Hello Everyone!

[badflash]

I would advise against an RO filter. They are very slow and they take out all the good minerals. I use a Kold Sterile filter. Passes 4 GPM and is good for about 15,000 gallons before you need to change the filter elements.

If you have well water, you probably don't need it. I didn't realize these guys were in a 10 gallon tank. The ammonia can spike quickly in such a small volume.

I would set up the 100 gallon system and put the fish directly in that system and seed it with more aquarium gook. The large water volume will bugger the ammonia/nitrite buildup and give the bacteria time to grow. Start with maybe 20 fish and once the tank is stable in 3-4 weeks, you can add more fish.

[Riverside]

One problem I've read about is “gas supersaturation” when using well water. A SRAC article discusses it:

http://aquanic.org/publicat/usda_rac/efs/srac/191fs.pdf

[badflash]

I'd forgotten this trick until tonight when I was setting up a tank for my red eared slider (RES) turtles.

Set up your tank, borrow a couple or three adult RES's and feed them for a week or so. Measure your ammonia levels until they go to 0. Get your fish and return the turtles. Easiest way to cycle a tank. Turtles don't care about ammonia and they give the bacteria a hell of a bio-load. Just don't have turtles and fish in the same tank!

[Ironfish]

Hi pniedzwiecki,

Welcome!
I agree with draining the system and adding new water. I would buy another ammonia test from the pet store. I would then add regular ammonia about 1/4 cup. Since it is an indoor system, I would get the starter from your buddy and add it into the system. It will show spiking in a couple weeks or sooner. When the ammonia drops add a little more. This will get the system ready for your fish.
Once the fish are added it will still bounce around for a couple weeks.
A little trick I learned with the first few ammonia spikes. Go to the grocery store and get a bunch of watercress. They can be cut. Make a float tray and put the watercress in. They will start rooting in a couple days. They pull ammonia straight out of the water. And, the grow like crazy! When the spiking stops you can remove them if you want, or leave a small bunch as part of your crop.
That's my 2 cents.

Ironfish

[Ironfish]

I can see I was lat on that one! That will teach me to read the dates!

Ironfish

[badflash]

That's OK, never heard the watercress trick before. Sounds like fun!

[pniedzwiecki]

Hello,

Finally getting around to posting some updates. As of approximately one week ago today, we are half way through the fish tank cycle process.

Let me explain:

After my last post I did a 80%-90% water change. I decided to try the well water again. If our well water is not good enough quality to raise perch in then I am not sure that aquaponics is for me at this time. Anyway, after the water change, I got busy with other things and just did not have time to mess with the system. I kept the air, pump and filter in place and just let it all run.

I was able to harvest some lettuce off the system on just plain water. It wasn’t premium quality but at least I got something out of it.

A few weeks ago I purchased a 600 gph pump and a 1000 gallon sealed canister pond filter. I took as much of the filter media out of the previous filter and added it to the new one. The new setup ran for about a week before I finally got around to getting some ammonia. I settled on the Ace Hardware “Janitorial Strength Ammonia”. The label says its 10% ammonia and "No phosphates". A Google search should turn up more info for anyone interested. Anyway, I added enough to bring the ammonia level up to around 3 (approximately 8-10 ml). The next day I went to check the ammonia level and it was at or near 0. Needless to say that was unexpected. So I went ahead and checked the nitrite level and sure enough, it was almost off the chart.

I guess there must have been some source of ammonia in the system during that week or two following the water change that allowed a small group of bacteria to survive. Once I brought the ammonia level up, they took off. I have been adding about 12-16 ml of ammonia every day since, to keep the cycle going, and so far it is all being removed within a 24 hour period. At this point, my tests indicate little or no nitrates in the system. Hopefully the second phase will take off soon.

While we are waiting for the next phase to get started I dropped in some spinach seeds and some lettuce seeds. After a couple of days a few of the spinach seeds have sprouted. We also have some cuttings from some flowers (Geraniums I think) that seem to be doing just fine after three or four days. No sign of roots on the flower cuttings yet but we do have some signs of new growth branching out.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Once again, thanks to everyone that has taken the time to post helpful comments for me and others as well. I will post a few pics as soon as I can.

Thanks,

[davidstcldfl]

Glad to hear your making some progress pniedzwiecki .....

Looking forward to some pictures of your set up.
This would be a great time to start a post in "Backyard Systems"....Your 'hello' , is now up to 4 pages.....

[Oldandfound1]

I too had an interest in raising Yellow Perch as they are locally Accessable. However thay take several years to get up to any size. On the other hand, those "accessable" are from nearby lakes and already have some size. If you thought of them only as the amonia source and . The down side is that they may carry a disease harmful to other species you may later install.
Good luck with your system.
Dennis
Oldandfound1

[pniedzwiecki]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

For anyone interested I will be posting future updates (pics and vids) here: Basement Aquaponics