Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi TT
The crazy weather is really holding me up but i needed a break anyway.. handmixing 3/4 ton of concrete wasn`t any fun

Hopefully spring has now finally sprung :crosses fingers:

TT.. would love to get the other growbeds but having been layed off recently the money situation isnt great..

Jaymie.. thanks will do hopefully it cathes up without killing any fish

Hex.. Nitrite and Nitrate spiking is a good thing is it??? I dont really know much bout the bacteria side of things lol

Definitely a good thing.
If nitrite and nitrate productivity is on the up, its a good indication the bacteria are increasing their numbers to cope with the new load.

Those GB will need to go in ASAP...

You have 60 fish in 1500L with only 200L of filtration... You are cutting it too damn fine... Its a miracle it hasn't gone to hell already. The nitrite/nitrate spikes are a good sign that the system is cycling, but the nitrite is toxic to the fish and will cause issues if it gets too high.

These fish are only going to get bigger and bigger, the trout are going to grow fast. You need more filtration.

Plus... You may have already thought of this but the trout may out grow your Silver perch fingerling's which won't eat much during winter, and they WILL become trout food.

they will be going in as soon as i get the money to hook em up

yea i have thought of that so i have been trying to catch the silvers n put them inside in my fish tank but they are quite hard to catch lol

ok here are the parameters for 2day

P.H - 7.5
Ammonia - 4
Nitrite - 1.6
Nitrate - 110

so since the ammonia has stopped rising should i expect a decent nitrite spike??? If so i might get some salt ready... how much should i add???

Also as i was netting 5 silvers out (all i could catch) i pulled the pump out to clean the crap that had built up n there was 2 dead silvers in there
So i am thinking that maybe i should change 25% of the water so i can see if there is any more dead silvers on the bottom as i imagine they wouldnt be helping the water quality

definitely get any dead ones out as they can start a domino effect and cause a wipeout.
Remember salt is a stop gap, not a fix.
Good luck mate

cheers mate will get onto it now

25% water change wont hurt the bateria levels building will it???

Do it immediately, and the salt will help mitigate the nitrite spike.... try 2ppt...

Don't wait for "more" of a nitrite spike..... you've already got it....

No feeding, get the dead ones out.... and the same tomorrow....

soz for being stupid but how mush is and what is 2ppt lol

The density of water is 1g/mL.

There are 1,000 milligrams (mg) in one gram and 1,000 milliliters (mL) = 1 liter.

Therefore, 0.001g(of a substance - salt) in one mL of water (1mg/mL) = one part/thousand

So 2 ppt is 2mg/ml.... or 2gm/l.... or 2kg/1000ltr....

Your tank is 1500L... so 3kg of salt.


Think my maths is right... got to dash, I'll check when I get back, if someone else hasn't already

ahh kk now i get ya cheers

will go do the water change now then

I know water changes suck but ya its worth doing one as most of the damage that ammonia and nitrite spikes do does not become apparent for a few weeks. This is when your 'run down' fish are likely to get sick from something simple.

Fishless cycling is the key to avoiding future problems in many cases. Too late to tell you that now, but ya lol.
As to water changes slowing down the cycle, in my mind they don't. The bacteria you are aiming to grow are 'sticky' and grow on the growbed and filter media. The 'floaty' bacteria are not so useful really and while they breed faster are less efficent at converting ammonia -> nitrate.
Remember ammonia and nitrite are 100 times more toxic than nitrAte!
So the aim of the game is to match populations of 'sticky' bacteria with the amount of fish poo being produced. The bacteria colonys will continue to grow as long as there is ammonia and nitrite to be eaten, but if they cannot keep up with the poo and ammonia and nitrite spike then to save the fish you need to water change to get levels back down to ones that are non-lethal to fish.
Fish would rather be hungry than dead. Its best to have a bacteria colony growing 5% slower than to have a tank full of dead fish. Dilution is the solution to polution when conversion is not working out.
Remember to use dechlorinator for any water changes if you are using town water. Even a tiny bit of chlorine/chloramine will anhialate a building bacteria colony!

So ya water change but leave the areas bacteria are gowing undisturbed if possible, and feed absolute minimum until bacteria populations catch up to fish poo production

thanks mate

i did have it cycled but the same time i put the 20 trout in we lost power for a day so that musta thrown everything outta whack