Comment

Comment by Terry Healy on May 1, 2014 at 5:41pm

Danny- I'm no pro but I think you still have some serious things to deal with before considering your system cycled and ready for fish:

- Get the Ph down - I have found phosphoric acid helpful, but go slowly, a bit each day until you near 7.0 

- Your nitrites seem way to high to think about adding fish. 

- Nitrates are high - get some plants going!

Comment by Leo White Bear on May 1, 2014 at 5:39pm

Vlad-

  There are no fish in Dannys set-up so when the bacteria are converting the nitrites to nitrates the system is growing bacteria, otherwise no conversion will take place.

  Reread Dannys post and questions and you will see that the ammonia is high, the pH is extreamily high and very few plants will grow at these levels.  Notice I said BE PATIENT, it will happen meaning the cycling process.  For those of you that enjoy nit picking, maybe I should have stated that "Your system is in the beginnings of cycling"  I still would NOT add fish at this time as the toxicity is still high.

  I do have to agree with you, Vlad that when you add ammonia to the tune of 1ppm - 2ppm and both ammonia and nitrites fall to zero, you can consider your system cycled.

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on May 1, 2014 at 4:44pm

When you can dose ammonia to the tune of 1ppm-2ppm and have BOTH ammonia AND nitrites fall to zero within 24 hours AND you're system can do this 2-3 days in a row...you can consider your system cycled.

I'm not sure where Leo is getting the ..." When your ammonia drops to 3ppm, Nitrites are less than 5ppm then you can called your system cycled.." bit from, but NH4 at 3ppm and NO2 at 5ppm are horribly toxic and damaging parameters for fish. Yes, you can add plants. At that pH you would need to add some Fe-EDDHA (iron) the Fe-DTPA type wont really work well at that pH. Seedlings and greens will do OK. http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/plant-growth-a...

Pre-emptavely salting your tank to mitigate nitrite poisoning would also seem prudent (from the secondary nitrite spike that commonly occurs...especially when folks get antsy/add too many fish/insist on feeding them the first week even though they are not eating etc)...http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/adding-salts?i...

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on May 1, 2014 at 4:26pm

Its considered cycled when you add ammonia in, and in 24 hours everything is back to zero. That would be your system creating the nitrfication process and the plants using it.

Comment by Leo White Bear on April 28, 2014 at 1:15pm

Gillian-

  It is ok to put Maxi-crop in with the fish, it is made up of seaweed so it won't hurt them at all.  As for the algae, you need to block off the light to the tank.  If you have IBC or similar white tanks you will also need to block off the sides.  Depending on where you are located black plastic may not be the answer as it does absorb the heat, a better choice would be Mylar.  It is a bit more expensive but with the mirror side out it does reflect the sunlight and will keep your tanks much cooler.

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on April 28, 2014 at 11:58am

Yes maxicrop is fine with fish, you just wont be able to see them ;-)

 The algae will keep growing unless you block the sunlight,  or get algae eater fish.

Comment by Gillian Burrus on April 28, 2014 at 11:00am

I have plants growing (some better than others)  My PH went back up.  I still do not have fish, it is kind of complicated to get trout or tilapia, so I am going to go to pet smart and get some goldfish for now, just to help (my tanks sides are getting green).  Can I add Maxi crop to the water with fish? 

Comment by Leo White Bear on April 28, 2014 at 10:00am

I'll start with you last question first

WAIT!!  your pH is very high meaning that a lot of plants will NOT do well.  It is normal for the pH to rise during cycling, if your media is pH nutral it will calm down and level off at a much lower value.

  The Nitrate being stable is normal also, remember that the bacteria is still very young and needs to grow to consume the Nitrites in your system by adding plants they will suffer because of the immature bacteria.  You wouldn't expect to become a rock star if you have been playing the guitar for only a few weeks.  Be PATIENT, it will reward you soon.

  WHEN you really need to drop the pH use an acid like nirtic acid a little at a time.  White vinegar will also work just don't use citric acid as this is an antibacterial agent and you run the risk of damaging the bacteria you have worked so hard to collect.

  When your ammonia drops to 3ppm, Nitrites are less than 5ppm and the Nitrates rise to 20ppm then you can called your system cycled, BE PATIENT, it will happen soon so keep testing, don't add anymore ammonia and check daily.

Comment by Suzanne Hayes on April 27, 2014 at 6:15pm

Danny, add some plants or seeds!

Comment by Leo White Bear on April 3, 2014 at 2:17pm

Jack-

  The cycle time is fine as long as you cycle the 150-gallons of water every hour you should be good.  The difficulity I see is that you may not have enough filtration for the 150-gallon FT.  The consensis is to have a 1:1 ratio media to gallons of water so the 80 gallons falls a bit short for a mature system.  You can get away with adding another 40-gal grow bed later on when it matures with no difficulties.

  I am running a 55-gallon FT withtwo, 15-gallon grow beds and even though my ammonia, nitrites and pH are good the Nitrates are pretty high, 140ppm.  This is good news either way, it tells me I can add at the most two more 15-gallon grow beds giving me a 60-gallon grow bed combined OR I need to harvest some fish.  Either way is good news to me.

  Try to stick with the 1:1 grow bed to FT and you'll be fine.

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