LowCarbTNPer's Starter System

LowCarbTNPer

This is my starter/testing system for AP with a ~30 gallon FT, 3 growbeds, and 1 DWC/NFT tube. It's been running about a week and a half. Including sump, growbeds, and tube there are about 70-75 gallons of water in the system in total.

Right now it has 4 goldfish in it, I'll probably add a few more once it's cycled.

In the growbeds I have some lettuce (Bibb and Romaine) and some carrots I had overwintering that I transplanted in.

Water stats so far:
Temp: mid-60s (Fahrenheit)
pH: 7.8-8.0 (well & rain water)
Ammonia: holding between 0.15-0.25
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: haven't bothered testing yet since it's a new system

I've also added 3 tablespoons of Maxicrop which has added a little brown tint to the water.

Now for the good stuff (pictures lol):

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File comment: My SLO

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LowCarbTNPer

More pics:

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File comment: My SLO outlet and water inlet. The lid is halfway off in this picture, normally the 6 holes are in the center of the tank.

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File comment: My biggest comet and one of the smaller ones.

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kevyrev

Nice! Are your grow beds cement mixing trays?

LowCarbTNPer

Yep, they certainly are. I was trying to go on the cheap and I found them at Lowe's for $14/each. Also got the FT/storage tote there for $25, it's much sturdier than other tote's I've tried and doesn't bulge from the water at all (unlike the sump tank you see underneath the table lol).

Just in case anyone else is interested in the future the Lowe's part # for the grow beds is 19252 and the FT is 337471.

kevyrev

Nice strudy tote indeed. I have a rubbermaid tote that I have some tilapia fingerlings in and does it ever bow out on the sides. Didn't do that until a few days after filling it up. Have you planted anything yet?

LowCarbTNPer

A little bit, mainly lettuce and transplanted in some carrots that were overwintering in pots.

kevyrev

Nice, keep us updated.

LowCarbTNPer

The lettuce has been coming up a lot, but other than that no changes really.

pH still staying in the 7.8-8.0 range, the system has been kept topped up by the rain so I haven't added any more well water or anything.
Ammonia: still holding between 0.15-0.25
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

LowCarbTNPer

We've moved to phase 2 of cycling, finally getting nitrite and nitrate readings.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 5+ (liquid was bright purple in API test kit)
Nitrate: between 0 and 5ppm, ~2.5?

After I saw how high the nitrite was I did a 25% water change to try to bring that down, don't want the fish dying.

LowCarbTNPer

Wow, can't beleive it's been a month since my last update.
A few days after my last post my system was fully cycled, I get 0 amm/nitrite and usually 0 or very low nitrate. I added more goldfish bringing my total up to 9; and since my nitrate is nearly always zero I've started feeding them 2x a day in hopes of bring that up a bit (more fertilizer for the plants lol).

Anyway, on to the pics:

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File comment: My first lettuce harvest this year.

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File comment: Current system status, this is after the harvest above which is why the lettuce on the left is so thin.

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File comment: My goldfish doing their thing.

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LowCarbTNPer

Quick update...

Amm/Nitrite/Nitrate: 0 (make me want to add more fish, Nitrate is never more than 0)
pH: 7.3/7.4

Plants are doing good, got the first flowers blooming on my tomatoes and yellow squash. Little baby beans on my bush beans.

bunson

Before adding more fish to a system which already "doing good", try using a higher protein feed and see if the better quality feed has an impact of your levels.

Scott

LowCarbTNPer

Ok, I'll try that first.

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