posted November 06, 1999 02:46 AM
Typical aquarium owners change 30% of the water every week. This is to protect the fish from the
accumulation of toxic waste in their habitat. I'm talking about their own waste choking them. Aquarium
enthusiasts are all ready familiar with the nitrogen cycle, for the rest of you here it is. Ammonia is the most
poisonous of the nitrogenous compounds to the fish, it is also the first to accumulate in the water as a
result of the fish waste. As the ammonia level rises during the first few days of operation, and given the
proper conditions (ie aerated surface area), beneficial aerobic bacteria called nitrosonomas begin to feed
on the ammonia converting it into the less harmful compound nitrite. This is still toxic to the fish, but not
as toxic as ammonia. As the nitrite level rises, given the appropriate conditions, another species of
nitrobacteria (nitrobacter) colonizes feeding on the nitrite. This reduces the nitrite to nitrate, the least
toxic of these compounds to the fish. The aerated surface area is known as the biofilter, an integral part of
this technique, for this is where the good bacteria colonize. This cycle takes twelve days to control the
degradation of ammonia-nitrite-nitrate. For this reason most people begin with a few small fish and
gradually add more after two weeks, when the biofilter is bacterially balanced. As you know these three
nitrogenous compounds are essential to the health of your plant, which will readily suck them out of the
water. A foliar feed with this water will green up any plants, guaranteed. By bathing the roots continuously
with this water, the plants are sponging the nutrients out of the solution hence cleaning the water further
than the filter. When the water returns to the aquarium it is heavily aerated, which is of the utmost
importance to the health of populations of beneficial aerobic bacteria. These bacteria not only process
nutrients into a plant soluble form, and clean the water for the fish, they also inhibit the proliferation of
destructive bacteria by a process known as competitive exclusion. Once the solution is dominant with good
bacteria monopolizing the available food sources, bad bacteria is unable to gain a foot hold. When one
spore of bad bacteria comes in contact with a sterile hydroponic solution, it multiplies rapidly and disaster
is the inevitable result. In a healthy aquaponic system that spore is a snack for more established helpful
bacteria. The plants are protected and fed by the beneficial bacteria. The only supplemental nutes given
are organic and used sparingly. It is definately a less is more scenario. I use
Earth Juice Catalyst for PH
down. PH up is merl mix, ground oyster shells and special lime. I top dress around the plants with a tbsp of
castings. Repeat as necessary. I fill up the foot of nylon stockings with my special blend of guanos, ashes,
mineral rock, kelp, and feed meals. I drop this in the aquarium for added bloom food. Rapidly algae starts to
eat at it, and a horde of algae eaters attach themselves to it reducing it to plant soluble food. Any and all
deficiencies in any garden can be rectified organically.
For best results use only one aquarium for your entire garden, mothers, clones and all stages of growth. If
your garden is staggered you balance the demands on the water, as the plants have varying nutrient
requirements at different stages of growth. I keep the most diverse range of creatures in the aquarium to
fill all the niches. The more lifeforms, the greater the balance. I could go on and on, I'm writing a book on
growing cannabis this way. Your questions are important to me. Some other nice things about this are that
you never have to change your solution, just top it up. The plants sprout and finish with an average of
275ppm. Remember that the probes that measure dissolved salts only give a very rough picture, they
cannot measure life. I'll check back here if anyone wants more information and has specific questions. Yes
Vic, more roots=more plant. Cheers!
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Sinserely Steve
