Beginning a system

[Ralph R. Zerbonia]

So when you start a new system, I have read that you need to get the aquarium going so you have nutrients ready for the plants. But if you don't have enough plants then the filtration (from the plants) won't be enough and your fish will suffer or die. I assume if you don't have enough fish and cycling properly, you won't have enough nutrients for the plants and they will suffer or die. My question is one of chicken and egg. What do you do first and how do you ramp up so you have the maximum fish and plants without one straining the other? I realize there are formulas that say only 1 lb of fish for every 3-4 gallons of water, I am planning on a breed of tilapia that reach 1.5 lbs, I can figure the max number of fish then using these rules of thumb. But how do I figure out how many plants/size and how are they ramped up? I am assuming you don't start out with the max number of plants or fish, what is the progression?

[TCLynx]

Neither chicken or egg first, set up the chicken coop first.

In other words, you need to cycle up your filtration before either your fish or plants will do well.  I highly recommend looking up fishless cycling to help you off to a low stress start.

Here are a couple of my blog posts that might help if you have trouble searching here Bio-filter cycling

 

That all said, people who cycle up using fish generally do start with less fish and small ones at that.  And just so you know, seeds don't need nutrient right at first so you can always start seeds even if you don't have much nutrients yet.  Just be careful with fishless cycling not to overdose on the ammonia since you can ammonia burn your plants.

 

The first cycle up period is likely to be hard on plants as the system finds it's balance but media based aquaponics systems definitely get better with age.

 

Just make sure you have enough grow bed or filtration to support your desired fish load and things generally work out well.

Here is the Rules of thumb that should help you out a bit.

[Ralph R. Zerbonia]

This is very helpful, thank you. I'll read a few times along with the referenced articles and see if there are more questions for you!!

TCLynx said:

Neither chicken or egg first, set up the chicken coop first.

In other words, you need to cycle up your filtration before either your fish or plants will do well.  I highly recommend looking up fishless cycling to help you off to a low stress start.

Here are a couple of my blog posts that might help if you have trouble searching here Bio-filter cycling

 

That all said, people who cycle up using fish generally do start with less fish and small ones at that.  And just so you know, seeds don't need nutrient right at first so you can always start seeds even if you don't have much nutrients yet.  Just be careful with fishless cycling not to overdose on the ammonia since you can ammonia burn your plants.

 

The first cycle up period is likely to be hard on plants as the system finds it's balance but media based aquaponics systems definitely get better with age.

 

Just make sure you have enough grow bed or filtration to support your desired fish load and things generally work out well.

Here is the Rules of thumb that should help you out a bit.