New Tank, New Roots, New Animals

New tank...a little over exposed

A quick post today about the tank.
Things seem to be running smoothly. I’ve watched the ammonia have a small spike…then level out to zero – which meant time to add critters.

I have 2 cory catfish, 2 red ramshorn snails, 20 MTSs, and 5 red cherry shrimp. It sounds like a lot…but all small  creatures and low bio load impact. Plus they all help to eat & process some of the gunk I added to jump start the bacteria. So they are, essentially, my first clean up crew. They get to all the visible gunk that settles on plants, top of gravel, heater, etc and make my tank look nicer. The hidden stuff remains to feed the ecosystem.

There is visible algae growth (and of course a rise in nitrates! Woo hoo) which the critters also seem to be dining on. This is a sign it’s time to heavily plant the box  filter. Early planted cuttings of several test succulents are doing well and rooting quickly. I have a few more parts to add to prevent roots growing down the intake tube, but will soon take a day to switch all my succulents to this tank. The monstera in the middle has taken hold, firmed up some droopy parts after transplant & is showing some vigorous new growth. I’ve added some mint, aloe & creeping fig to the monstera basket and all seem to be doing well.

The early success of the filter box is a good sign. Should it continue to perform well, I’m going to start making plans to build 2 more for the tank in my bedroom. I’d like the extra square footage for growth so I can try to grow much more than tomatoes this year.

Water Clearing, Needs More Time

Drift wood & java moss

As you can see from the picture (compare to same pic in post below), the filter is doing a phenomenal job at  cleaning up all the small particulates nicely. The water is clear, temp is holding at 75 (will bring it down a  bit soon), and the filter box is staying sealed. I’ve also added a temp cover (pics up when the nice looking one is done, lol) to reduce evaporation – I was losing close to 1 gallon per day.

My  nitrites are at zero, nitrates have come down to below 5ppm (plants must be hungry) and ammonia had dropped just a bit to under .25ppm. I’m going to wait a few days to do anything and test  again to see what’s happening. I have a feeling I’m going to see an ammonia spike soon with a rise in nitrites & a continued decline in nitrates – hopefully. If so, then everything will be working as it should, if not, then I have a mystery to solve.

While we wait for further tests and posts, have any of you, my dear readers, started a tank? I would love to see pics or links to pics of what you have done! Marve you just have questions on how to start one, or what to do next? Don’t be shy, I’d love to hear from you!

55 Gallon Bow Front Tank Set Up in Living Room

It has been about two months since the last post – not much happening in winter here in the PNW…AP wise at least. I have, however, finally set up the 55 gallon bow front tank in my living room. I have decided to make this tank a tank for filter design experimentation, and it will most likely house a good deal of my houseplants for filtration instead of veggies. This is because houseplants generally need less light (the tank is in a corner away from windows – so I have to use grow lights) and I’d like the tank to be beautiful to look at as well. The new designs that work well will be used in the old tank in my room to grow more and more veggies each season.

The design I’ve used for this tank is based on the success of all my “reverse constant flow” filters in the old tank.

Looking at the lower right of the picture you can kind of see a pump through the murky water (more on the murk later) The pump shoots the water to the back of the tank and up the black tube in back, through the bottom o of the box on top. The two drains with water coming out drain the water to the second media bed below. So I have two grow beds doing twice the filtration. The first plant in here to help start the cycling process is a monstera – a member of the Philodendron family…but big!

The box on top was bought at cash & carry – it is a 6 inch deep, food safe, plastic box. I was looking to use materials readily available and safe to use. I generally go for glass objects (inert) but finding and drilling holes through a large glass box is just not feasible, so plastic it was.

 Ok, so here’s the basic build of the box. Hole drilled in bottom for input, four holes drilled in front – 2 for drainage, 2 for emergency drainage in the unlikely event the first 2 clog so the box overflows into the tank and not onto my floor.

Some tips:

I’m using standard 3/4 inch tubing. When drilling a hole for the tubing a 5/8 inch spade wood drill bit on a power drill works perfect! The hole is JUST big enough to hold the tube tight while you seal it with silicone. A 3/4 inch drill bit is too big and leaves too much wiggle room to silicone the tube in place. The hole I drilled in the bottom was with a 3/4 inch bit – and took two days of siliconing to get it to hold in the right place…5/8 people, use 5/8!

Silicone (aquarium safe stuff) is awesome. When using it on a smooth plastic surface, however, it doesn’t grip very well. Use some heavy-duty steel wool (the kind WITHOUT soap on it) to rough up the area you want to silicone FIRST, then use it. Also, roughing up the OUTSIDE of the tube will help the silicone adhere to it much better.

Lastly, be patient. Silicone is safe and sealed after 24 hours of drying. 24, not 12, not 18. One, it might leak if not fully cured. Two – it is not non toxic until cured.

About the box design:

This box, much like my other designs, breaks a few rules of AP. It is NOT 12 inches deep – a recommended depth for proper bacteria growth, and also really nice if you have worms in a flood and drain system. Even with constant water flow a deeper box MIGHT have some O2 issues (no air pump in the bottom of this one) and I want to avoid rotting of plants/deaths of organisms in an anaerobic environment. Deep ebb & flow systems (mine is constant flow) don’t have this problem as when they drain, O2 is introduced to roots/organisms.

So far shorter depths have worked well – so fingers are crossed. I will also be adding a dry layer of hydroton to the top of the box once I’m happy that no leaks are occurring & the tank is cycled. This will help with preventing evaporation and helping to keep the crowns of the plants dryer, which I suspect the succulents/cacti will appreciate.

