Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all

wouldn't it be a good idea to have a forum category for water quality? I just did a search on pH and it returned zero results.

My system has been running for several weeks now. No perch yet - just 100 x 1cm test fish to help get the system running. The grow beds have seedlings in them and the last few days I have been adding a capful of seasol to the water to help the plants as nitrate levels are only 2.5ppm.
Nitrite and ammonia is zero.

2 weeks ago the pH was 7.8, 1 week ago it was 8.0 and now it is 8.4. Does anyone have a clue why it is rising?

I wanted to get perch in a week or two.................

never heard of it going up like that! Weird.....

Were your ph tests done at the same time of day?

first test was in afternoon (test kit had just arrived)
next two tests were done in the moring.

Miss Piggy, do you have any kind of calcium type rocks or sea shells in your fish tank or grow beds?

MP, a couple of things;

if your water has a significant amount algae then during then your PH will be highest in the early morning and lowest in the evening.

GREAT idea about the water quality section. JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYMIE!

There are HEAPS of posts on PH, maybe some one can link you to some, bust they will be buried in individual threads, also, when searching be sure to click the show as posts option, and for some reason a sort string like PH doesn't seem to work, try expanding it.

If you look at the seasol bottle you'll find that it has minimal N so it won't help your nitrate reading.

Hpe this helps

Steve

The bed media is red gravel and the galvanised beds (new) are not aqualined - the tank is aqualined.

The tank has brownish algae lining it but the water is clear (low nutrients). Do other people clean away the algae regularly?

Will test pH in morning and evening tomorrow and see the difference.

You could test the rock by putting a sample of it in a clean container with fresh water. Take the PH of the water before adding the rocks, put the rocks in, let them sit for a day and test PH again. If the rocks are leaching, the PH should go up in a day or so. I have had red rock do this to me in my native aquariums.

pH did seem to be slightly higher in the morning. It is back at 7.8 now (It actually reached 8.2 not 8.4 as I had previously mentioned).

I tested water that had been sitting in the red gravel (which is actually just pink granite) for 24 hours and it was about 8.

In reality the difference isn't too much and I have read that silver perch can tolerate pH at a range of 7-9.5 so no problems here.

Will order perch on Monday............

Sounds great.

hi all
im new to all this and setting up a tank with goldfish (comets) running through expandable clay balls. I want to get some perch soon.

I have a ph tester and keep the tank around 7.5 but where do you get a nitrate tester!

And to anyone who is starting out, water tanks in victoria are worth more than gold, so im using a fridge....with a bit of work it works really well. Being insulated i find it easier to control the temp......

could help with the weather you guys are getting in WA

need a bloody big fridge, hey steve you know of any?

Hi Daz, Welcome
A lot of people here seem to have this test kit . Umm, I don't have any test kits at all
I noticed you reading the thread about fridges earlier on. good luck with it

http://www.theaquariumshop.com.au/shope ... r+Test+Kit

this is the one a lot of us use.

welcome daz

Daz, ammonia nitrite and nitrate test kits can be bought at aquarium stores or via the net (cheaper)

Aquarium pharmaceuticals master test kit is a good all in one box.

Points on the fridge, was thinking of converting one for my murray cod. Insulation would be top notch.

Actually here's a thought, i just saw a dodgy brand chest freezer in a catalog, it was under $200. I might buy one and reverse the refrigerant flow that way i have a super insulated fishtank with a built in heater at around 2x the efficiency of a normal heater...................hmmmmmmm

Welcome!