My outdoor system

I am very happy to announce that my outdoor system has finally stopped cycling. I was able to tell that my system was done cycling because my nitrates were high, while my ammonia and nitrites were 0 ppm. This took exactly 30 days, and quite a few dead fish later. As I stated in a previous post, from now on I will give all of my fish salt water baths, in order to protect them against a new system cycling, as well as clean them of parasites. I will post a how to on the exact measurements and time required to give fish a salt bath. I would also like to note that salt baths will help sick fish, as they shock the fish into an autoimmune response. While the shock will not kill the fish, it will kill the parasites.

My indoor system is in a testing phase whereas I added a bacteria, completely organic, to see if it would start and finish the cycling process earlier. The only additive to the outdoor system was the seasol I added, initially daily, then twice a week, it took that system exactly 30 days to cycle. I am hoping that the nitrifying bacteria I added to the indoor system will produce great results. I have my fingers crossed. One system down many to go.

Salt water bath

The last few days I have been reading through as much information as humanly possible on the subject of adding salt to an aquaponics system or giving your fresh water fish a salt bath.It is my understanding from the material I have read that the reason for the salt bath is to help sickly, or new fish within a system. The salt shocks the fish, but does not kill them, it does however kill parasites and certain fungi. This is kind of like a spa day for fish, when done they are placed back into their old tank, with rejuvenated gills, and hopefully no parasites. I like the idea of salt baths as a way to heal fish as it does not add salt to the system. From now on any new fish, or sick will get this treatment. What are some of your thoughts on salt baths? Any concerns, I would love to hear your comments.

 

The second form of salting I have researched involves adding salt directly to your system. Most everything I read said to add around 3 grams per liter. My first thought was great, now I have to convert everything to metric. Well that is ok, with all of the wonderful, free programs on the internet I can easily find one and convert away. I have also read that adding salt to the system is not bad for the plants, and is actually kind of good, in that it adds different forms of sodium for the plants. I like that. But I want first hand accounts of what people did, used and their outcome, did it work as planned? is this the best thing since canned beer? Let me know, I will continue the research and possibly salt my system this week.

New system

I finished the new indoor system yesterday. You can see it on you tube, my channel is sage aquaponics. The system is made from three 26 gallon black trays, each tray has a bell siphon. Instead of using pvc pipe, I ran 3/4″ marine hose, with quick connect adapters. The fish tank is a black 75 gallon tub, with a heater, and aerator. I transplanted all of our  seedlings into our tubs, which contain hydroton. The use of Hydroton and Oasis grow cubes makes the process quick and simple. I then added some seaweed extract, which I will continue to add for the next week or so.

Today I bought 10 goldfish for the new system, to help it cycle. The reason for the gold fish is that they produce a lot of waste, meaning ammonia, and if I do not have adequate bacteria then the fish will die due to the ammonia levels. I stocked the tank with less then half of the maximum stocking density in order to get things moving along. Once my system starts cycling, which will be evident when we have Nitrates and nitrites present I may add more fish. I am also going to give the system a salt bath, in that the salt helps protect the fish from Nitrites, which are just as harmful to fish as ammonia. I am also going to add salt to my outdoor system to help those fish, as that system has not yet finished cycling.

 

I found some organic bacteria in a bottle that I tried out in the new system, it should help the bacteria colonize faster, in turn cutting down my cycle time. WIth this new development, I will compare the two systems, my outdoor one with bacteria from an established system i.e. log from fish tank, against my indoor system with the bacteria in a bottle. I will let you all know how it turns out. Have a great day.

Patience and aquaponics

I have found that I want my system to finish cycling so bad that I am looking for any way to speed it up. I do know that since aquaponics is small eco-system I need to utilize patients while waiting for mother nature to work her magic. To remedy this I went down to the local pet shop, and asked them for a piece of wood from one of there fresh water tanks. My reasoning for this is that it will contain enough of the necessary bacteria to help my system cycle a bit faster. I threw the chunk in and am hoping for the best. Meanwhile, I built a nice indoor, blue barrel unit, had everything working great and decided I wanted something different, maybe it was my patience wearying thin, so I built a completely new system, where the old one was. I will admit that the new system looks great, and I am currently working all of the bugs out of it. Hopefully when this new system is done I will be able to use some water from my established system to help my new one cycle faster. I will post pictures and videos when it is done. In the mean time please send me some video requests in regards to aquaponics and I will try and make one.  Wish me luck, I have a long weekend in front of me. 

Our Blue Barrel Indoor system.

We have completed and tested our 55 gallon Blue barrel indoor system, and everything works great. So like any sane person I took it apart and built another one. Here is a quick video of the system. I hope you like it.  Please ask any and all questions you may have. Have a great day. 

Our new line of products

We are finally producing bell siphons for sale. Each bell siphon will include (1) 4″ outer shroud, (1) 2″ bell, (1) stand tube and one bulk head fitting. We are also selling 3/4″ marine hose with quick connect adapters. I will be taking pictures of these items and posting them to our website. If you have any questions or would like a free quote please ask.

