help with cycling

[BARRAMUNDI BRETT'O]

Hello Murray,I will put a dead red claw in the tank,for sure much better than the urea.My plants have started to go a bit yellow and the tom's are going mouldy looking again,not sure if it is from the higher humidity in emerald lately or lack of nutrients,although i have been using seasol,never a dull day with aquaponics.I talked to bruce at ausyfish and jade's will be ready in a week or two,cant wait till then. hoo roo Brett

[Jason Palenske]

Personally I think the goldfish should be more than capable of keeping things going without adding a bunch of stuff to the water. They have serious poo power on their own. The moldy look of the tomatoes is probably going to be because of the humidity, especially if it was sudden. As far as yellowing leaves my guess would be either its just too hot, getting brittle as they yellow. Or the water may not be acidic enough for the tomatoes preference, which would be yellowing but still have that healthy leathery feel.

Personally I think goldfish tend to get a bad rap because they aren't a food fish. I run my indoor system purely on goldies and my 12 produce enough I could do a sideline business of fish water fertilizer and my plants would be just fine.

I'd say let it be until the rest of your fish arrive Brett and you should be fine.

Just my two cents...

[Murray]

Sorry , I did not realise that you had some Goldies in the system....I should have read further back in your thread........Jason is absolutely right.... forget the urea.......do yourself a favor and throw it all in the bin.

[GaryD]

Hi Brett,

Thanks for the input guy's,I will pull the goldy's out and give the water a hit with yate's urea,i hope this form of urea is ok?

That would certainly work. The key is to be gentle with the urea and to apply it in conjunction with regular water testing.....you only need a trace reading of ammonia since your system has already cycled. Remember, you are only building up the numbers of the bacteria that are already there.

Cease using the urea two to three days before adding the fish.

Alternatively, you could do the prawn thing. The only issue that I have with this is that you run the very slight risk of introducing a disease into your system.

Gary

[BARRAMUNDI BRETT'O]

Just did some water testing and am happy to announce that after half a cup of urea there is once again nitrate in my system.I feel that the small quantity of urea used would harbour close to negative effects on any fish introduced from now on in.saying that i will use an organic source to keep the bacteria happy until my fish arrive.the only down side is my ph has hit the high eights,a bit of vinegar should fix that.Something else i have learnt is that the chlorine-chloramine levels in emerald's (QLD) water has not killed off the bacteria present after a substantial refill of over 1000 litres.Thank's for all the input.

[GaryD]

Hi Brett,

.....the only down side is my ph has hit the high eights,a bit of vinegar should fix that.

Have you determined why the pH shifted so high? What is the pH of your tap water? In the interests of your fish, adjustments to your pH should be done gradually.

Something else i have learnt is that the chlorine-chloramine levels in emerald's (QLD) water has not killed off the bacteria present after a substantial refill of over 1000 litres.

The effect of chlorine on the bacteria is not the only issue. Chlorine is toxic in its own right. At the right concentrations it will kill fish (and people).

Gary

[BARRAMUNDI BRETT'O]

Hi Garry,I checked the ph of our tap water and is around the eight mark,this is unusual as it has never read this high before,this would probably explain the jump in ph coupled with the extra nitrification from the urea ? only a guess.I have removed all fish from my tank so no prob's with the chlorine,but will definately be aging my water when the jade's arrive.The guy at the local pet store is a wealth of knowledge and pointed out that chlorine effects the gills of fish and will kill them over time if exposed often and long enough,he likened the damage caused to their gills as someone taking a knife and cutting out little bits of your lung,not so nice.
ta Brett

[jack@badflas]

If you use town water, they will add sodium hydroxide to the water to prevent pipe corrosion when it gets warm. Easy to deal with by adding a little muratic acid. They add all sorts of nasties to the water. Best to collect rain water if you can. Otherwise you need an in-line filter like I have to deal with all the chemicals they throw in.

[Crusty]

Wouldnt the urea contribute to the pH rise?

[BARRAMUNDI BRETT'O]

G'day Crusty,I reckon it might, i did mention that in my last post as i was thinking that myself. Hoo Roo Brett