Thanks Nate. During the winter we run our system between 55-60 degrees and it does just fine. I've had several people tell me that these temps will kill off the bacteria but I keep enjoying my nice living greenhouse. ;-)
Hi, thanks a lot for the information. I admire the scientific approach done. One question, how does nitrifying bacteria interact with effective microorganism (EM-1)? Do they complement each other in an aquaponics setting or outdo each other? Is EM-1 detrimental to fish? Thanks again.
That should be plenty of time. If you find a stable temperature range over the course of a month or so, your microbes will adapt. Then the longer you run the system in that range, the more specifically adapted to your system and pH range they'll become.
have a south american biotope that requires a ph of 6 to 6.5 as I keep wild apistogrammas. My ph is very acidic , so is this might be a problem with regards the bacteria??
You won't see death for quite a while. Fish typically do a great job at adapting to lower pH values. We run tilapia, which are more adapted to alkaline lakes, but they haven't minded pH values in the high 5s when we've run it that low. We've never seen a pH related fish death.
Hi, thank you for you video. It's very informative. I want to ask if there is a period of time in a new system where the Nitrites and Nitrates go a bit high? Using a basic 6 n 1 test, the No3 is between 25-50 and the NO2 is between 5 and 10. The gold fish are healthy, there's three large ones in a large tank. I have some seedlings and a 6 inch bean plant in the grow tub above. The tub is about 2' by 1.5' until I can get it going. The pH is going between 7.0-7.2. Is this part of the process in establishing beneficial bacteria?
Great videos - but I'm interested in a bit more depth on the chemistry front for my grant application, especially as you appear to be suggested a change in the typical approach to pH maintenance. How do I access the other resources you offer - webinars, forum posts, etc.
Dr Nate I am just about to start up my system and wanting to use ammonia to start up nitrifying process before adding fish in my system. I have a 800 liter drain tank and 2000 liter main tank where fish will live, I have had this system running before but put fish in straight away and had a struggle balancing everything. After after some advice, have decided to cycle the system first with safe levels of nitrites and ammonia before adding fish, Can you please tell me how much ammonia I will need to add to the volume of water to get system cycling please. Our water is from from our bore and has a 300 ppm calcium content and 3 grow beds with expanded clay each approx 16 square feet in area. Great info on this video. More to nitrification than I thought. Just about to watch the next one on BSA. Thank you.
Wish we could get you on TedTalks, I'm surprised to have not seen anything on aquaponics. Great video thanks for the info, I did have a question thou: Do you see any changes of behavior with fish running a ph as low as 6.0 ? Most freshwater fish seem to love 7.5+ but appear to be doing fine at 6.0. My system has been slowly dropping Ph and I'm hitting 6.4 just wondering if I should expect death in my fish.
Hello Dr. I have a somewhat weird but (as I feel) related question. I go camping quite a bit with a camper van. I use a porta-potty for the facilities which me and my girlfriend only use to go number one on. I fill the rinse (upper) tank (which is holding water to flush the bowl after business) with water from my small scale Aquaponics system reasoning the present nitrifying bacteria will break down the ammonia into odorless compounds. However, after 2-3 days of use the content of the lower tank starts giving off a stale urine smell, which gets progressively worse getting downright nasty come day 6-7. I though about using a small aquarium bubbler to aerate (I have read the nitrifying process needs oxigen) the water in the lower tank but I am unsure if this will work and/or be sufficiant to prevent the water/urine in the lower tank from starting to smell. I am not quite sure what causes urine to become stale and smelling bad but I suspect the nitrifying process is stopped or slowed down to the point it has become useless. Can you tell me if you expect my air bubbler theory to work and if not what else can I do to prevent the lower tank contents from smelling. I clean the porta potty very well with a mild soap solution and rinse with clean water and let air dry after each camping trip. I am quite sure the smell has noting to do with any mold or other moisture being trapped inside the device for a prolonged period of time. I store the device clean and bone dry and the device does not smell at all after starting to use it again. Note: I don't like to use any sort of harsh chemicals to keep the lower tank from developing the smell since I like to keep the option open to dump the 2-3 gallon lower tank into a wooded area or the like and have a clear conscience about it... Thanks in advance for any useful answer you may have on this... Regards, Sander Tel.