The top box drains in to the lower box. Most of the lower box is out of the water, which means a slightly less saturated environment. I’m planning on being able to support a larger population of well fed worms in this lower box. I’ve found the worms in my other tank love to devourer cut up plant clippings from trimming the system (usually overnight), so I plan on them being the composting crew.

Once I checked to be sure the box worked and wouldn’t leak…always check your work to prevent further frustration…I was ready to fill with hydroton and get the bottom basket in place. As I start to fill with hydroton I notice a detail I forgot – some smaller hydroton balls like to fall right into the tubing! So I paused and cut a hole in some gray filter sponge from a left over pump, awesome! Fits over the tubing perfectly, keeps the hydroton out, and doesn’t block water flow. I do the same to the drainage holes as well.

The box is set up, the filter doesn’t leak, bottom basket is in place, heater &air pumps are running and the water is dechlorinated…I’m ready to start cycling the tank. I’ve the done the same as I have in the past for cycling. The monstera had 99% of its soil rinsed off, and I left any dying roots in place. The rotting roots (organic matter) in the flowing water will provide some ammonia production to start cycling. I also rinsed the sponges from the pumps in my other tank in a 5 gallon bucket full of the old tank water (remember that using tap water would have killed the bacteria) and dumped all the water and muck into the new tank. This inoculated the new tank with bacteria AND organic matter to boost the cycle. The already decaying organic matter will continue to rot, produce ammonia, and cause a surge in bacteria growth. The bacteria already present in the muck will just make growth go faster. Adding water from the old tank also added a small portion of nitrates to the water to give the monstera & aquatic plants a little boost of food during cycling.

Remember from my “perfect tank” post that your bacteria need some optimal conditions to grow. My temp is at 75, my pH is 7.6 (this will drop quick to 7), there is ammonia present to feed them – and they need a home to grow on! The darker portions of the upper box, the darker portions of the bottom basket, the gravel & some sterilized drift wood I added will provide some wonderful homes for these bacteria to stick to.

Let’s talk about the drift wood for just a second. It makes a tank look pretty – but can cause some issues you have to think about. Drift wood should be bought, not harvested (most of the time, it is illegal to take driftwood off a beach). Harvested driftwood may contain pollutants and heavy metals that can leach into your water. Bought drift wood is cleaned. Driftwood also contains tannins. Tannins help wood fight off mold & fungus – they also cause a slow drop in pH and a slight discoloration of water. In AP you have to deal with a pH always sliding toward 5 and an amber color anyway, this just might speed up the process. In order to better control this, and prevent something growing in my tank I don’t want, I boiled my driftwood. Get a huge pot, throw the pieces in it, and boil for 20 minutes. It will sterilize the wood and boil out some tannins – not all of them, but it will help slow the process. If you have a big tank and big driftwood, soak in very hot water in the bathtub (clean and rinse very well first, no soap!) or large container for 24 hours, changing the water a few times.

Water Testing:

After 24 hours of running with muck from the old tank I’m reading a pH of 7.6, 0 ppm of nitrites, somewhere between 0 & .25 ppm of ammonia, and between 5 and 20 ppm of nitrates.

When cycling a tank from new – with no addition of water/muck form an existing tank –  you should see:

1. a spike in ammonia
2. followed by a spike in nitrites with a decrease in ammonia
3. a continued decrease in ammonia, a decrease in nitrites and a spike in nitrates
4. there may be another spike in ammonia/nitrites a little later – this is normal and will decrease again in a healthy system
5. this may take up to 3 or 4 weeks to complete

Something I’ve noticed in my “boosted” tanks is some ammonia present early, no readings in nitrites (that doesn’t mean they aren’t there) and an increase in nitrates. My theory is there is an abundance of the other bacteria that convert nitrites into nitrates and they work faster than the first set of bacteria converting ammonia into nitrites – I don’t know for sure, it’s just my theory, but it seems to always happen. It also happens faster than 3 or 4 weeks.

Once I’m happy that the system has been cycled and the test plants are doing well I’m going to start the tank by introducing some smaller creatures to make a more complete ecosystem. The test plants you see to the left are some rooted and unrooted cuttings from my house. Burrow’s tail, Jade plant, Mother in Law’s tongue and a String of hearts. I’m hoping to populate the box with all my cacti/succulents.

The smaller creatures I mentioned are copepods, baby earthworms & pond snails. The container in the picture below contains all these creatures. I’ve said before that I don’t recommend adding earthworms (redworms) until your tank is mature. These are baby earthworms in small numbers from the first generation of redworms I added to the old tank. There should be plenty of food in the form of rotting roots (I’m adding them to the bottom box) to munch on as they grow – and the population will only get as big as the environment (food source) allows. I don’t know that the copepods actually do anything for the environment, but their presence and growth indicate a healthy water system – plus they are a food source when I finally add shrimp & fish to the tank. The pond snails are great scavengers, add a bit to the bioload (waste used by the system to keep the cycle going) and their continued health will let me know it’s safe to add more fish.

Take a moment to visit my YouTube channel & subscribe to see videos of the filter in action and a video of pre set up talking about testing your tank first. More videos and posts to come as the tank progresses!

