New system started from a newbe

[Gabriele Barocci]

Hello guys,

first off all i don't have any practical experience in Aquaponics:

Before starting testing the water i run the system for tree days.

No fish in the tank (18G)

day 1 after the test i added some liquid ammonia 

day 2 after the test i added "Cycle" to start the cycle (added for three days)

what do you think?

thanks fo your help

Gabriele

[Gabriele Barocci]

today....

nitrite are over scale

din't test the nitrate, but the zucchini plants are flowering

thanks for the help GaB

[Gabriele Barocci]

day 62

ammonia 0

nitrite 4

day 63

ammmonia 0

nitrite 2

nitrate 5 or less

zucchini platens are flowering

[Gabriele Barocci]

nitrites dropped to 0.25,

nitrates 0ppm!

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Well it's about time! You gonna dose ammonia again, right?

[Gabriele Barocci]

yes...dosed ammonia, 3 hours ago now is 1ppm

about the worm casting ,how often should i change it?

during this week i want to build the 4x4 raft whit the 6mil liner.

the Force be with you!

Gab

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Cool! Well even when I use a small handful I usually leave it in for weeks and weeks (month even)...

Good luck with the raft Gabe...

[Gabriele Barocci]

so...today

ammonia 0.25

nitrite 5pom or more

nitrate 0 or a little more

...the "connection" between ammonia and nitrite works,

but where are my nitrates?

[Vlad Jovanovic]

probably being used up by your flowering zucchini's...pretty heavy feeders...

[Gabriele Barocci]

ammonia 0

nitrite overscale

nitrate 5ppm

Vlad the new DWC grow bed is almost ready

but, 4ftx4ftx10 is a lot of water is a lot of water and i'm wondering if is going to affect the start of my never ending cycle.

Now,i understand than i can add more worm casting , don't care too much about the cycle and still be able to grow ,

so i guess it is fine, right?

Gab

[Vlad Jovanovic]

yup...the addition of 85-100 gallons of water might slow things up some?...but like you said, who cares...

[Gabriele Barocci]

Vlad, how did u you install the pvc pipe trought the wood of your DWC grow bed?

i'm having some trouble using the uniseals....

do you have picture?

thanks Gab

Vlad Jovanovic said:

yup...the addition of 85-100 gallons of water might slow things up some?...but like you said, who cares...

[Vlad Jovanovic]

I used a bulkhead fitting from AquaticEcoSystems when I built my nursery raft. Part Number BK112. That particular one is good for up to 1/2" wall thickness.

The BKF1123 bulkhead fittings I have on the bottom of my grow beds are supposedly good for up to 1-3/4" wall thickness...But you can use any appropriate fitting. DONT go to the plumbing section of your hardware store if you decide to make one of these fittings...you need to use parts from the ELECTRICAL world for these because of the threads...Also, don't use silicone caulking, it's total garbage and couldn't stick white to rice. Use a polyurethane sealant/adhesive like 3M 5200 if you need any kind of caulking.

I don't know how thick you can go with uni-seals? Seems like they are good for thin walled stuff and/or plastic? I have no experience with them so I'm sure.