Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

PS - unless your fish step up and their growth makes the difference.

it is winter here and i don't keep my house that hot maby i would benifit by having a heater?

A heater will certainly help increase the output of ammonia by raising the fish metabolism. However, I advise patience. You just added 20 fish, and seemed to think that your nitrate level would change in only a few hours. It will take some time for the added fishload to ripple through the system. Wait a week or so to see what happens before adding a heater. If you do add a heater, increase the temperature over the course of another week. Yes, the fish could take it if you raised it over the course of a day, but you need to understand the impact on the whole system. Nature takes some time.

Janet- Now you're sounding like a metamucil add! LOL

Just eat healthy: whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables. None of that fiber-in-a-jar for me!!

ok ill just wait it out, the way i was thinkin was a short time after i feed the fish they release ammonia and then the bacteria goes to work on that, so i just figured it woultake a few hrs for me to get a reading, but its prolly just cause im used to measuring it before the cycling and things were always goin up and then i would dilute and then they would go up agian

Rb, also be aware that when you add a LARGE amount of new fish all at once, you'll get an ammnia and nitrite spike as the bacteria adjust their population to cope with the new load.

fish are dying, took out one yesterday and 3 today no2 and no3 are low almost nothing, ph is between 6.5 and 7, kh is 180 ppm and gh is 180 ppm. would the gh and ph make a difference in keeping the fish alive? perhaphs thease were bad fish? i am using cheep goldfish

Goldfish are almost bullet proof (cheap or not), 2 things spring to mind for checking:
oxygen - are the fish trying to gulp air
water temp - tho mine tolerate big swings with me messing with the system

are the fish(live ones) eating?

Sorry, can't help you on kh & gh levels

i have 2 large airstones in the tank and there are about 55 goldies, when i feed them there is like a frenzy, as for the gulping i dunno they look like fish i guess would it be really exaggerated

my temp stays the same as my apt i guess

I have run out of ideas then - eating definitely okay, temp must be okay otherwise they wouldn't eat like that.

Might have been those fish then, monitor and keep us posted if deaths still occur

IMHO, unexplained deaths do occur. Use your other fish as an indicator of the health of the system. If they are still feeding okay and you haven't had any major spikes etc, just keep an eye on it.

I tend to agree with Monya and Ell. Especially given that you are working with newly introduced feeders. They are not always kept in ideal conditions at the stores here, at least. However, you don't give a reading for ammonia. That will be the first thing that spikes after a large introduction of fishload. A test for ammonia might be in order, or a partial water change.

ammonia is at 0