Hii i just saw the video and I'm very curious on asking how can i increase my nitrate levels from zero because i installed my plants in the water and after a week I've testing the nitrate after constantly feeding the fish but still no nitrate being produce for plants
Good video. Very knowledgeable delivery. I'm crunching ideas for a good bio medium to give maximal surface area in the smallest volume as I'm considering using aero/aquaponics with tilapia. I want to make various sizes of system, including very compact units that can give a fish meal treat let's say once in every six weeks as a bonus on top of regular herbs, salad, veg. Would a fluid bio filter with plastic media be the most compact method? I presume I want to avoid producing anaerobic bacteria in order to save nitrate for the plants... Am I on the right track?
I have seen your Matrix Media product in the grow towers and I am interested in learning whether you have applied the use of the Matrix Media, into a Media Bed for aquaponics. If so, did you use other media in conjunction with it? How would you lay it out? etc. Your instructions continue to be my best teacher! Thanks
We have played with matrix media in grow beds, with great results. You can replace any traditional media with matrix media, but it can be a little more difficult to use in some grow-bed applications.
Bright Agrotech I was considering putting down a layer of volcanic rock, overlaying it with the matrix media and then filling in the top with clay pebble. Overall, I figured that this would significantly reduce weight, but allow for good water flow and a pretty good BSA. Yea? Nay? How has it worked best for you guys? I want to try some and I'll give you guys feedback and even send a few pics of the progress
Hey Steve Smith just be careful with volcanic rock (lava rock) as it can be very basic and mess with your system pH. We usually don't recommend lava rock. If you're going to be building a static grow bed (static in the sense you're probably not going to be moving it around much) why be concerned about weight? Why not just go 3/4'' crushed granite?
Hi, my ph is at 6.4 and I am unable to cultivate enough beneficial bacteria at this ph, because it seems the BB are almost dormant at this ph level and work only at 30% efficiency. Even after adding a lot bio media like sera siporax, marine pure , bio balls etc, the ammonia in my tank keeps increasing after feeding the fish, luckily at this ph seems ammonium is mostly what available than ammonia and the fish are surviving so far... Any tips on how I can counter this? pls advise.
Love your videos. Really appreciate the information. I have not lost any fish but have seen a spike in nitrites and a significant drop in ph even with sea shells in my sump. The testing strips I've been able to find here in Jamaica don't give me an ammonia reading but I've added a bio filter and seeded it with a pond bacteria supplement hoping to get those nitrites down. Is there something I can do to help this process. Nitrites are over 20 ppm and nitrates over 200. Ph is around 5.5. The lowest reading for the strips. The plants look amazing tho. Only 5-6 weeks into having fish in system. Would rather not loose any. One jumped from the tank first night. Fixed that.
Really enjoying your highly informative videos Nate. Ammonia is converting very well in my system but for some reason nitrobacter doesn't seem to be taking hold. My nitrites are going thru the roof with no nitrate production. I am doing frequent water changes to protect the fish but this doesn't help the plants much. I heard that potassium permanganate will chemically convert nitrite to nitrate. I question the wisdom of adding that much manganese to the system though. Do you know of a better/safer way to treat the nitrite?
If it's a new system and the nitrosomonas have just got established it will take some time for the nitrobacter to feed and breed on the nitrites produced. Just realised how long ago that post was lol.
I have a quick question: Do you happen to know if it would be in any way possible to run an aquaponic system at or around PH 4.0-5.0? Is that too low for the bacteria, and are there any types of fish which could thrive in those conditions? I would like to eventually grow blueberries and a few other low PH plants, and want to know if it's even something worth exploring, or if I should stick to dirt farming for my berry needs.
Hi Christopher, it's possible to run systems down into the 5's, but it can get tricky and it takes time. It would be difficult to run in the low 5's, but I wouldn't say impossible. If you were interested in blueberries, I'd say split the difference and run your system around 5.8-6.0. That'll be enough for your berries, but won't be so low that it takes you 2 years to get to your pH goals.
I have a 3 year old IBC system with 2 IBC grow beds full of Hydroton. The first couple of years everything seemed to be good but lately everything's going south. Older leaves turn yellow and die. Healthy seedlings struggle and die. Nothing seems to want to grow. I've rarely if ever had to raise my pH. Nitrates are 80-100. Ammonia is .25-.5. I am showing substantial Nitrites. Is there something in a system that can cause this reversal? One thing that has changed is stocking levels of fish. They continue to multiply but I try to keep things regulated with food controls.
