Starting the bio-farm for 6 summer tanks

[TwoTankAmin]

The year+ of Covid stopped my selling any offspring. However, it did not stop the fish from spawning. In oreder to move out fish i need to be able to pull and then hold them in segregated tanks. So, I am forced to do the outdoor set-up on out screened terrace.

The set-up is a 50 over a 20L. and then 2 40 B each over a 20L. The 20Ls will be divided (using a 2 ini thick 20 ppi foam sheet) and so will either the 50 B (using a 2 ini thick 10 ppi foam sheet) or a 40n as well. I also have a couple of 10s which will not get put up until needed. The 10 ppi foam divided is cut in two pieces. The Biggest is 15.5 tall and would work in the 40bs. However, the 50 is a bit deeper and there is a second piece of 10 ppi foan that can sit atop the sheet and this results in a 17.5 inch tall divider.

The filters for these tanks are Poret cubes powerd by a single central air pump from Jehmco.

Yesterday I set up one 50b to act as the bio-farm. It hold six 5x5x5 in. 20 ppo cubes and eight 4x4x4 in. 20ppi cubes. The three llarger tanks will each have two 5x5x5 cubes and the 20Ls will each have two 4x4x4 cubes. The final pair of 4x4x4 cubes are reserved for those 2 10 gal tanks. I will likely set up one of the 10s and then run both the 4x4x4 cubes in it and dose ammonia until a tank is needed.

I have the following read to go today: 1 bag of crushed coral which will supply needed carbonates for the bacteria; a jar of ammonium chloride in powder form (from Fritz Pro Aquatics) which I will mix with RO/DI water.

The water params from my tap: 7.0 pH, 83 ppm TDS, 4-5 dg GH, 3-4 dg KH. The tank temp should be 84-86F and uses a 400w heater.

In my next post in this thread I will post some pics of the set-up and give the dosing plan etc.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Here is my first challenge. How much ammonium chloride should I add to start?

The tank is a 40 gal. But, it is not filled to the underside of the frame. I estimate there is a 1 inch space open in this 16 15/16 inch tall tank. Plus the filters and tiles that hold them down. So I am going with a gallonage estimate of about 33 -35 gal.

The instructions from Fritz for the ammonium chloride are: "Use 4.5 g (approximately 1 level tsp) per 100 U.S. gallons (380 L). This dose will create an ammonia concentration of approximately 4 ppm." Also, " NOTE: Be careful not to use too much ammonium chloride. Raising ammonia levels above 5.0ppm may actually slow the cycle time." That 5 ppm is normally on the Nitrogen scale as on Dr. Hovanec's site. that means about 6.4 ppm on an API kit.

The plan is to cycle those filters 14 filters to keep 290s gals cycled across the 8 possible tanks. I am using about 33 gals. I want all of those filters able to process at least 3 ppm on my API (Total Ion) kit. Fritz would consider that to be 2.35 ppm.

At any rate what I am attempting to do is cycle 14 filters in 33 gals, which, if put into 290 gals with 3 ppm of ammonia, clear it all to nitrate in a day (or less). Simple match says 290/33 = 8.79 ppm. Lets round up to 9 ppm. So, if I do things right I should be able to add 9 ppm to that 33 gal and have it gone in 24 hours or less. I am hoping to do this within 2 weeks.

I plan to add the 1st dose before dark tonight. Does anybody want to take a shot at determining how much ammonium chloride I should mix with some of my RO/DI water to hit 3 ppm (2.35 ppm according to Fritz)?

 

[fishguy1978]

If 4.5g/100gal creates 4ppm then 1.125g= 1ppm leading to 3.375g/100gal= 3ppm so 33% of that dose would be 1.11375g of ammonium chloride.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Very close, but that is on the Nitrogen scale, I am trying to hit 3.0 ppm on the Total Ion scale of an API ammonia test kit. The hint was in this above " That 5 ppm is normally on the Nitrogen scale as on Dr. Hovanec's site. That means about 6.4 ppm on an API kit. " 6.4/5 = 1.28. That is about the right conversion factor for N <-> TI scales (TI is always trhe higher number).

4 ppm/1.28 = 3.125 ppm (close enough to 3.0 for me). So 4.5gm/1.28 = 3.52 gm x .333 = 1.17216 gm

But I forgot above to add two details to the start-up process. First, I will grab a couple of sponges from filters on my Hypan breeding and/or grow tanks to squeeze out in the bio-farm. This will give me some useful mulm and even some bacteria. I will the add the Dr. Tim's for 120 gals. Second, I will cover the tank against light. The nitrifying bacteria are somewhat photophobic. Until they Dr. T's and the mulm gets sucked inside the foams, i want to keep the tank dark.

 

[fishguy1978]

Which equates to a 5% error dose. ?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Talk about a brain fart. I dis that nice calculation and am basically working with needing to add 1.2 grams. My Ohaus Triple beam was bought used on ebay years back to measure dry ferts for my planted tanks. It was decades old then and staring to rust in places. It is Ok but not as accurate as it used to be. I may gave to get a new one.

Anyhow, I wanted to put the powder onto a small poece of paper to weigh and then easily put into a cup of water. So I dutifully weighed the paper at .4 grams maybe a tad over. And trhen my brain went to the Bahamas. I added .42 for the paper and then added .17 and came to needing .55. I weighed it out, added it to the cup, stirred it and poured into the tank, I puttered around for 15 minutes and tested for ammonia. barely over .5 ppm. Oops , I said to myself, I better add twice as much more. But my brain was still on the beach in Nassau drinking Planter's Punches. So, I pushed the slider up by about .34 and added more ammonium chloride.

