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WARNING!!!! barley straw pellets

disregard anyone working at a pond/aquarium supplier that syas he is knowledgeable in aquaponics. i had a really bad algae problem in my tank, I was on the final stage of cycling my system. i removed the pellets once my water testing showed absolutly no ammonia, nitrite, or nitrates. after doing my own looking around i found out barley is great for clearing up water, but found out the hard way it is also great at getting rid of all my bacteria i was so fond of. dont make my mistake and use barley pellets to correct an algae problem. if anyone knows where i should go from here let me know before i drain the entire 350 gallons and start from scratch, and hope my plants survive the transition.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Rowan on May 24, 2013 at 7:20am

cover the tank from full sun, aerate and leave it be.. by removing the barley, you also removed lots of surface area that had bacteria all over it...it did not "get rid of" the bacteria.. you did..

you shouldn't disregard "anyone" that has worked on ponds or aquariums.. quite a few people actually know what they are talking about.. you just have to look at things from multiple points of view.. think critically.. make your own decisions based on research

don't change out your water

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Permalink Reply by Vlad Jovanovic on May 24, 2013 at 8:30am

Doesn't barley straw break down in water to release a hydrogen peroxide compound? I imagine too much H2O2 would not be very good for bacteria...You know...seeing as how H2O2 is best known as an anti-microbial disinfectant and all...

Probably not the best thing for establishing a bio-filter...

At any rate, most all algae problems can be brought under control (or avoided) simply by blocking out excess light from hitting the water, like Keith alluded to.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Coscia on May 25, 2013 at 10:28am

well now that we all agree i did something wrong. where do i go from here? add active bacteria? fish? drain the system? or just sit back and wait for it to fix it's self?

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Permalink Reply by Vlad Jovanovic on May 25, 2013 at 11:15am

Well, it's your system so ultimately that's up to you...

...you might dose ammonia to 2ppm, make sure your pH is well above 7, and see if it'll pick up again...