I'm no expert but if the fish are breeding and then you are controlling food levels with a bent towards not putting in enough, or you're putting in enough so all the fish have eaten, then you stop when they show less interest, bearing in mind with more fish eating their fill, there will be more waste products, either way the system is under stress. I may have the complete wrong end of the stick but I wouldn't want fish breeding outside of a specialised and separate area for that purpose and I would want to have an all male population in the growing on ponds/tanks. Also if nitrites are being produced I guess that would mean you have an imbalance between nitrosomonas (dominating) and nitrobacter (deficit) so not converting the nitrite to nitrate. Perhaps some of the lower PH preferring nitrobacter types are suffering or they are overrun and you need to add some bio surface area. And check the dissolved oxygen levels are good. I would think if there is a reduction in dissolved O2 then the bacteria would struggle or even die off somewhat. If you would, please let me know if you get a solution and what it was. Cheers.
Hello I started cycling my system the first of January of this year. I added fish about 5 weeks ago. Everything was find and the system was operating as it should until two days ago. I noticed ammonia was at 1.77 which led me to test for pH and nitrate. I found pH was setting at 6.4 and nitrate was 40. I realized that I am having nitrofication difficiency because the nitrate leve was always at 100+. I don't know exactly why the bactira stopped working but I have suggestion. My suggestion for this problem is that the pH dropped from 8 to 6.4 in a matter of 5 weeks. This fast change Did not give bacteria enough time to adapt to such low pH. Could that be true? How to go about it? If I am wrong what would the problem be? Thank you in advance�
I have a small system and seem to be doing everything wrong. Today I added seaweed extract for the first time and must have added to much because my nitrate reading went off the charts with no nitrite bump. Should I worry or take drastic action because of this? I'm afraId I'm going to hurt my fish.
I dont see why you added seaweed extract when you already have fish??? if your testing your doing better than most people who just wing it, anyway it was two years ago, how did everything go?
The seaweed extract worked like a charm. It had enough of whatever was in deficit. I've had my system torn down almost a year now. After my wife died last June I needed to move and my homestead isn't ready to live on so I just took it down. I'll set up a new one after I build the new house on the homestead. Now I'm just focusing on permaculture. Planting good forests.
Can you have TOO MUCH bio-conversion in a system (i.e. too much nitrifying bacteria via too much BSA). I watched your video on how to calculate minimum BSA, but you didn't appear to mention whether or not it was possible to have too much. From this video it appears that the answer is 'No, never,' but I would like to be sure before I decide how to design and build my bio-filter system.
Hi Larry Moe Curly! It's theoretically possible, but we've never seen it and I can't say for sure what the exact threshold would be. I'm sure you'll be just fine cramming as much BSA in your system design as you can though. Sorry we couldn't be more exact! - Nate
I think if you got too many bacteria at any stage, they would have less nutrients from the fish by ratio and would begin to self regulate to the system. Say you have twice as much BSA as your fish/system could support then the colonies are likely to die off or subdue their activity to a point where the optimum amount of bacteria would simply have twice as much space to live in. If you then doubled your system loading (gradually! and sorted out all the other variables, such as oxygenation), they could breed back up to meet the new nutrient supply for them. I'm not an experienced expert but I've offered my assessment of how a bacterial or any living colony would behave within a "closed" system... and I've just noticed how old the post is ummm.
@Leslie B personally I would let the system reach its own optimum. You could add bacteria but I'd you're not certain about what you're doing and why, get some local assistance.
I do have some heavy hitters in mine. Cucs. Maters. Corn. Bell peppers. Okra. Few lettuces. And I'm doing this mostly on 70 fingerling goldfish. Pretty amazing! Highly respect the goldfish.
Hi Nate....Thank you sooooo much for your detailed information. It has really cleared up a lot of questions that others don't touch on. One question that comes to mind that isn't talked about is light sensitivity. You mentioned ultraviolet, but what about normal light ? I know that some bacteria thrive in darkness while others don't. What's the story on nitrifying bacteria ?....Thanks again !
craigathonian Protect nitrifying bacteria from light as much as possible. They’re all sensitive to UV, but some are also sensitive to non-UV spectrum as well. Hope that helps!
my well water ph is about 8. so i always put it in big container and add muratic acid till the ph drop to 6.8 before add to my aquaponic. how long should i change the ph from 7 to 6.4?
