before adding fish but I'd like to ask the groups opinion since a lot of you have the same kind of setups.  

Comment by Randy Mann on March 25, 2014 at 11:55am

http://www.iagriscape.com/edible-garden-tour/

He has an aquaponic set-up as well

 

Comment by Kim Romen on March 25, 2014 at 12:17am

Jim, i thought i had a dead fish cuz that's what it seems like i hear folks saying that's the reason their ammonia spikes.  with the new pump i didnt' know if it got inside or something but i took it off and i dont' think it could get sucked up in that pump.  i must have overfed them.  i got excited when i heard a couple other folks saying the more they eat, the better produce they produce. 

water is 76 or so right now and i looked at it once today and it was 86.  to take the solar line off, i won't just turn the shut-off valve? 

i'll show u the pump when i see u.  i'm planning on asking folks if i can see their AP systems, again, soon.  although tonight i almost told u to come and get my fish to throw in the towel!  i thought i might need to drop everything and change half the water.  had a lot going on with sick kids who were up late and having this happen.  it seems like there's always been something-running to get a heater and pouring boiling water in when i just bought it, then bouts of loosing water, then pump breaking and having to scramble, and now this, all in a matter of a few mths.  i hope once the kinks r worked out it will go smoother!  made me want to either quit or get a pond so that i won't have as many issues.  i'm too horribly hooked.  falling asleep as i write, jeepers.  busy day tomorrow.  i hope i see some good numbers!  thx

Comment by Kim Romen on March 25, 2014 at 12:07am

looking online u guy said that when nitrites spikes the first thing to do is "salt the system" with pool salt/sodium chloride-i don't know if this would do anything for the ammonia.  It's supposed to block the fish's gills so that they won't get nitrites into their system.  anyone know about this? 

I ended up adding my off-gassed water (i'm guessing i had 25 gallons) and didn't take any water out, didn't add chlorinated water.  i'm still open to suggestions, though!

anyone needing to add 25 gallons/week these past couple weeks?  seems like a lot to me. 

also, would leaving the pump running all night be a good idea instead of shutting it off when it's spiked like this? 

after adding that small amount of water, the ammonia is now at .5 and the nitrites at 1, still.  i spilt 3 viles and had to start over. i can't recall if i got the ammonia from the same place as the other 3, but for now i'm not going to rest with the lower number.  i won't feed them tomorrow, that's for sure!

Comment by Jim Troyer on March 24, 2014 at 9:55pm

@ Kim:

I don't recall the fish sump count, sorry.  So why do you think you have a dead fish?  The sump is open enough to see if you have one and it would be obvious in the FT too.    Post or send me a picture of the pump that is broken please, maybe we can make it work. 

Those nitrates are gonna make your veggies take off!  What is your water temperature?  It will be time to take that the solar off line soon now that the fish are producing more ammonia. 

I guess I should should check my water too.  The jacuzzi system is near 80f in the afternoon and fish are basking in the shallows, isn't spring time great! 

Comment by Kim Romen on March 24, 2014 at 8:52pm

i never check my water at night.  decided to and found ammonia and nitrites at 1.0 and nitrates at 5.0.  i have been feeding the fish more than usual, but it seemed they were eating it up pretty quick, although i didn't pay 100% attention.  i thought i had 4 fish in my sump but i only see 3.  hubbie thought we had 2 and my kid thought we had 3.  jim, do u remember?  i took off the new pump i got last week and it has debri caught in it already but i'm afraid to mess with it too much since i broke the other one last week when trying to look at it.  could it be the debri caught in there?  could there be a dead fish that i just can't find anywhere?  i can't usually see in my tank thx to my kids wearing out the batteries to my lamps all the time but tonight i can see pretty clear and can't see any dead fish, although maybe i'll take the net and see if one is floating in a corner in the tank.  the sump really needs water.  anyone think i should just add a bunch of hose water or do i need to dump a bunch of water out first?  it could be worse than 1.0, but it's not good, i know!  thx!!!

Comment by Kim Romen on March 23, 2014 at 11:20am

I thought I'd add my experience of growing grapes since it came up.  I've killed many plants and fruit trees over the past 10 years that I've had my home.  I live by south mtn, just a street away, really rocky ground with lots of caliche. i always tried to conserve water and that may have been the most of my plant's downfall; not sure.  planted gardens and everything in the ground, mostly-that may have been part of their downfall.  i've tried blackberries, raspberries, a trio peach, nectarine, and plum tree, citrus (to give u a picture of my black thumb).  i've been able to grow pomegranite and grapes successfully.  so,for me, i'll save my AP space, since i don't have a lot of it, for veggies and things i've failed at in the ground.  for anyone with limited AP space, grapes are easy to grow in the ground.  I'm not sure how much root space they'd take or other benefits of growing in AP, but i love my grapes!  :)

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on March 22, 2014 at 5:22pm

If anyone's attending the PrepperFestAZ event at the fairgrounds, Valley Permaculture is offering a lot of 1/2 hour presentations on a variety of interesting topics. I'll be presenting on fermented foods and aquaponics tomorrow afternoon, so I might see you there. :)

Comment by John Malone on March 22, 2014 at 4:01pm

Welcome George Taimanao 

There's lots of experienced and knowledgeable folks on this forum so don't be afraid to ask questions.

AP is great fun.

Comment by George Taimanao on March 22, 2014 at 12:57pm

Hello everyone, I just finished reading all 510 pages over 3 weeks. Great info! Sorry about the blank comment, I must have hit it while going through the pages. So I have started an IBC system and it's been cycling for a month and I hope to get a lot more growth out of it soon as it heats up. Wish I read everything first before I started lol! I did find this forum after starting my system I have goldfish now and hope to get Tilapia soon.

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