Soil grown seedlings?

[chrisfoerst]

Another question, the fish I'm going to move into my unit once it cycles are much larger and mature than what I have as seedlings. Is there any way to treat nursery grown, soil based plants so that they can be safely transferred into aquaponics?

[urbanfarmer]

Sure.

Be careful not to destroy the root system when removing the soil. You want to trim back some of the leaves on the plant when you transplant to maintain a good root to leaf ratio and not cause the plant stress. Depending how much of the roots you lose when cleaning off the soil, trim an equal percentage of leaves. Lastly, transplant the plant at night right after the sun goes down. Hopefully, the plant was outside in the sun and has a GOOD supply of energy in its system. Once you transplant it at night, it will have plenty of energy to grow its roots and won't suffer the stress of transpiration. If you have a mister, give it a really good mist so that the relative humidity is high around the plant for as long as possible. This is probably the best way to minimize the transplant shock.

Also, I would suggest rinsing the leaves of the plan because you don't know what kind if chemicals, pesticides, or herbicides were use on the plant. You do not want anything like that in the water.

[keith_r]

it's also easier to put the plant into your growbed if you flood it first - the growbed that is..

[chrisfoerst]

Thanks again for the quick response and good info. I transferred my tiny seedlings in the other day but there is no way that they will be able to support these tilapia. I feel like I am constantly playing catch up but that's the role of the beginner!

[urbanfarmer]

As long as you are having fun! Also, even though the plants might not be able to take out all the nitrates (etc) out of the system, you might have enough of a biological filter to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels at 0. This is still clean water as far as the fish are concerned; so, no worries!

[chrisfoerst]

Good point, yes it's still fun! I have about 40 medium sized tilapia that I want to add to my aquaponic system. It's a long story but basically, I have been transferring them between tanks until my system is ready. Can I plant some mature small plants and add in the fish (maybe one fish and one plant per day?)

I am still waiting for the cycling to finish. My ammonia is down below .25ppm but my nitrites are really high.

[urbanfarmer]

Good point, yes it's still fun! I have about 40 medium sized tilapia that I want to add to my aquaponic system. It's a long story but basically, I have been transferring them between tanks until my system is ready. Can I plant some mature small plants and add in the fish (maybe one fish and one plant per day?)

I am still waiting for the cycling to finish. My ammonia is down below .25ppm but my nitrites are really high.

What's your pH and temp?

Blue Tilapia have a 96h LC50 of 14 ppm to 19 ppm (mg/L) at 8 pH and 73 degrees Fahrenheit. Unless you raise it passed 4 ppm ammonia to cycle your system, the levels will not be high enough to kill most of your fish! To be safe, don't put fish in if you started the cycle with more than 2-3 ppm ammonia.

As a side note, I would put my feeder goldfish in no matter WHAT the conditions. The real men will survive, and Darwin will have a happy school of soldiers to carry on the aquaponic legacy!!!

REFERENCES
Palachek, R. M., and J. R. Tomasso. 1984. Toxicity of nitrite to channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), tilapia (Tilapia aurea), and largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides): evidence for a nitrite exclusion mechanism. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 41:1739-1744.