Couldn't disagree more about the pH of the system. We have found that any time the pH drops below 7.0 the ammonia levels start to increase. The lower the pH the higher the ammonia levels. The bacteria do not function well below a pH of 7.0. Our systems work best at a pH of 7.0 to 7.5. All of the chemistry measurements are best when the pH is around 7.3.
You need to supply as much biological surface area (verticalfoodblog.com/biological-surface-area-in-aquaponics/) as possible and going through the cycling process (ruclips.net/video/rHuO_li0xEs/видео.html).
Our pleasure.
You're welcome, Wayne. Glad you're learning a lot.
Thanks, Michael!
I'm so addicted to your videos. You're my professor.
Thanks Nate. During the winter we run our system between 55-60 degrees and it does just fine. I've had several people tell me that these temps will kill off the bacteria but I keep enjoying my nice living greenhouse. ;-)
Hi, thanks a lot for the information. I admire the scientific approach done. One question, how does nitrifying bacteria interact with effective microorganism (EM-1)? Do they complement each other in an aquaponics setting or outdo each other? Is EM-1 detrimental to fish? Thanks again.
Thanks for that awesome feedback!
That should be plenty of time. If you find a stable temperature range over the course of a month or so, your microbes will adapt. Then the longer you run the system in that range, the more specifically adapted to your system and pH range they'll become.
Can I inoculate my system with these bacteria from soil, or a pond or do I have to buy it?
Thanks for watching!
Bright Agrotech hi can you please tell me the name of bacteria and where I can buy
Sir do you use Effective Microorganisms in your system??
have a south american biotope that requires a ph of 6 to 6.5 as I keep wild apistogrammas. My ph is very acidic , so is this might be a problem with regards the bacteria??
You won't see death for quite a while. Fish typically do a great job at adapting to lower pH values. We run tilapia, which are more adapted to alkaline lakes, but they haven't minded pH values in the high 5s when we've run it that low. We've never seen a pH related fish death.
You're welcome, Richard. Hope you'll consider spreading the word about these videos and our ZipGrow products to make sure this content continues!
Thanks, Grusme.
Hi, thank you for you video. It's very informative. I want to ask if there is a period of time in a new system where the Nitrites and Nitrates go a bit high? Using a basic 6 n 1 test, the No3 is between 25-50 and the NO2 is between 5 and 10. The gold fish are healthy, there's three large ones in a large tank. I have some seedlings and a 6 inch bean plant in the grow tub above. The tub is about 2' by 1.5' until I can get it going. The pH is going between 7.0-7.2. Is this part of the process in establishing beneficial bacteria?
Great videos - but I'm interested in a bit more depth on the chemistry front for my grant application, especially as you appear to be suggested a change in the typical approach to pH maintenance. How do I access the other resources you offer - webinars, forum posts, etc.
Dr Nate I am just about to start up my system and wanting to use ammonia to start up nitrifying process before adding fish in my system. I have a 800 liter drain tank and 2000 liter main tank where fish will live, I have had this system running before but put fish in straight away and had a struggle balancing everything. After after some advice, have decided to cycle the system first with safe levels of nitrites and ammonia before adding fish, Can you please tell me how much ammonia I will need to add to the volume of water to get system cycling please. Our water is from from our bore and has a 300 ppm calcium content and 3 grow beds with expanded clay each approx 16 square feet in area. Great info on this video. More to nitrification than I thought. Just about to watch the next one on BSA. Thank you.
Great information
I'm curious; are there benefits to growing nitrifiers with fungi ? Or are they competitors?
Glad you've found it helpful!
What should be water temperature for this bacteria?
Great stuff as always. I feel like I am taking a course on aquaponics. Thanks for doing this.
Wish we could get you on TedTalks, I'm surprised to have not seen anything on aquaponics. Great video thanks for the info, I did have a question thou: Do you see any changes of behavior with fish running a ph as low as 6.0 ? Most freshwater fish seem to love 7.5+ but appear to be doing fine at 6.0. My system has been slowly dropping Ph and I'm hitting 6.4 just wondering if I should expect death in my fish.