Happy holidays until my next FoodStream,

Chef Ricky

Test Plants for New Set Up & New Filter Update

I’ve been wanting to set up the 55 gallon bow front for some time now.  I have a few obstacles to get over first…I need a stand for it (this one is not next to a window, so a real stand might be nice if I can find a cheap one), need to buy a pump & an air pump, grow media, trays – not to mention I want to make a useful & pretty design for it.  It will be set up in my living (in place of the TV which is gone) and I want it to be pleasant to look at. The biggest obstacle is one I didn’t think of…will succulents do well in AP? I decided a test tank will be needed to see how they react.

I’m planning on using most, if not all, of the succulents and cacti in my bedroom to be part of the system.  I’m certain I will have to add in some other houseplants that not only look gorgeous…but are nutrient hogs…as I can’t see these slow growers supporting a high amount of waste in the tank.

This will be the test tank. The 10 gallon that started it all – and of course leaked, lol, but that was a plant, not the tank  Generally these guys live in drier climates without so much humidity.  So I’m going to give it a go using the same design I used for the new filter in my bedroom.

I’m going to have a dryer level on top of the media bed (still using a reverse constant flow design) and keep it open so that the humidity doesn’t stay and collect around the plants.  They grow well in similar conditions in their pots above the tank in my room, so I can’t imagine the humidity would be worse.

The test subjects…I have made clippings from all the varieties in my room.  I have a Jade plant, a Sansevieria (mother in law’s tongue), Aloe, a Sedum Morganum (Burrow’s Tail), Ceropegia Woodii (string of hearts), and a Huernia.

I’m trying to start these much the same way you would start something for hydroponics. The cuttings are currently in a small container of water from my tank (stays around 68 – 70F) that is growing some java moss and supporting a small colony of snails.  I change the water every couple of days to keep everything fresh and am hoping they develop some roots soon. I’ve found snails (pond) to be handy when rooting new plants.  They seem to eat the dying parts of the cutting, keeping the water from getting foul to quickly, and leave the fresh roots that develop, alone.

The next step (if the plants do well and root) will be the tank construction.  I don’t want to go far into that now as I don’t want to get ahead of myself if these cutting won’t even root.

As for my new filter in my old tank…I’m going to call it a success! In just a week or so I have seen the nitrates shoot up from a low concentration to a high one.  Nitrates are not good for fish in the long term…but I have plenty of time for the plants to catch up and start growing…which they are! There are new leaves & growth on the all the new plants…ficus, spathyphyllum, basil & mint.

I’m reading the jump in nitrates as the bacteria enjoying & multiplying in their new home.  Ammonia is staying undetectable and I’ve kept the pH around 6.6 – tank stays between 70 – 72F. Should everything stay healthy, the mint and spath should really hit a surge soon and hopefully I’ll see the drop in nitrates that I want to.

Until my nest FoodStream – thanks for reading!

Fall Filter Addition, and Improved (hopefully) Design

As I have noted in past posts, my nitrate levels have begun rising since I had to take out my tomato vine for the fall/winter.  Nitrates are not nearly as dangerous to fish as nitrites, but with long term exposure in high levels, they can cause diseases in fish populations.  So I needed to figure out a way to bring down the nitrates.  That means I needed additional plants to help filter. So I’ve designed another houseplant filter (plenty of light for them to grow) with a few improvements.

In this filter I’ve included another ficus (it needs some nutritional love, so I’ve made it the centerpiece of this filter), spathiphyllum (they are nutrient hogs), some golden pothos I had lying around, a basil sprig from a friend…and at the advice from my AP Forum, some mint.  Given it takes and doesn’t require too much light, it should start to soak up a ton of nitrates.  Mint is a nutrient hog and will also look pretty (and be useful in food) as it takes over and fills in the pot.

I have a few pictures here of the new filter and also some shots of the growth from the old ones.

This first picture I just thought was interesting.  This is the same philodendren plant.  I have cuttings of the same plant all over my place, and use them in my tank as well.  These leaves were growing at about the same spots on two different plants.  One in a pot in my living room (top leaf), the shiny one (bottom leaf) in the picture is from my tank.  They both get the same amount of light and the one in the living room is well taken care of and grows nicely.  Look at the difference in leaf size though…you can tell the one from the tank has an abundance of nutrients available to it.

These aren’t the only leaves that grow bigger in the tank, but it was the easiest comparison.

These next couple pics show just how much spathiphyllums enjoy the growing situation.  This first pic is of a small filter I have going in the tank.  It started (you can find its first pics WAY back in my posts) as just a few small sprigs of a plant. Now it is a monstrosity – the summer sun also helped it to reach its full potential.

This second picture is of the top of that same filter…but close up so you can see the roots.  The plant went so crazy in the first couple weeks that it sent roots ripping through the sides of the plant and spilling out around the filter into the tank itself.  The vase its in has become so packed with roots (and an enormous increase in the base of the plant) that it is packed tightly in there, water from the pump barely trickles through. The philodendren I showed you is hooked up to the same pump, it has a split hose, but grows in a separate filter.  It’s funny the difference between the plants growing styles.  The Philo is long and healthy with huge leaves, but a relatively small root system (compared to the Spath that is…compared to a normal Philo, it’s quite big) But the spath has huge leaves, huge roots, and just dominates. I’ve added a single, small spath to the philo filter as well.

Here you can see the tools I will use to build the new filter.  Glass vase, net pots, air pump, elbows, etc. It has the same  ”reverse constant flow” design as the rest of my tank. This means the water/fish waste is pumped to the bottom of the glass vase, flows UP through the hydroton & plant roots, then spills over the sides of the vase back into the tank.  Due to the fact my filters are all IN my tank, I designed them to drain through the top and spill into the tank to refresh the O2 in the water.

