In an aquaponics system, the perfect balance and synergy between fish and plants depends on the bacteria that break down fish waste and transform it into plant fertiliser. Starting up your Aquaponics system involves making sure the bacteria in your system grow and thrive, and you will need to give it some time before fish and plant growth can be supported by the bacteria population.

They will start producing ammonia as soon as you put fish in your tanks (in their waste). In the air, Nitrosomonas bacteria will populate the surface of the water and begin to convert the toxic ammonia into nitrites. Nitrites are still toxic, but nitrobacter bacteria will be attracted by their presence. These will colonise the system and convert the nitrites into nitrates that are harmless to the fish and excellent for the plants to fertilise.

You will be able to detect nitrates in your system when this happens, and the concentrations of both ammonia and nitrites will fall below 0.5ppm. This is going to signal that your system is up and running now! Generally, this will take a total of about four to six weeks.

The 'fishless' one, where you do not use the fish as the initial source of ammonia, is an increasingly common method of starting up the aquaponics system. Instead, without any fish in the tank, you launch the machine and apply artificial ammonia. You can purchase cycling kits to do this, which will give you all the equipment you need to start your system. Once the system is up and running and the bacteria are thriving, you then add the fish (i.e. when the levels of ammonia and nitrites fall to below 0.5ppm).

This method is safer, as due to initial ammonia spikes, there is no danger of fish dying. You can also speed up the process by modifying the other parameters if you are using the 'fishless' method. The use of higher temperatures (typically 77 to 86 ° F) is one of the key ways to do this, as bacteria multiply more easily at these temperature ranges.

To speed up bacterial growth and oxygenate the tank as much as possible, you can also use a pH of about 7 to 8, such as using air stones and some kind of water jetting action. Furthermore, you can buy bacterial colonies as well, which will certainly speed up the process. Alternatively, from an existing, disease-free aquarium, get some philtre material or gravel, as this will be rich in the bacterial colonies we like. Any rocks and pebbles may also be collected from a river or lake, but beware of the possibility of disease and parasites being introduced.

For detailed instructions about how to start up your Aquaponics system, check out Aquaponics 4 You