Hello Dr. I have a somewhat weird but (as I feel) related question.
I go camping quite a bit with a camper van. I use a porta-potty for the facilities which me and my girlfriend only use to go number one on. I fill the rinse (upper) tank (which is holding water to flush the bowl after business) with water from my small scale Aquaponics system reasoning the present nitrifying bacteria will break down the ammonia into odorless compounds. However, after 2-3 days of use the content of the lower tank starts giving off a stale urine smell, which gets progressively worse getting downright nasty come day 6-7.
I though about using a small aquarium bubbler to aerate (I have read the nitrifying process needs oxigen) the water in the lower tank but I am unsure if this will work and/or be sufficiant to prevent the water/urine in the lower tank from starting to smell. I am not quite sure what causes urine to become stale and smelling bad but I suspect the nitrifying process is stopped or slowed down to the point it has become useless.
Can you tell me if you expect my air bubbler theory to work and if not what else can I do to prevent the lower tank contents from smelling. I clean the porta potty very well with a mild soap solution and rinse with clean water and let air dry after each camping trip. I am quite sure the smell has noting to do with any mold or other moisture being trapped inside the device for a prolonged period of time. I store the device clean and bone dry and the device does not smell at all after starting to use it again.
Note:
I don't like to use any sort of harsh chemicals to keep the lower tank from developing the smell since I like to keep the option open to dump the 2-3 gallon lower tank into a wooded area or the like and have a clear conscience about it...
Thanks in advance for any useful answer you may have on this... Regards, Sander Tel.
Why... thank you, Cheryl!
Hii i just saw the video and I'm very curious on asking how can i increase my nitrate levels from zero because i installed my plants in the water and after a week I've testing the nitrate after constantly feeding the fish but still no nitrate being produce for plants
Good video. Very knowledgeable delivery. I'm crunching ideas for a good bio medium to give maximal surface area in the smallest volume as I'm considering using aero/aquaponics with tilapia. I want to make various sizes of system, including very compact units that can give a fish meal treat let's say once in every six weeks as a bonus on top of regular herbs, salad, veg. Would a fluid bio filter with plastic media be the most compact method? I presume I want to avoid producing anaerobic bacteria in order to save nitrate for the plants... Am I on the right track?
Hey so which plants need more nutrients (and light)? Seedlings and small plants or large and close-to-harvest plants? Thanks!
I have seen your Matrix Media product in the grow towers and I am interested in learning whether you have applied the use of the Matrix Media, into a Media Bed for aquaponics. If so, did you use other media in conjunction with it? How would you lay it out? etc. Your instructions continue to be my best teacher! Thanks
We have played with matrix media in grow beds, with great results. You can replace any traditional media with matrix media, but it can be a little more difficult to use in some grow-bed applications.
Bright Agrotech I was considering putting down a layer of volcanic rock, overlaying it with the matrix media and then filling in the top with clay pebble. Overall, I figured that this would significantly reduce weight, but allow for good water flow and a pretty good BSA. Yea? Nay? How has it worked best for you guys? I want to try some and I'll give you guys feedback and even send a few pics of the progress
Hey Steve Smith just be careful with volcanic rock (lava rock) as it can be very basic and mess with your system pH. We usually don't recommend lava rock. If you're going to be building a static grow bed (static in the sense you're probably not going to be moving it around much) why be concerned about weight? Why not just go 3/4'' crushed granite?
Hi, my ph is at 6.4 and I am unable to cultivate enough beneficial bacteria at this ph, because it seems the BB are almost dormant at this ph level and work only at 30% efficiency. Even after adding a lot bio media like sera siporax, marine pure , bio balls etc, the ammonia in my tank keeps increasing after feeding the fish, luckily at this ph seems ammonium is mostly what available than ammonia and the fish are surviving so far... Any tips on how I can counter this? pls advise.
Open ponds or biofloc tanks you are talking about
Love your videos. Really appreciate the information. I have not lost any fish but have seen a spike in nitrites and a significant drop in ph even with sea shells in my sump. The testing strips I've been able to find here in Jamaica don't give me an ammonia reading but I've added a bio filter and seeded it with a pond bacteria supplement hoping to get those nitrites down. Is there something I can do to help this process. Nitrites are over 20 ppm and nitrates over 200. Ph is around 5.5. The lowest reading for the strips. The plants look amazing tho. Only 5-6 weeks into having fish in system. Would rather not loose any. One jumped from the tank first night. Fixed that.
