Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey guys. Just got a system built and added water from the tap. After a day of running the water around the system I tested the PH and the water is around the low/mid 8s. 8.2-8.5.

How high can PH go with silver perch? While the system is empty is there something I can add to lower PH that will be safe to add fish too soon after?

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Adding fish poo or Ammonia to a cycled system is great for bringing pH down. H+ ions are released in the NH3 -> NO2 -> NO3 bacterial processing. However, if you have a lot of limestone in your GBs, you may never decrease it.

What is the tap water pH?
If you have a rainwater tank, that water will generally be around pH 6, so adding that may help, assuming it has no nasties like Zinc in it. A pH of 8.5 is going to cause nutrient lock out problems for the plants, and I'd suggest is is higher than ideal for most fish, although I dont know what the limit might be with SP.

With high Ph

You will have nutrient lockout in your plants , plenty of charts availiable online which detail this

Also ammonia becomes a problem at high ph combined with higher temperatures so keep an close watch on your levels when you get your fish

This chart is a guide some fish are more tolerant than others to amm toxicity

The local water here is very high ph, the couple I bought my system off said they were running it in the end at 8.0-8.2 just because thats what was coming out the tap. They said they had no issues at that level.

I had to use town water to fill up my tanks. pH is around 7.5-8... While I'm on the other side of the country perhaps I can chime in if nothing else that I might learn something myself...

Even after my system cycled for some 6wka under 10 GFP (gold fish power....hey I race bikes so everything is measured as a unit of power bahahaha) the pH didn't move at all - furthermore I was running for approx 6 months before the pH barely moved. Then soon after dropped through the floor (under 6) and now I have to (like most ppl I assume) add lime to the system once a week (that was with only 1 grow bed). I suspect with four large grow beds and a whole lot more plants the pH is likely to drop faster or maybe it's directly related to stocking density.... Maybe someone can correct me

I'd suggest if your system has only been running for a day or so that you need to give it another 6wks give or take before its finished cycling before your true pH value is known? Hopefully the process of it cycling will see it drop a little? After that it may stay stable for a while like mine did before having to adjust it regularly.

A theme I often come across is fish less cycling and/or making adjustments using a few things like urea, lime or acid etc and it seems best (esp. When we are starting out) to be patient, give it some time and monitor the heck outta the various levels. If adding anything to raise or drop pH go really steady and wait for a bit before adding anymore. I'd hate to add something to drop the pH, only for the system to complete cycling, plants and fish really come online and the pH crashes...

I'll freely admit I used the goldfish to cycle knowing it wasn't ideal for them. I only lost one and sold the rest though so no need to call the RSPCA Hahaha .. The logic being I couldn't go too far wrong but by fishless cycling and adding something else to adjust things I thought it was something I could easily fk up. I did read a bit about the relationship of urea, acid, lime but just figured using some starter fish was easier however there's more qualified ppl to talk about that than me!

I think I need to add a line in my signature along the lines of 'I'm an AP newb so don't trust a word I say about gardening or AP' however Gunagulla has always provided sound advice as so many here do so trust what they say over me but perhaps my post may get the conversation going or help make any linkages from a newbie stand point...

After 12months and alot of reading without fully understanding I do know this, patience is key as is continuing to to monitor certain elements to ensure it doesn't become imbalanced and cause real headaches...

When do you get the perch?

Yeah our water comes out the tap at 8.2-8.5 my olds have rainwater which I was thinking of using for the initial start up. Hoping the natural tendency of the PH to drop will work in my favour once the system has cycled.

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Hey cunning, I have a nice aquarium I've been running for a year so I've witnessed first hand the amazing ferocity of the ph drop. Luckily the weekly water change I do with the tap water means my pH there stays around 7-7.5. I was hoping to do the same with the auqaponics, but now that I think of it the water loss is pretty minimal so probably won't be adding water often enough.

I'm going to get some rain water from dads farm then I was thinking of cycling with 5 SP. Was hoping with the 1200l of water to dilute there ammonia in they would make it till there was enough bacteria activity?

Also planning on seeding with one of the bags of charcoal from my aquarium directly in the flow from the tank outlet. Also add any aquarium water change water to the system.

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Oh man well you're light years in front of me..I've never kept fish until recently and now I'm eating them hahaha!

I've probably missed your picture somewhere but there's a bit of water loss in AP...I really should measure how much but I seem to top it up every 10 days or so.

Yeah I did the same and swapped out water from a smaller system I had into my big one when I built it, maybe a litre a week.....with the 10 goldies and it still took 6 weeks.....(Oh I also nicked some water from a local stream haha)

You''ve got your system built now so that's the big first step outta the way.....give it a month and it'll be firing along I'm sure!

yeah i love my little aquarium. how much water are you topping up with when you do replace water loss?

yeah me and the Mrs are pretty new to the growing things stuff. But we have been getting really excited and into it recently as we push ourselves to grow more. Hows Canberra these days? I was at RMC-D 04-05. dont miss those cold winters and brutal summers at all.

With only one grow bed.... Not a whole heap. Never measured it TBH tho I probably should!

I do know it's going through more now with the four beds compared to the one... But I have a few minor leaks to attend to as well.

Yes we are new to it as well, getting a soil patch going made such a difference for the kids in how they approach vegies now. Even my youngest who is the fussiest of them all, was the most keen to try his first trout from having a go at netting it to cooking it and so forth. The water saving and how much extra I can grow in such a small area is awesome too and can't believe we are able to supply ourselves with fresh fish on top of the vegies (or. To the side at least haha)

Nothing has changed in Canberra... I don't even bother hitting the cotter on the bikes anymore. We are here for at least as long as the kids are but have plans to move a touch north actually summer hasn't been too bad here yet but we will get brutal 40+ days for like 3 weeks and then it'll be cold before you know it...and time for Trout lol