The improvements I talked about earlier are with the net pots you see in the picture.  These will hold a majority of the hydroton and plants, but I’ll be able to lift them out whenever I need to replace/clean tubing or the vase should it break. It also makes the whole system a bit more mobile.

You can see I used fishing line to tie two net pots together to make a long, tapered pot to fit inside the vase.  I only tied together 2, not 3 (as you’ll see in the video below).  My initial thinking was the space between pot sitting on the bottom on the vase and the pot sitting on top of the vase would act as a not so turbulent zone for MTS snails to live in and clean the filter from the inside.

My other filters have a ton of snails living in them, but there is only a small amount of space between the rocks. As the snails grow, they get stuck and die off…eggs hatch, and the cycle starts over. With the space I’m hoping they will live longer and I will have a larger population of snails to clean for me.

 

The net pot does not fit all the way into the vase, this is on purpose.  I wanted a dryer area above the water line to allow plants with sensitive crowns to be able to breathe.  I ran out of room while planting this filter, but I wanted to see how succulents /cacti would fare in a set up like this.  I’ll have to create another one in the near future to see how that goes.

You can see the filter in action to get an idea of how I want it to work on my YouTube site. It is not the prettiest filter I’ve created so far…I think it looks a little messy in the bottom area…but hey, it can’t always be perfect.

I’ll have further pic & vid updates as the filter matures.

Some Deaths in the Tank…and a Few Tailess Guppies

State of the tank about a month after the removal of my tomato vine is, well, a little funny.

Looks wise…my room has never looked so empty…or bright, LOL.  The vine had grown so much that is was blocking out a lot of light and my room always had this nice, dim, greenish tint to it.  Now the pocket tower is completely void of plants and the worms are slowly feasting and un-clogging the leftover roots. The windows are WIDE open – it feels so barren!

pH still requires the addition of lime every week or two to keep it around 6.6.  As happens in most mature AP systems, the pH tends to drop to 6 as time goes on, so I am calling this healthy.

Nitrates are SLOWLY rising in the tank.  They were staying at 0 (or at least undetectable) while the tomatoes were flourishing, but now there are only the houseplant filters to keep them at bay – though the houseplants have remained healthy & growing.  Not to mention the lack of summer sun here in the PNW.  I do have a grow bulb above everything, but it is not nearly enough to sustain the type of growth I saw this summer.

Ammonia levels remain undetectable – combined with the rising levels of nitrates, that makes me happy.  My system is still stable and running.

I haven’t been home much the past month, and had decided to lower the feeding schedule in my tank as well. I was wary of the potential to raise the ammonia & nitrate levels with less plant load.  This did not go over as well as I would have hoped, in terms of fish happiness.  I was not paying too much attention to the tank, as I’ve been in & out a lot with work.  Feeding just once a day, much as I did this past fall & winter.  I was getting in my tank a few days ago to clean the glass, fill the tank, and raise the pH a little and noticed something.  Two goldfish are missing (of course not Mocha, the pig/bully, lol), one of my loaches had been attacked and has since died.  My siamese algae eater (big guy) was dead and they had eaten out his stomach, and one of my guppies…though quite healthy and seemingly happy right now…is missing his ENTIRE tail.  Urgh.

So the reduction in feeding turned into a turf war of fish gangs, I’m surprised I didn’t find little bandanas on my fishes’ heads so they could show their colors.

Trying to look on the bright side of things…a reduction in fish load will help to keep levels down this fall & winter as feeding continues. I’m back to twice a day, but am feeding less per feeding. I also have plans to remove the tower soon for the cold months and use the existing pump to build a new houseplant filter to take up the slack.  I have few improvements on my indoor design that I would like to try anyway.  The improvements should make the filter move mobile & easier to perform maintenance on if needed. Pic & videos of the improvements can be found on this blog once they get going.

I’d also like to give a personal thank you to Tommy of Denmark for his interest in my blog and using his new-found information to try and start an interest in AP in Denmark! Also to Stephen from Maine for including me on his tour when he visits Seattle to check out my system! I encourage the rest of you to reach out to me and each other – AP is not only a cool way to keep fish, but a great new way to have local, sustainable, earth friendly food at your fingertips. Let’s build together!

 

Sarting Your Own Tank – Steps to Perfection

Been wanting to start your own AP system? This will be the article for you. I will discuss water, breeding bacteria, fish, plants, lighting…everything you need – and include links to my favorite sources of information. My favorite site for information is the Aquaponics Community Forum, they have information, an online shop, and a great community to field questions.  You will find many references to their site and store in this post. It’s a great place to buy things if you can’t locally source them…but check the links when I mention an item so you know what to look for in your local pond/fish/hardware stores. The first article you should read is here, these are the general rules of thumb for running an AP system…remember, GENERAL rules

The information in my article will mostly discuss what you need to do for an INDOOR system, though many of the principles can be applied to outdoor systems as well. The following information is also based off my success with my own tank over the past year:

• 55 gallon tank filled with about 30 – 35 gallons of water
• 1 lg & 2 small “reverse constant flow” media bed filters and one pocket tower – both use hydroton & lava rock
• a mixture of houseplants including dieffenbachia, spathiphyllum, philodendron, zygocactus, ficus, creeping fig, ivy, java moss, moss, and a tarantula fern – added to the system this spring & summer were a basil plant and a cherry tomato vine (which reached close to 17 ft before cutting it)
• redworms added to the system and living in all filters and in the pocket tower
• temp maintained between 76F & 80F
• pH hovering between 6.2 & 6.6
• one air pump running in the bottom of the lg filter…though this died in the beginning of the summer with no apparent ill effects
• 3 goldfish, 3 clown loaches, a siamese algae eater, 3 cory catfish, 2 dojo loaches, a dozen or so fancy guppies varying in age, pond/red ramshorn/malaysian trumpet snails and cherry shrimp

AP systems are advertised as being chemical free.  This is mostly true – but nearly everything in our lives are chemicals.  You will see links in this article for products such as “stress coat” and “pH up”, though these are chemicals – they are nothing harmful and are only the most basic substances that can be found in nature and are useful to the system to help the fish and bacteria grow. Although we are trying to recreate mother nature in our tanks, she has several more advantages to balancing her world naturally than we do.