Really enjoying your highly informative videos Nate. Ammonia is converting very well in my system but for some reason nitrobacter doesn't seem to be taking hold. My nitrites are going thru the roof with no nitrate production. I am doing frequent water changes to protect the fish but this doesn't help the plants much.
I heard that potassium permanganate will chemically convert nitrite to nitrate. I question the wisdom of adding that much manganese to the system though. Do you know of a better/safer way to treat the nitrite?
If it's a new system and the nitrosomonas have just got established it will take some time for the nitrobacter to feed and breed on the nitrites produced. Just realised how long ago that post was lol.
I have a quick question: Do you happen to know if it would be in any way possible to run an aquaponic system at or around PH 4.0-5.0? Is that too low for the bacteria, and are there any types of fish which could thrive in those conditions? I would like to eventually grow blueberries and a few other low PH plants, and want to know if it's even something worth exploring, or if I should stick to dirt farming for my berry needs.
Hi Christopher, it's possible to run systems down into the 5's, but it can get tricky and it takes time. It would be difficult to run in the low 5's, but I wouldn't say impossible. If you were interested in blueberries, I'd say split the difference and run your system around 5.8-6.0. That'll be enough for your berries, but won't be so low that it takes you 2 years to get to your pH goals.
Bright Agrotech Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it, and will try that.
Way to prove them wrong! Seems like your system does more than alright, indeed.
I have a 3 year old IBC system with 2 IBC grow beds full of Hydroton. The first couple of years everything seemed to be good but lately everything's going south. Older leaves turn yellow and die. Healthy seedlings struggle and die. Nothing seems to want to grow. I've rarely if ever had to raise my pH. Nitrates are 80-100. Ammonia is .25-.5. I am showing substantial Nitrites. Is there something in a system that can cause this reversal? One thing that has changed is stocking levels of fish. They continue to multiply but I try to keep things regulated with food controls.
I'm no expert but if the fish are breeding and then you are controlling food levels with a bent towards not putting in enough, or you're putting in enough so all the fish have eaten, then you stop when they show less interest, bearing in mind with more fish eating their fill, there will be more waste products, either way the system is under stress. I may have the complete wrong end of the stick but I wouldn't want fish breeding outside of a specialised and separate area for that purpose and I would want to have an all male population in the growing on ponds/tanks. Also if nitrites are being produced I guess that would mean you have an imbalance between nitrosomonas (dominating) and nitrobacter (deficit) so not converting the nitrite to nitrate. Perhaps some of the lower PH preferring nitrobacter types are suffering or they are overrun and you need to add some bio surface area. And check the dissolved oxygen levels are good. I would think if there is a reduction in dissolved O2 then the bacteria would struggle or even die off somewhat. If you would, please let me know if you get a solution and what it was. Cheers.
that's great to hear, thank you for your reply
Do nitrifying algae exist?
Hello
I started cycling my system the first of January of this year. I added fish about 5 weeks ago. Everything was find and the system was operating as it should until two days ago. I noticed ammonia was at 1.77 which led me to test for pH and nitrate. I found pH was setting at 6.4 and nitrate was 40. I realized that I am having nitrofication difficiency because the nitrate leve was always at 100+. I don't know exactly why the bactira stopped working but I have suggestion. My suggestion for this problem is that the pH dropped from 8 to 6.4 in a matter of 5 weeks. This fast change Did not give bacteria enough time to adapt to such low pH. Could that be true? How to go about it? If I am wrong what would the problem be?
Thank you in advance�
is one month long enough for the bacteria to adapt from 7 to 6.4? or do they need more time?
I have a small system and seem to be doing everything wrong. Today I added seaweed extract for the first time and must have added to much because my nitrate reading went off the charts with no nitrite bump. Should I worry or take drastic action because of this? I'm afraId I'm going to hurt my fish.
I dont see why you added seaweed extract when you already have fish??? if your testing your doing better than most people who just wing it, anyway it was two years ago, how did everything go?
