A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Data during 55 gallon Fish tank cycling

Compilation of data during start up and ongoing.

System water volume running approximately 80 gallon / 300 liters.

Fishtank 55 gallon, three 10 gallon growbeds and one 40 gallon sump tank.

This data is from my small indoor system, looking to expand further in the spring.

1 member likes this

Comment

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on January 24, 2013 at 7:07am: Yeah, maybe check out a garden center type store...or a tractor supply store might have some...Good Luck.

Comment by Joe Fisher on January 24, 2013 at 4:42am: Thanks for peeking in an commenting Vlad.

I'll be looking for a local source of Dolomitic lime again this weekend. The big box stores near me don't seem to carry it for some reason.

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on January 24, 2013 at 3:18am: Cool stuff Joe. It'll be interesting to watch that kH since you've noted that you're buffering pH with hydroxides. Check it out, if your kH falls below 40 your bacteria's ability to oxidize ammonia will likely start to become impaired regardless of what your pH is...so keep an eye on that.

Should you need to raise kH, Dolomitic lime seems like the perfect candidate for you (since you've got both the K and the Ca hydroxides buffers already). Dolomitic lime is just a magnesium, calcium carbonate, so it will buffer up your pH and kH while adding a bit of Mg (and some Ca) to your system.

Comment by Joe Fisher on January 23, 2013 at 8:26pm: Finally received the Kh/Gh test kit. Seems I'm down to around 50 ppm range.

And system notes have been updated.

Comment by Joe Fisher on January 9, 2013 at 5:34pm: Added a bit more detail in the notes section of this spreadsheet.