Tank Size & Placement
The most important first step is determining size.  Several factors will come into play for this decision. Location, weight, lighting,  types of fish you want, type of AP system to use…all these should be considered, but first look at your space.  What can you fit comfortably? The bigger tank, the heavier the system if it has to be moved. Can you easily get into and around the tank for maintenance? Is there enough space in & around the tank to build out for growbeds?

You also need to consider weight at this point.  Water alone weighs about 8 pounds per gallon (so a 10 gallon tank with nothing else in it but water will already weigh in at 80 lbs)  Most floors can handle larger tanks (up to 50/55 gallons) without a second thought. What you need to think about is the stand you are going to put it on.  Fish tank stands are built to withstand the weight, other tables aren’t, so choose well and do your research.

Lighting
Lighting will depend on what you are growing.  There are a couple of rules about light & tank placement before even talking about enough lights for plants.
• Fish tanks should NOT be placed in direct light.  This will cause not only temperature fluctuations, but temp extremes that can kill both fish & the ecosystem you will be growing.
• The bacteria (nitrobacteria) that you need to grow thrive in darkness, UV light will kill them.  Another reason to not have the tank in direct sunlight & to have deeper grow beds…which we will talk about in more detail later.

Lighting for plants

Indoor vegetable gardens are completely possible without additional lighting. Most of you already know I grew a bounty of tomatoes in my window, and I’m in the PNW! Consider what you want to grow…a good number of common houseplants that do well in AP systems (ie: golden pothos, spathiphyllum, philodendron, ficus) will do quite well in a north or east facing window if that is all that you have. South & west facing windows will provide more light to support more plants, but again, the tank itself should not get direct light, just the plants – and some plants can get “burned” in direct light. A west or south facing window will be needed to grow most vegetables – a longer photosynthetic period is needed for these plants to covert enough food & set fruit. Research your plants needs before placement and planting.

Most house plants I’ve used have done quite well with lighting from a “plant” type fluorescent bulb.

Tools/Equipment Needed

You will need the following tools & equipment handy for most tanks:

1. Tank – all glass aquariums with silicone seal (its non reactive with the ecosystem) are great.  Getting a used one to help recycle is awesome – just be sure it was only used for fish & is cleaned well with a weak bleach solution, then RINSED very well.
2. Filter or growbed – please see “filter & growbed” section below
3. Pump – you need a quality pump that will move as many gallons as your tank holds per hour (ie: 55 gallons of water should be moved per hour for a 55 gallon tank) You also need to consider the power the pump has to “lift” water, check the pump package for numbers. I used ecopumps, they are cheaper and run well
4. Growth substrate – any type of gravel that doesn’t have limestone or marble in it (it can leach out and change pH) I personally use lava rock & hydroton (a type of expanded clay marble) Another great new choice is expanded shale . Click here for more info and pricing on all these.  A word on lava rock, it works great and is cheap ($4 for 25 lbs at Home Depot) but requires a lot of rinsing and is hard on hands and roots if moving plants around.
5. Flexible tubing – Any type of flexible tubing available in pet or pond stores is suitable for your tank.  Most smaller pumps will use a 1/2 inch plastic tubing, black is better than clear.
6. Air Pump – It will benefit most tanks to have an air pump going, detailed reasons will be discussed further in the article.
7. Testing kit – don’t skimp on this one.  You can find test strips…but they OFTEN give false readings.  Save up and buy a Freshwater Test Kit for your system.  It can help you decipher what is happening in your tank.

These are the basics you need to get started for any system.  The rest of this article will discuss in further detail what you need to run your system.

Air pump

Why? All AP systems are dependent on O2, more precisely, dissolved O2.  The only way to get O2 dissolved in the water is to move the water around, a lot.  It also helps the O2 gas exchange when a large surface area of water is exposed to the air.  Also, cooler water holds more O2 than warmer water.

A well placed air pump + air stone doesn’t work by dissolving O2 into the water from the tiny bubbles it produces, but rather helps to move the water continually up to the surface and creates a flow + enlarged surface area by breaking the surface tension.  This system is a great  O2 back up as well if the water pump goes down for a while.

Filter & Growbed

There are many ways to build a grow bed for your system.  Most systems use either an “ebb & flow” or “constant flow” in media beds, or “NFT/DWC” (nutrient film technique/deep water culture) system. Quick explanations of each of these here. Please check the forums here or google for more information on these terms, be sure to include the word aquaponics when googling.