                                                                                     This is our stand pipe that we have for sale. It comes with the bulk head fitting and either a 45 degree or 90 degree outlet.

                                                                                                                          Here is our bell siphon, it will come with a cap.

                                                                              This is our bell shroud, it will come with a cap as well. We have other designs if you would like.

                                                                              Here is a top view of all parts. Each bell siphon will be individually tested in order to ensure proper function. I will post some videos of the bell siphon in action. We are currently selling these for $30 dollars, if you buy 4 or more they will be $25. Thank you.

Being Self reliant

A major part of one’s wanting to grow Aquaponically Should also be a persons need to be more self reliant. I bring this issue up because their are to few people in today’s society that actually know how to do for themselves. Sure a lot of us can jump on our computers and create amazing videos, but when push comes to shove how many can truly fend for themselves and their families? I am not talking about going all John Rambo, what I am talking about is having a measure of self sufficiency that lends itself the ability to provide for one’s self and family. we are all so reliant on what we can buy at the super market or a Wallmart at all times of the night that many of us lack the basic skills needed to survive without some form of outside help if a situation occurs. If we take a snapshot of what is going on in the world today, we should all see the signs that it is not looking good for us. So what I propose is for you to ask me some how to questions in regards to some skills that you would like to have in bag if a event should arise. A great example of this is what happened during hurricane Katrina. Knowing the basics of water collection and purification will go a long way and could have in that situation. I am not saying you need to be prepared to spend months out in the Alaskan wilderness, but we all need to know the basics. So I will start, The first rule to know is the rule of three. The rule of three states that a human, on average, can go 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3weeks without food, and 3 months without some form of socialization. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have, if I don’t have them I have plenty of like minded friends that will. Have a great evening, and happy growing.

The Nitrogen cycle

Because of the recent events of the last week within my own system, high Nitrates, and Nitrites, I thought it would be prudent to explain what I have learned. First I would like to thank Jason at North Texas Aquaponics for insight into my potential problems. Like the stubborn man I am, I decided to cycle my system with fish, I knew the risk to the fish but thought that with due diligence I would be able to decrease the amount of fatalities caused by Nitrate, and Nitrite spikes. Given I was never, ever going to introduce any foriegn toxins into the system, but maybe some bacteria cultivated some where else i.e. pet store, or a already established aquaponics system. Needless to say i have lost two more catfish. For some reason the Nitrate and Nitrite spikes have not hurt the Bluegill.

There are two ways to first start your system, with fish or without. To cycle your system without fish all you have to do is add your plants and feed them plenty of Seaweed extract. Then you test your water daily, adjust your PH, and wait for the Nitrates and Nitrites to spike, after which you wait until the system is down to tolerable levels for your fish. After this phase you add your fish and continually check your PH,Ammonia and your  Nitrites and Nitrates. Spikes within these tests can tell you a lot, I will explain in a later post. To cycle your system with fish all you do is add everything at the same time, your cycle may be shorter, but you need to expect some fish deaths.

The nitrogen cycle consists of Ammonia from fish waste and uneaten food, Nitrobacter, Nitrosomonas and your plants. The process works something like this, first your fish eat, then defecate and urinate, in an aquaponics system that waste, to include uneaten food is then deposited into your grow beds. Once in your grow beds Nitrosomonas convert the harmful Ammonia into another potentially harmful substance, Nitrites. The easiest way to understand how Nitrites are harmful to fish is to use an analogy, Nitrites are to fish as carbon monoxide is to creatures that breath air. High Nitrite levels can lead the fish to die from what is referred to as “Brown Blood”, where the Nitrites attach to the fish’s lungs and gills basically robbing them of the ability to breathe. The Nitrites are then consumed by Nitrobacter which produce nitrates. Nitrates are not typically toxic to fish but they are one of the first signs that your system is out of balance, with the potential of Nitrite levels rising. Nitrates are then utilized by the fish, in turn cleaning the water of Ammonia.

My system is now spiking, so I hope that the Nitrobacter’s get on the ball and hurry to bring the nitrite levels down. I do not plan on using any foreign toxins to artificially bring these levels down, but perhaps I will ask Jason at North Texas Aquaponics to use a few rocks from his system in order to introduce more bacteria into mine. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them. If there is a certain subject you would like to write about feel free to ask as well. I hope you all have a great day, and Happy growing.

A representation of the Nitrogen cycle

New videos

I bought the rest of my parts today to finish my indoor unit. With this recent development I will start making how to videos and posting them here. I plan on also making some self reliance videos, and other videos related to aquaponics and self reliance. I have some friends and family members that are starting to or have been,living a self reliant lifestyle and with their help I plan on making videos of our progress. If there is a certain type of video you would like to see, just ask.  This video shows how easy it is to use Oasis grow cubes and Hydroton. 

The Pluco’s are happy

Yesterday I bought some Pluco’s (sucker fish) for the tank. I bought these in order to combat the new algae growth. My good friend Jason, informed me that the algae growth was probably a result of overfeeding, or not enough plants in the grow bed. This is just one example of how quickly the ecosystem within a aquaponics system can fall out of balance. Another way I plan to combat this is to add more plants to the grow beds.