Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey Everybody,
This was posted on the yahoo group 'barrel ponics', and I thought it was a darn good topic. So, what do you all test for? What do you use to test your water? And how do you do your testing?

And the next question is where do you get your testing supplies and equipment at a good price?


I'm personally looking for a DO meter at an affordable price.

So are we all.... let us know if you find one

I don`t think they come at anything close to affordable.
In fact, for the same money you could probably add so much aeration you wouldn`t need it anyway

I'm borrowing one next week

Up until recently I did very little water testing, my water testing consisted of watching and smelling, just general observation of the system. I started testing recently and found my pH was down, so spent quite a bit of effort adding lime and sea shells to try and bring it up. It's didn't seem to be working so I gave up and stopped testing my water...

I guess this is fine for a mature large system like mine, but for new systems it's good to keep an eye on your parameters..

I agree about DO meters, spend the money on increasing the oxygen in your system instead...

I found one on ebay a while back, but I can't find any info on it. specifically a manual so I know how to use it. The company that made it 'doesn't have information on this obsolete piece of equipment'! I've never used one, and have no idea what the process is. So, Jaymie, tell what to do?

for a fresh water master test kit, the best price I can find is amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00025 ... e&n=284507

that kit is now about $40 here

It's been a long time since I've used a DO meter, I'll get a crash reminder course when I pick up the meter next week. It also does pH, EC, temp and probably a few other things.
Testing usually involves jiggling a sonde in the water for a while and pushing buttons on the meter.

its also been a long time since i worked on one, but at least one type uses a membrane over gel over the electrode.

Be aware that if you purchase an obsolete model with no support and you need replacement membranes or the like you'll be stuffed

I used em heaps when I was studying and also borrowed one to test water in my ponds and tanks. Generally in a recirculating tank system like we use in aquaponics the DO readings are close to saturation point.
Most DO problems I have heard of occur in pond situations at night when the aquatic plants use up a lot of the available oxygen.

I emptied my IBC yesterday,20mm of sand in bottom and 6 worms!
They must give a fair idea of DO if theyve been living a metre underwater for about 6 weeks! Doing better than SP fingerlings ,maybe 20 dead out of 150.

Rass, most of us have and use that test kit.

Whenever I modify my system setup (moved and added GBs recently) I do weekly tests on Ph and nitrates until it settles back down again. I have added weekly nitrite testing as the level crept up to 0.5 when I stopped recirculating the water through the GBs overnight.

Normally I do Ph and Nitrates on a monthly basis, as well as EB's famous sight and smell tests on a daily basis

Is this what you were after

Yeah, it let's others know what type of testing you do. The frequency is also nice. Personally I test my water at setups or major changes. And of course if anything bad happens!

El,
How does that famous sight and smell test work?

I use the Aquarium Pharm Master Test Kit. I test nitrate, nitrite and ammonia weekly. I test pH daily. Our water has no buffering to it, and right now I am trying to learn the proper balance between feeding and pH. Daily tests right now are tedious, but on the plus side, I have been able to increase feed levels by 50% without ammonia spikes by keeping the pH between 6.8 and 7.0. Just shows what keeping the bacteria happy can do.

Not sure if EB has patented it yet - so apply the usual disclaimer (I am a totally ignorant fella )

Sight - watch the behaviour patterns of your fish and act on any unusual habits (don't wait for fish to die or plants to keel over before acknowledging there may be a slight problem here)

Smell - if you need to pick yourself up after finding out you have had a nanna nap next to your fish tank, the cause may be from the putrid air above the water

Dont't delay - act immediately - go into HSM