I want to talk about my filters.  I am using a sort of “reverse constant flow” for all my tanks.  The design is simple and has several advantages:

• It is more compact that traditional AP growbeds
• Because these filters sit IN the tank, there is little chance of leaks that can drain your tank/kill your fish/ruin your apartment or home
• Based on my year of experimentation this system seems to be just as effective as the two traditional methods
• Due to their smaller size, these systems are more removable/transportable/cleanable should the need arise

These systems, as do all, also have some disadvantages:

• Small size means smaller grow bed area = less room to grow more plants
• Because these filters reside in the tank, they take up space in your tank that could be used for fish or additional water for added system stability (read more about this in “water” section)
• smaller tank size indoors means it is harder to grow fish for food

Filter design

The construction is rather simple. I like to use the biggest & thickest glass (it is inert) vases I can find.  In the bottom of the vase run a tube, which will attach to the pump in the tank, coming up and over the top.  Making the tube/connection to the pump easily detachable makes it much easier to do maintenance when/if needed. You can also add an airstone with tubing attached to it to go to the air pump.  Remember to make a removable connection where it comes out of the vase so it can be disassembled if needed.

The next step is to fill the vase with your pre-washed grow media. I plan on building future filters by first finding a net pot or similar basket large enough to fit inside my vase, then filling the net pot with grow media.  This will allow you to easily lift the pot out in the event you need to replace the tubing, the vase, the airstone or work on your plants.

Plants can now be planted in the media bed to filter the water for your fish.  Once the pump is turned on, water & fish waste will be pumped to the bottom of the filter and travel up.  Solids will slowly collect in the media and on the roots as it is broken down by nitrobacteria and made into food for the plants. As the water travels to the top, it spills out and back into the tank – filtered of toxins called nitrites & nitrates and renewing its dissolved O2.

I do not have any scientific evidence to back up the benefit of the airpump, but I took a hint from NFT/DWC systems who place air pumps in the bottom of the water trough that plant roots sit in.  The air bubbles collect on the roots, helping to provide additional O2 when solids start to build up on them.  I found my filters seemed healthier during the first 8 months or so of maturing time.  My pump has since stopped working, but I have seen no decline, possibly due to the maturity of the system.

Water, Chemistry & the Nitrogen Cycle

Water is the life of your system.  It carries O2 to fish for breathing, to bacteria so they can breakdown compounds, and to plants in the evening so they can finish the photosynthesis cycle.  Water also dissolves minerals to help regulate pH & it keeps temperature from fluctuating too rapidly.

The more water you can have in the system, the more stable it will be (this is called its buffering capacity) – although I can state with absolute certainty that you can have a successful AP system with just 2.5 gallons of water.  The dangers you are more likely to face with smaller systems are swinging pH, temperature, and low dissolved O2.

Water is also the home of your bacteria.  More specifically your Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria. These bacteria complete the nitrogen cycle that must thrive in your tank in order for AP to be successful.

The nitrogen cycle works like this: Organic compounds (fish waste, left over fish food, rotting plant bits, dead animals) break down into ammonia.  Nitrosomonas & Nitrobacter are found in small numbers all over your tank, but the Nitrosomonas bacteria begin to flourish when ammonia levels rise.  They feed on ammonia and convert it into nitrites.  Nitrobacter then begin to flourish as they convert the nitrites into nitrates.  As the dissolved nitrates are pumped into your grow beds, the plant roots absorb them and use them as food.  The ammonia, nitrites & nitrates have now all been filtered out of the water by your bacteria/plants, and as long as you have good flow the O2 is replaced and is now a healthy environment for your fish. Your fish create waste and the cycle begins again.

Criteria for your bacteria to flourish:

• A temperature between 60F & 86F, anything on the extremes and they will begin to die
• The bacteria like the dark places of your tank – UV light kills them (corners, under gravel, and deep in growbeds)
• There must be porous surfaces for them to grow on (your bed media)…they can not thrive in the water column
• Presence of ammonia to start the cycle
• a pH between 6 & 8

Where  you want your temperature & pH lie will depend on what kind of fish and plants you want to grow.  Do some research to see who matches best with what. Also remember to get a test kit so you can track changes in the nitrite, nitrate, ammonia & pH levels…these levels tell you many things about what is happening in your system and what you need to do to adjust them.

Chlorine & Chloramines

Cities use either chlorine or chloramine to treat our water.  Both chemicals are bad for your fish and for your bacteria – they will cause death. Be sure to check your local city water treatment plant (details usually available online) to see what they use.  If it is chlorine, you can let water sit out for 48 hours and the chlorine will dissipate and be safe to add.  Chloramine does not dissipate and remains dangerous without treatment.

There are water conditioners to treat chlorine (NOT chloramine) you can add to a home system that don’t pose a threat…though try to only use them in a pinch if there is no time to degas the chlorine if you plan on eating veggies from the system.  There is no hard evidence of it effecting humans or getting into the veggies…but better to err on the side of caution. For a houseplant only tank, it is fine to use every time you add water.

I am not an expert on getting rid of chloramines as I don’t have them in my water supply.  Take a look at this forum thread for some ideas and some other links to read on the subject.

Cycling your tank – making a happy home for fish & bacteria

There are two ways to cycle your tank, which means getting the nitrogen cycle started.  With fish and without.

Cycling your tank with fish involves having the whole system set up and adding fish.  You feed them just a bit each day.  Their waste creates ammonia, which starts the cycle.  This, however, can be quite stressful on fish as the presence of ammonia & nitrites are harmful to fish – they could become sick or die.  Some species of fish really don’t seem to care, but it is still a risk.

