Marinepure/nitrates

[Bamzam]

This is a general water chemistry question but related to a freshwater tank, so I wasn't sure what section to post this in..

 

I'm in the process of setting up my freshwater tank which will be 125g display tank with a 30g sump. I'm picking bio media for the sump and I'm almost ready to order some marinepure (still not sure between a large block or the bag of mixed shapes). I read a few reviews and it sounds like marinepure completely reduced peoples nitrates down to zero or undetectable levels, has this been the case for anyone here?

 

The reason I ask is because my freshwater tank will be the source of an aquaponic system where we are growing small herbs like kale, cilantro, etc. The plants will depend on the nitrates for nutrition. So will marinepure take that away from them? If so, is it better to just go with some other ceramic media?

[mcarroll]

9 hours ago, Bamzam said:

So will marinepure take that away from them? If so, is it better to just go with some other ceramic media?

You want the least amount of media possible...and I wouldn't use anything like those bio-blocks or other ceramic media.   Those are capable of reducing nitrogen back to N2 gas and out of the system.  NOT what you want.

 

Your plants are supposed to be doing ALL of that work, if possible.   Bacteria already have a natural physical advantage vs plants when it comes to taking up nutrients...you don't want the field tilted even more in their favor, so to speak.

[Bamzam]

Thank you! So I just need enough bacteria to ensure I dont get ammonia/nitrite, but not an excess. I will not order the marinepure then.

[mcarroll]

Right!

 

Do you have any books on aquaponics yet?

[Bamzam]

Nope! Just kinda trying it as we go lol. This is my current set up now. Upgrading to a larger tank and sump so I can get all the equipment out of there

[mcarroll]

Nice looking setup.   Those two sponge filters will be all the bacterial filtration you'll need.  Clean only one at a time when you clean them.  The power filter is probably unnecessary, but that's a nice one!  How are the plants getting water from the tank currently?  Just manually?

 

For what it's worth, I think your current hardware would transfer seamlessly up to the 125 Gallon...mostly would just need a third light...possibly a little more heat, depending how that room is and whether it'll be covered.

 

Have any plans for how the new system will be integrated with the plants?

[Bamzam]

It wasn't hooked up in the pic but the flood tray above has a flood and drain system, those are the tubes hanging on the left. I have a submersible pump that goes in the tank itself to fill the tray above and let it drain back into the tank. 

 

I dont really like the look with equipment everywhere, which led to the upgrade. Will be getting rid of the power filter for sure and using the sump only for filtration. I want to move the flood and drain tubes/pump down to the sump as well and use the return chamber to fill the flood tray above and have it drain into a sock filter in the sump. 

 

I have a third ai prime to install once the tank comes in and starting to collect all my sump equipment/plumbing. Had to get 2 different heaters because this eheim was too long to fit in any of my sump chambers. Once everything's up and running I'm hoping to add more fish to have 25-30 cichlids. They're still so small they don't have much bio load and I think the plants are having nutrient deficiency, but I also don't really know what I'm doing with the plants lol. With 30 cichlids I thought I'd need more biological filtration, so thats why I was about to order a marinepure block, but glad I got your advice first! any good links/forums for aquaponics?

[mcarroll]

Ramp up you population slowly and you'll know if anything more is needed before it becomes an issue.

 

Harvesting plants out of the system will have an impact kinda like cleaning your filter sponges, so pretty much everything will need to be done incrementally to keep the whole system stable enough.

 

Be careful about overloading the system...density is correlated with likelihood of disease and other problems.  Do LOTS of reading before you get the density up there.

 

Just for a couple of places to start, University of Florida's IFAS archive is awesome, as is the archive at SRAC:

https://srac.tamu.edu

https://tal.ifas.ufl.edu/extension-and-outreach/extension-publications/

 

Just a few from the beginning of IFAS's list to whet your appetite:

Quote

Beginning Aquaculture

Aquaculture: Realities and Potentials When Getting Started (SRAC 441)

Developing Business Proposals for Aquaculture Loans (SRAC 381)

Good Aquaculture Practices (SRAC 4404)