Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

systems kicking along well
ive had 0.25 - 0.50 ammonia for a week now , slowly getting less and less ans my nitrite climbed a little , then started showing nitrate about 4 days ago

the fish went in two weeks ago now and the system wasnt cycled , so I think Im doing well

heres my latest testts :

ammonia 0.5
nitrite 0 - 0.25
nitrate 5.0 - 10 ( closer to 10 )
pH dead on 7.5
temp fluctuates between 15 & 17 degrees , sometimes in the middle of the day it gets to 18 , but rarely

so heres my question(s)

1) at what point do I need to get worried and start bucketing water ? I dont mind doing 20 - 30% water change .
Given that the 1000L tank is aerated by a 1400 LPH submersible pump with a venturi on the outlet , plus half an hour every hour the sump pump kicks in and flows it through the growbed - Im pretty sure ive got a good amount of oxygen flowing through there
Where should my nitrates be before i enter this "HSM" that I hear so much about ?

2) was it extremely silly of me to seed the GB with two broad bean seeds ? I know Broad Beans apparently "return nitrate to the soil" , but I assumed that meant that once the harvest is finished / the palnt is dead , its a great source of nitrate if you turn it back in the soil - is it possible Im understanding it wrong and broad beans actually put OUT nitrate ? could that be the reason for my sudden upswing in nitrate ?

What kind of fish?

I wouldn't worry about your nitrates being at that level, one of my systems I tested the other week was at about 40 and I've seen a lot higher than that too.

Broad beans may or may not fix nitrates into the soil, they need a bacteria that lives on nodules of the roots, it's the bacteria that fixes nitrogen out of the air. Whether this bacteria is in your growbeds is debatable.

http://overton.tamu.edu/clover/cool/nfix.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_fixation

40 !?

Ive got no problems then . I can go drink beer tonight and watch a movie without twitching and stressing

garlic popped its head up today too - 3 in the GB and 5 in the dirt garden , yay , another little success

wiki
"They contain symbiotic bacteria called rhizobia within nodules in their root systems, producing nitrogen compounds that help the plant to grow and compete with other plants. When the plant dies, the fixed nitrogen is released, making it available to other plants and this helps to fertilize the soil"

so , basically , DONT let the broad beans die , maybe they'll turn out to be awesome in AP and suck more nitrate out than anything else

Nitrates are not likely a worry unless they go off the scale. As your plants get growing, they should start using more of the nitrates. Hopefully you can get the Ammonia/Nitrite down to 0 though.

Nitrates are not a worry for you, there is one forumer who reported a reading of 1,000 (now that induced HSM )...mine fluctuates between 150 -> 300 and the system keeps churning along nicely...just work on balancing your system

Nitrites is the same, it is normally present around 0.25...so only become concerned if it rises above that (which it shouldn't if there is enough GBs, plants and fish)

I agree with Les. I think one of the reasons we sometimes get a nitrite reading is from anoxic conversion of nitrates back to nitrites for us operating a high level of nitrates.

yep, i'll say that theory has merit.

new test for today & wanting some advice / comments

no deaths , 60 rainbow trout eating well
water temps are :
14 - 15 degrees in the day , down to about 12 at night

rained on my system the last two days , pH is down to 7 , it usually sits at 7.5 , Im sure it'll go back up slowly thisafternoon though , it always does

ammonia - Zero ! yay
Nitrite - 1 , um.... uh oh ? when should i freak out and change 50% water ?
even though Ive been showing Nitrate for 2 - 3 weeks now , maybe THIS is my Nitrite spike

Nitrate is now up to 20

the nitrites got me bothered , at what point does it become too much for my happy little trout ?
theres a 1400L pump in the tank for circulation , with a venturi on it so theres plenty of oxygen , Im looking at buying a bigger air pump though to really get it cranking

Wouldn't panic at the moment Boris..... probably just your cycling spike... if so, it should drop off rapidly very soon....

Just monitor and report for a day or two....

17 ppm (refer to the mag to see if this is correct) salt will detoxify the 1ppm nitrite (chloride will out compete the nitrite at the gill membrane

You need to give ur bio a chance to catch up to the new feed/crap load. 60 trout poo a bit and your plants are only babies.Bio does best in warm temps and takes longer to establish this time of year. Just ease up on the food, let ur plants get established and keep the air up. Wouldn't be super worried or do a massive water change and I wouldn't be dumping in 17ppt salt unless you want to kill ur plants, (altho Steve was prolly just stating a fact, not actually advising you to do it.) Let nature take its course. You will find in 6 weeks time things will be firing, fish eating plants growing fab and water parameters just dandy.

actually i stated 17ppm not 17ppt. and yes i was advocating using the salt.

most people keep around 1000ppm salt in their system anyway so this would more than cover it.

1ppt (1000ppm) is 1kg per thousand litres, so work it backwards. 17 grams per thousand litres.

thats easy - Ive got 1500 litres = 25.5 grams , thanks

Nitrite hasnt gone up since yesterday , its still sitting at 1 , maybe even dropped a little

all this worrying is taking me away from planning my next system