The seaweed extract worked like a charm. It had enough of whatever was in deficit. I've had my system torn down almost a year now. After my wife died last June I needed to move and my homestead isn't ready to live on so I just took it down. I'll set up a new one after I build the new house on the homestead. Now I'm just focusing on permaculture. Planting good forests.
Keep up that great work on these videos. You want to do an interview for UrbanAgProducts?
Thanks again Nate :)
Cheers chaps...
Can you have TOO MUCH bio-conversion in a system (i.e. too much nitrifying bacteria via too much BSA). I watched your video on how to calculate minimum BSA, but you didn't appear to mention whether or not it was possible to have too much. From this video it appears that the answer is 'No, never,' but I would like to be sure before I decide how to design and build my bio-filter system.
Hi Larry Moe Curly! It's theoretically possible, but we've never seen it and I can't say for sure what the exact threshold would be. I'm sure you'll be just fine cramming as much BSA in your system design as you can though. Sorry we couldn't be more exact! - Nate
I think if you got too many bacteria at any stage, they would have less nutrients from the fish by ratio and would begin to self regulate to the system. Say you have twice as much BSA as your fish/system could support then the colonies are likely to die off or subdue their activity to a point where the optimum amount of bacteria would simply have twice as much space to live in. If you then doubled your system loading (gradually! and sorted out all the other variables, such as oxygenation), they could breed back up to meet the new nutrient supply for them. I'm not an experienced expert but I've offered my assessment of how a bacterial or any living colony would behave within a "closed" system... and I've just noticed how old the post is ummm.
@Leslie B personally I would let the system reach its own optimum. You could add bacteria but I'd you're not certain about what you're doing and why, get some local assistance.
Very interesting Nate! Thank you for covering some of this for me, it's all new knowledge. Wayne
How many ppm Nitrate should my system run to fertilize my plants?
I checked the vertical food blog and discovered 40-80 ppm is a good range for nitrates.
hello Nate. what levels of nitrate are recommended in aquaponics?
We like to shoot for 80 ppm, but you can usually have a pretty healthy garden between 60-120 ppm.
Bright Agrotech what if i dont read any nitrates?
Hey DRUMofTRUTH - It just means they aren’t being produced or they’re being consumed faster than they are being produced.
I do have some heavy hitters in mine. Cucs. Maters. Corn. Bell peppers. Okra. Few lettuces. And I'm doing this mostly on 70 fingerling goldfish. Pretty amazing! Highly respect the goldfish.
Hard to go wrong with those little guys. They're so underrated!
I wish I learned how the bacteria convert ammonia to nitrates. But thanks, very nice to learn 🎓
Hi Nate....Thank you sooooo much for your detailed information. It has really cleared up a lot of questions that others don't touch on. One question that comes to mind that isn't talked about is light sensitivity. You mentioned ultraviolet, but what about normal light ? I know that some bacteria thrive in darkness while others don't. What's the story on nitrifying bacteria ?....Thanks again !
craigathonian Protect nitrifying bacteria from light as much as possible. They’re all sensitive to UV, but some are also sensitive to non-UV spectrum as well. Hope that helps!
would carrots do better in a raft or in medium?
Hi Frank, You'll want to grow carrots in hydroton or expanded shale. . .
Thanks. I was worried about the carrots being malformed due to compression.
Frank Nicoletti That's a fair concern, Frank.
Much love nate.
my well water ph is about 8. so i always put it in big container and add muratic acid till the ph drop to 6.8 before add to my aquaponic. how long should i change the ph from 7 to 6.4?
does muriatic acid kills Beneficial bacteria?
thanks
Couldn't disagree more about the pH of the system. We have found that any time the pH drops below 7.0 the ammonia levels start to increase. The lower the pH the higher the ammonia levels. The bacteria do not function well below a pH of 7.0. Our systems work best at a pH of 7.0 to 7.5. All of the chemistry measurements are best when the pH is around 7.3.
how do you cultivate or introduce these bacteria into your system?
You need to supply as much biological surface area (verticalfoodblog.com/biological-surface-area-in-aquaponics/) as possible and going through the cycling process (ruclips.net/video/rHuO_li0xEs/видео.html).
Go ahead and visit our website brightagrotech(dot)com - From there you can find resources and visit our blog.
YES!!! another rock'n video!
Love the haircut :)