!5 minutes of watering plants and I was back to test. This time I was over 1 ppm and nering about 1.5. And that was about when my brain came back and explained that .17 and .34 = .51. That was well short of 1.2 gm. My brain said to me, "Stupid is as stupid does. pass the Chocolates." And I weighed out another 7. trams and added it to the tank. The last test put the level at between 2 and 4.

My brain appears to have sobered up from the Punch. It just reminded me the Dr. Tim's was still in the fridge and I needed to add it to the tank. DOH. My brain keeps calling me Homer......

I will give the bottle about an hour to warm some before I add it to the tank.

The next question I have for anybody reading this. How do you think I will be able to be adding 9 ppm of ammonia a day into that tank before the cycling is complete?

I did rinse one 3x3x3 foam and an AC 200 sponge and floss into the bio-farm. Tomorrow I do maint on 6 pelco tanks and will most certainly squeze s few more goodies onto the farm tank.

Pretty much the greatest danger in this process is nitrate. I will be getting 190 gals worth of nitrite accumulating in 33 or 34 gals of water. Water changes will be imperative to control this.

The nice thing about using the combination of filter squeezing and the Dr. Tim's is nitrite is not an issue. The two types of bacteria are going into the tank in balance. That means as much nitrite as the ammonia bacteria can create, there will be close to enough nitrite bacteria there to handle it. The few hour doubling time lag between the ammonia and nitrite bacteria doubling is fast enough to prevent any serious build up of nitrite.

Unlike and un-seeded fishless cycle where the bacteria develop in sequence, in this case they are both doubling from the start. The gap between the two will never be great enough to stall the cycle.

I have pictures in the camera and hope to get them posted after dinner.

I also welcome any Qs on the process as it goes along. I will post all additions or ammonia, water changes and all tests. My digital meter put the TDS at 88 ppm and the temp was 30.6C, a tad high.

If I feel things are moving too slowly because the pH is neutral and the water too soft, I will add some baking soda. I may even add a taste of SeaChem Equilibrium.

 

[fishguy1978]

How do you think I will be able to be adding 9 ppm of ammonia a day into that tank before the cycling is complete?

I think you are going to need to get that 86-87F temp down and instead of increasing ph maybe try lowering it?

"Fraction of un-ionized ammonia in freshwater at different pH values and temperatures (To determine the concentration of un-ionized ammonia, multiply the total ammonia nitrogen by the fraction of ammonia that is in the un-ionized form from the table for a specific temperature and pH.)"

	Temperature (°C)
pH	5	10	15	20	25	30	35	40
7.0	0.0012	0.0019	0.0027	0.0039	0.0056	0.0080	0.0111	0.0153
7.5	0.0043	0.0059	0.0081	0.0126	0.0168	0.0254	0.0340	0.0432
8.0	0.0123	0.0182	0.0266	0.0380	0.0537	0.0744	0.1011	0.1345
8.5	0.0419	0.0566	0.0868	0.1132	0.1638	0.2050	0.2729	0.3012
9.0	0.1107	0.1567	0.2144	0.2833	0.3621	0.4455	0.5293	0.6088
9.5	0.3014	0.3714	0.4821	0.5551	0.6561	0.7151	0.8062	0.9123
10.0	0.5535	0.6498	0.7314	0.7983	0.8498	0.8892	0.9167	0.9542

Ammonia - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

www.sciencedirect.com

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Actually, for the ammonia oxidizers higher pH keeps more o f the ammonia as NH3 which is what the bacteria want. The nitrite ones do better in a lower pH and a lower temp.

I prefer to use one of the online calculators to determine how much of a Total Ammonia reading is in each form. This has been my go to calc because it works for fresh, backish and salt water. If you need help in knowing what to enter in any of the fields I am happy to oblige.
http://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/FreeAmmonia.php

That calculator is essential for knowing how toxic any total ammonia reading is for any specific tank.

The bacteria we want prefer NH3. As the pH drops below 7.0 more and more of the ammonia is ammonium (NH4). Some bacteria can wuse this better but even the ones we nortmally want have some receptors for NH4 as well as NH3. However, they do not process NH4 as efficiently as NH3. So when cycle apprears to stop becuase of a pH drop, it takes time for more bacteria to colonize and sometimes for different strains to appear as well. the good news in NH# is described as being 100 times as toxic as NH4. I doubt it is quite that different, but i do not think it is all that far off either. 0.05 ppm of NH3 is the red line. Hit that and you are starting to harm fish (not all fish) but some and as that number rises more fish will become effected.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

ARGHHHHHH!!!!

I had too many folders on my camera's card. I decided to move them to a USB stick. I got part way through the process of moving folders from newest to farthes back in time. I had to stop and after i did i went to check the USB and it was empty. I had deleted each folder from the camera after I copied it to the USB stick, I lost a lof of pics I had taken recently including all those of this project.

Right now the tank is still covered and it is time to do weeklies on 6 pleco tanks. I will have to shoot everything again likely tomorrow.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I am having email issues and I needed to back up my Outlook files. I figured I would try that same USB stick but my PC did not see it. So I canged it drom the USB-3 port to a USB 2 port and I got pop-up saying it had an issue did I want to run a scan and fix, Yes I did and when it was done, all the disappeared picture folders were there. So I will be posting later today pics and info.

I will be heading out to check params shortly. I should have done it last night but other things needed to be done.