How long should I let my tank cycle before adding fish?
The important tip to get from this article is not to add your fish too soon to your aquaponics system. But how long do you have to wait before adding fish to an aquaponics system? Let’s take a look…
How long do you have to wait before adding fish to an aquaponics system in 20 seconds…
How long you have to wait before adding fish to an aquaponics system is until your system has cycled. Your aquaponics system is fully cycled once nitrates are being produced and ammonia and nitrite levels are zero. In colder climates your aquaponics system can take between eight to ten weeks to cycle. Whereas in warmer climates an aquaponics system can cycle within four weeks. The cycling process can be sped up by adding beneficial bacteria.
How long do you have to wait before adding fish to an aquaponics system?
It’s important to understand why you need to wait before adding your fish to your aquaponics system. Whilst you may be tempted to put your fish in right away when new to aquaponics, if you do before the system has had time to cycle, you may stress your fish or worst still kill them.
Your aquaponics system is “cycled” once the nitrifying bacteria have colonised the plant media bed and have started to convert the ammonia (NH3) to nitrates. Or put another way your aquaponics system is fully cycled once nitrates are being produced and your ammonia and nitrite levels are zero.
More Reading: How to lower ammonia levels in fish tank naturally aquaponics
The parts per million (ppm) of ammonia and nitrites should be ideally lover than 2ppm and 1ppm respectively, with zero being the preferred and safer option. Whereas nitrates are ideally in the range of 40-80ppm.
The amount of time to wait before adding fish to your aquaponics system:
- On average you should cycle your system for about six weeks before adding fish to it.
- In colder climates you can wait up to eight to ten weeks for your system to cycle first before adding fish.
- If your aquaponics system is in a warmer climate or indoors where you have home-heating, the time to cycle can be reduced to around four weeks.
- The cycling time can be sped up by adding beneficial bacteria to your media bed to encourage microbes to establish.
How to start the aquaponics cycling process – using fish-less cycling
Your aquaponics system won’t cycle unless there’s ammonia in the system. But ammonia in a “cycling” aquaponics system is normally provided from fish waste. So how does an aquaponics system begin to cycle without fish and their waste?
A bit of a chicken and egg question, or perhaps I should say a fish and egg dilemma! This is done as a fish-less cycling.
Fish-less aquaponics cycling by introducing ammonia
The way to encourage your aquaponics system to start cycling is to introduce ammonia which is a source of food for your aquaponics bacteria. The bacteria begin to multiply and start converting to create nitrates.
This fish-less cycling process has become a favourite method to experienced aquaponic gardeners. It’s therefore also recommended to you if you’re an aquaponics beginner. This is because it eliminates the risk of exposing your fish to dangerous levels of ammonia and nitrites.
Whilst you can get an aquaponics system cycling using fish, it’s much more risky. You stand the chance of losing fish, which can become expensive and is of course cruel to the fish.
How to know when your system is cycled and when to introduce fish
You need to know when your aquaponics system has cycled and when it’s the right time to add your fish. This can be done by checking the various levels of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
Levels of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates when your system is ready:
- Ammonia is less than 2 ppm – but ideal zero.
- Nitrites are less than 1 ppm – but ideally zero.
- Nitrates are between 40-80 ppm.
Once your levels are in the above ranges all is good and you’re ready to add your fish.
How to jump-start your aquaponics cycle by introducing aquaponics bacteria
You can speed up your aquaponics cycling process by ‘infecting‘ your system with beneficial aquaponics bacteria. This can be done in one of three ways, which are as follows:
- Get a sample of water from another cycled aquaponics system and add this into your aquaponics system.
- Get a sample of media bed from another healthy aquaponic system and add this to your media bed.
- Buy a supplement additive which contains concentrated nitrosomonas and nitrobacter nitrifying bacteria cultures.
If you choose to do either or both of the first two options above, make sure that the water and media bed samples are coming from a healthy body of water or a healthy aquaponics system.
The last thing you need is for these samples to come from a system with diseased fish. This could introduce diseases to your aquaponics system that your fish may catch and die from.
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