Practical Aquaponics: Maintaining the System

Aquaponics Maintenance

While the work associated with upkeeping your mini aquaponic system is generally very easy, there are a few key practices that you'll want to stay on top of! These practices are, of course, proper dechlorination, water changes, testing water parameters, and keeping an aquaponic journal. If you stay up-to-date on these, your aquaponic aquarium will continue to thrive for an infinite amount of time! So without further ado, let's dive into aquaponics maintenance.

Proper Dechlorination

This is a big one! Properly dechlorinating all water to be used in your aquarium aquaponics system is an absolute must. Chlorine and/or chloramines used in city water systems are extremely harmful to aquatic life and will cause fish fatalities if not removed from the water. Since both chlorine and chloramines are used as disinfectants, they will also adversely affect beneficial microbe colonies if allowed to enter the aquarium. Overall, the stuff just flat-out needs to go! Here's a look at the two most practical methods for dechlorination:

• Aging - If your city water is only treated with chlorine, aging the water is the way to go! Just allow the water to be used to sit out for 24-48 hours beforehand. During this resting time, chlorine gas dissipates, leaving clean and dechlorinated water. To speed up the process, place a small air stone into the bucket. The constant movement from the air stone allows the chlorine to dissipate from the surface area more quickly. Generally, aging is not recommended for the removal of chloramines, as these can stay in water for several weeks.
• Ascorbic Acid - Tablets of pure ascorbic acid (aka Vitamin C) are perfect for dechlorinating water. Neutralizing both chlorine and chloramines, only a tiny bit of vitamin C is needed, making this the most cost-effective option! To use, crush the correct amount of ascorbic acid into a powder and mix it with water before placing it into the aquarium. The neutralization of chlorine and chloramine is instant.

Generally speaking, one ascorbic acid tablet (1000mg) will treat 100 gallons of water. With that said:

• 1/2 Tablet = 50 gallons of water
• 1/4 Tablet = 25 gallons of water
• 1/8 Tablet = 12.5 gallons of water

Water Changes

Since we were just on the topic of proper dechlorination, it's now appropriate to focus on water changes. Yes, water changes! I definitely wish that I could be the bearer of good news and say that with the aquaponic plants filtering and cleaning passing water that you wouldn't need to do water changes, but just the opposite is true. While nitrates and other minerals will be taken up by the plants, fecal matter and salts will still continue to accumulate in the aquarium water. For these two reasons, water changes should be performed routinely! Here's a basic outline to use when performing water changes:

1. Remove 15-25% of your tank's total volume weekly. You'll want to siphon off any food wastes and fecal matter present on the substrate.
2. Replace siphoned water with tap water that is near the same temperature as the water in the aquarium. Always dechlorinate!
3. Every other week, gently stir up half of the substrate in the aquarium before siphoning. This helps catch organic matter that may be stuck and also prevents anaerobic conditions from occurring in your substrate.

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Testing Water Parameters

Sure, everything looks visibly correct, but what about all the things you can't see? Do they really even matter? Oh, you bet they do! Invisible factors such as ammonia, pH, nitrites, and nitrates can all cause your aquaponic setup to go haywire if allowed to run amuck. So how do you keep these seemingly impossible factors in check? You guessed it, test the water! You'll either need a liquid aquarium test kit (recommended) or multi-read aquarium test strips. Follow the directions on your testing kit to receive your water parameters. Here's how the idealistic parameters pan out.

• pH - The pH test describes either a water's acidity or alkalinity based on a scale of 1-14. Water on either extreme can be detrimental to plants and aquatic life, so generally speaking, a range of 6-8 pH is acceptable. Taking into consideration that most growing plants and vegetables prefer a slightly acidic pH. Therefore, a pH of 6.1-6.8 would be ideal.
• Ammonia - Ammonia just so happens to be the immediate by-product of fish respiration. It can also be caused by decaying food and other organics. While ammonia will be present during the cycling of a new tank, the bacterial colonies of an established tank should quickly convert these poisonous molecules. Ammonia levels should read 0 ppm.
• Nitrites - As ammonia is converted to its final form as nitrates, it first takes the shape of nitrites. Nitrites are very poisonous to aquatic life, but like ammonia, it should be quickly consumed by bacterial colonies in an established aquarium. Nitrite levels should read 0ppm.
• Nitrates - The final form of ammonia is nitrate. This molecule is much less toxic to aquatic life and is also a form of nitrogen that is very easily taken up by plant roots. Healthy aquaponics systems will register small levels of nitrates. Nitrate levels should read 10-25 ppm. Readings below this may be an indicator that there's not enough nitrogen to sustain plant growth. In excess, nitrates can adversely affect aquatic life.

Keeping an Aquaponics Journal

Seriously, what's the point of a meticulous routine of cleaning and testing your mini aquaponics setup if you're not keeping track of what's happening? Jotting down the results of a test, or a few notes from time to time, is a step that I stress you do not forget! Keeping a log of your system's status can prevent issues from ever occurring, and just in case they still do, at least you'll have a written history of your tank as a reference. Here's an example of how I keep track. Trust me; your aquaponics journal doesn't have to be much. It just has to cover the basics!

Onward With Your Aquaponics Maintenance

That's it! With your journal in hand for recording purposes, you're now ready to tackle aquaponics maintenance. Though the practices might seem a bit technical at first, once you get the hang of it, your maintenance routine may only take up half an hour weekly. Not so bad after all, right? Keep up your end of the deal, and your aquaponics setup is bound to provide! Thanks for reading this article on maintaining the practical aquaponics system.

Need to Catch up?

These are the articles from my aquaponics series:

• The Basics of Small Aquaponics
• The Functioning Aquaponics Setup
• Making Homemade Fish Food

© 2013 Zach