You can also cycle without fish.  I started by planting some plants in the system and letting it run.  The decaying roots on the plants caused the ammonia spike for me.  You can see a white, milky clouding and slight thickening of the water when this happens.  This starts to clear as the first batch of bacteria grow and as the ammonia spike lowers it cause a nitrite spike.  The second batch of bacteria then start to bloom and there is a lowering of nitrites and an increase in nitrates – then the plants can start to feed and grow.  Nitrates are not nearly as dangerous to fish, unless there is long-term exposure, so this is a good place to start adding fish. Again, this is why testing is important to see where your cycle is at and when it is safe to add fish.

Always add fish and increase feeding SLOWLY. The resulting rise in waste can cause another ammonia spike, and your system, especially when new, needs time to catch up.

Other people start by adding pure ammonia (without any surfactants in them) instead of waiting for organic material to start to rot.  Check out this forum topic and read up on different styles and products people use to get the job done, then decide what you are comfortable with what works for you.

Water Pump & Flow

As mentioned before, water flow & agitation of the surface means increased O2 levels and complete support for the life of your system.  Look at water pumps that will move the entire volume of water in your tank every hour.  You also need to look at the back of the box on the pump to see how high it can lift water.  For example, my pocket tower is 3 ft high and is on a 6 inch riser in my tank.  The pump I bought for it needs to easily lift water 4 ft and be able to move at least 35 gallons of water per hour.  It is easy to take a moment and check, and worth avoiding the frustration.

Using Redworms

Take a look at this article I wrote awhile ago about vermiponics, adding redworms to your system, for the advantages of trying it, plus some rules for adding them. A note on timing, don’t add them too early to a system.  The worms need to eat.  They eat fish poo, bacteria & decaying plant matter.  In a new system (which I might classify as under 9 months) there may not be enough food to keep the worms alive.

The worms also make a nice way to compost veggie matter.  During the growing season of my tomato vine I would chop up any leaves or stems that I pruned and put it in the top of my pocket tower.  Within a couple of days the worms would have devoured everything.

Fish

What fish to use?

It is a personal choice. The great thing about AP systems is being able to grow edible plants AND fish.  The downfall of indoor AP systems is you are usually limited to veggies as growing a bunch of edible fish means you need a lot of room to grow them.  I would stick to ornamental fish when staying inside.  Goldfish are a great, cheap choice for making a dirty tank (remember you NEED waste to keep the system going) and don’t need a heater in a home that stays a fairly constant temp.  They are, however, fairly aggressive if there are smaller fish (they eat baby guppies) and will most likely destroy any plants planted directly in the gravel bed unless they are big and established.

Also think about the max size of the fish when full-grown – this will help dictate what you can use.

Plants

Remember you can use just houseplants in your system if you would like to just have pet fish in a tank that uses few chemicals, is cheaper to start & maintain, and will be a beautiful addition to your home.  The plants I have been successful with are dieffenbachia, spathiphyllum, philodendron, zygocactus, ficus, creeping fig, ivy, java moss, moss, and tarantula fern. I’ve included links so you can see what they look like and get some detailed info on them. You can experiment with others and see what does well for you.  This winter I am attempting to use several different species of stonecrop plants, cacti & succulents.

Almost any veggie can be grown depending on light & room.  I had wonderful luck with tomatoes, lettuce & basil in my pocket tower – next year will be heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers & herbs. Most grow fine together, some have special needs.  Leafy greens are the easiest, veggies and fruit require a little more attention to the tank, and require a more mature tank. (see “tank maturity” below) There are even people growing citrus trees, LOL, which I don’t have room for.  Check out this forum link and google some AP veggie topics before planting.

Tank maturity & maintenance

A new system will have very little food to offer your plants.  As a tank matures, the cycle of ammonia -> nitrites -> nitrates happens very efficiently and can support the needs of hungry plants, ie: vegetables. I didn’t consider my tank mature until it was about 9 months old.  The readings seemed to stay stable, the water took on an amber tint (all AP systems do this as they age) and everything was absolutely BOOMING in growth.  Leaf size on some plants were HUGE.

Watch your tank, learn your fish & plant behavior.  You will notice when things seem to be working better. (this is also  a good time to add a boost with the worms) You can plant veggies before the tank is mature – in fact, you have to plant SOMETHING for the system to work, though you may not get immediate, big results.  Try using houseplants first, then replacing them with or adding in veggies once mature.

You will also notice that as time goes on, your even level of pH will start to slowly drop toward 6.  This is a natural effect of a good AP system. (from what I understand, decaying matter naturally causes a drop in pH, though I don’t know why) This is an easy fix with a product called pH up.  It contains potassium hydroxide & potassium carbonate – all safe & beneficial for fish and plants. These substances would normally be replaced in the wild by slowly leaching from rock…so we occasionally need to provide them to our tanks.

Maintenance

There is less maintenance than a traditional fish tank. Though people usually become so entranced with their systems it doesn’t matter and they always have their hands in it.  There are NO monthly water changes or vacuuming needed! It will actually hurt your tank to do so.  The fish waste is USED by the system to maintain balance.  The only time you add water is when it evaporates.  If you seem to have an ammonia spike in your tank – you don’t need to change water or add a neutralizer, you simply need to reduce feeding to your fish.  The less waste they produce and less leftover food in the tank means less ammonia being produced.  With an ammonia spike also comes a spike in bacteria growth, which only strengthens your system.

Learn to take readings of and understand what the levels of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, & pH mean and how they interact with one another and you can easily change the conditions of your tank by knowing when to wait changes out and when to act.

As a tank matures, you may have to wipe some algae growth from the glass – which can also be an indicator of too high a fish ratio to plants if it’s out of control. You may also have to occasionally rinse out any pre filter sponges you have IF they clog.  Remember not to use untreated tap water as a colony of bacteria will live in the sponges and chlorine will kill them.  The dirty water from rinsing them is great to use on houseplants.

Other than that & maybe some occasional pruning, the system if fairly self-sustaining.

Final thoughts

Have fun building and maintaining your tank! Use your imagination and experiment with your own design while using the general rules as a guide.  Look at your tank everyday to learn what is normal behavior for your fish and plants so you can recognize problems if they arise later on.   Remember to always look things up if you don’t know and reach out to forums full of people doing the same thing you are.  Someone has probably had your same problem before with a fix for it.

If you have questions or comments, I’d love to hear them! Live in the seattle area and want to start one, but need personal help? Contact me & we can talk details.

Aquaponics, A Year in Review

Almost a year ago I wrote my first blog about Aquaponics here. In the article I cited a link to a video of an art project called “Farm Fountain” that inspired me to start my first experiment in sustainable, organic, indoor gardening using the natural cycles of bacteria (the nitrogen cycle) to grow food. The term for doing this using fish waste as the fertilizer source is called aquaponics, or AP.

Since then, my blog ( the aptly named “Chef Ricky’s FoodStream” ) has developed into exclusively aquaponics updates and news.  My work (and disasters) using indoor aquaponics will be in a book this Oct.  I am very pleased by the outcome of the initial experiment.  Not only have I learned more about the nitrogen cycle than any biology class has EVER taught me, but I have ended this season with an amazing new group of AP enthusiasts, a delicious bounty of crops, and some plans to make AP in Seattle a more recognizable and more used form of farming.

So here we are, myself and you (my dear readers) 33 updates later.   The project is far from over, and I am proud that I have not only made it a year in, but have also expanded others knowledge of AP. My best friend currently has a 55 gallon tank running in his condo, all with AP.  I have started a conversation with a local Seattle business owner who builds roof top gardens for restaurants – we are going to meet soon and see if it is feasable to work AP into his clients gardens, and the possibility of raising the fresh fish as entrees for the restaurants. Next year’s crop plan will include some full size heirlooms from my friend Kelly, and I’m going to try some peppers, squash & various herbs. Lastly, I plan on utilizing a tank given to me by a friend as a display tank for AP using houseplants to show the versatility of AP as not only a great farming technique, but as a way to keep fish as pets without the need to buy a bunch of chemicals or pointless, wasteful filters.

All of this is great news for the advancement of AP in Seattle. I’m so glad to be part of it and am offering help in planning & putting together AP tanks for other Seattle-ites. Have questions about the plumbing & pumps? Not sure about adding worms? What kind of fish? Email me if you would like a hand or just have questions. bbrunches@gmail.com

Aquaponics Update #32 – Sad Bit of News for My Tank :(

Last Image of my vine this season

Click the image above to see the full view.  It’s a little sad, but the vine is all gone, and before the growing season was over.

My building had an unfortunate pest problem (not from my vine, lol) and the treatment for it meant the tank had to be moved around a bit and the vine had to be cut to allow for this.

As sad as that news is…and as sad and empty as my room looks now…I am claiming this year of aquaponics to be a SUCCESS!  I was able to harvest 2 lbs of cherry tomatoes (which is a lot for cherry tomatoes) in just a few months.  The second vine that was growing on the left hand side was already producing large groups of tomatoes for harvest.  When I pulled the vine down and bagged it up for trash (no compost at my building) it weighed a good 20 lbs.  That means 20lbs, and close to 15 ft long, of plant material (which had wilted for 2 days after I cut it, so a lot of water loss already) that grew from JUST fish waste! My tank is still growing strong and the fish are very healthy.  The rest of the fall and winter my tank will be filtered by the houseplant filters still present in the tank.

Next growing season, which I plan on starting early (April-ish) since I’ll be inside I’m going to try full size heirlooms and possibly some peppers and chard.

Stay tuned to my blog for changes in the tank, the build of the new tank (corner 55 gallon unit) this winter, and aquaponics news.

Also, check out this site to order a book from my personal aquaponics information source, I’m also going to be in the book, so another reason to buy it, and it’s only $20 right now.

Want to start your own aquaponics systems but need help? Shoot me an email, order the book and let’s get started! SO many possibilities, depending n the set up, even inside in our gray sky climate.

Aquaponics Update #31 – The Vine has Taken Over

This is my 12 foot bedroom window where the tomato vine is growing

Just a quick picture update.   This is a full shot of my tomato vine.  You can see the shelf above holds a number of houseplants…the vine has taken everything over.  The part of the vine on the right of the picture is the original vine and the bushiest, on the left is a tomato start that really just started taking off a few weeks ago, but already has full size green tomatoes on it, just waiting for them to ripen a bit.

The original vine has already yielded me 1 1/2 lbs of tomatoes…that may not sound like much, but please keep in mind these are cherry tomatoes, lol.  They are all very tasty, and I find myself occasionally just grazing from the vine in my room.  I have friends saving me seeds from some gorgeous and tasty heirlooms they’ve had this year so I can grow those next year.

The basil got over harvested and I never replanted as the tomato roots have taken over the grow tower, not much room for anything else.   I’m still waiting for the plants in the first pocket to identify themselves…I’m still thinking broccoli, but nothing has come up but big, healthy leaves…could be a weed! haha

With this years success I will definitely be going for several veggies next year.  My work population is also booming.  They seem very happy & healthy – I find baby worms quite often – and actually feed them scraps from chopped up bits of tomato vine that I have cut back.  The whole system keeps feeding itself.