Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Lol yip. Hope so. Sure I will come right. Thanks

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@Mel, you are correct. Most well water(bore hole) has CO2 gas dissolved in the water which forms carbonic acid. But when it is left to aerate, some of the CO2 leaves the water and therefore the acidity is reduced and pH goes up.

Your fish tank looks like it is transparent. I would cover your fish tank with something to prevent light from getting in. You will grow a lot of algae and it will cause issues with O2 and nutrient amounts.

Be careful with the floating raft in the fish tank - goldfish like roots... :-)

Let us know what your test numbers so and we can advise you on next actions.

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The PO4 test is dark blue hence the pic below my notes to show the dark blue. To be honest I have no idea how to work that section of the chart. Don't understand the 10ml+0ml, 5ml+5ml,2ml+8ml.

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I did my tests on the water in my grow beds as I have been having issues wit my filter lid popping off everyday so I have to fill my tank everyday thought that there might be more of the older water in the grow beds.

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KH - 357 ppm CaCO3
GH - 375 ppm CaCO3

Based on that, you have very hard water and it's not surprising that your pH is very high as well. Do you have access to any rainwater or distilled water? You may want to use that for your top up to help bring the pH slowly down. I am surprised on your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate numbers. I would do a quick re-test just to confirm (make sure to follow the included instructions). Regardless, I would stop doing any water changes. You need to bring your ammonia levels up and maintain them around 1-5ppm and this will allow the bacteria to get established in your system.

Do you know roughly how many gallons/liters are in your system? I would recommend another bucket of hydroton to ensure you have enough filteration and surface area for the bacteria. Also-do you have air stones under your rafts? You may want to add some as your weather gets warmer.

No rain water or distilled water , would water with a ph of 6.5 help as top up water? My ammonia levels are down because my filter lid has kept popping off everyday now for about a week so had to basically fill my tank everyday, very frustrating and going to try install a new filter this wknd after pay day[GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

In my beds I would say about 180 lt and my tank is about 180-200lt so roughly 300lt in total if I had to guess.

Don't have airstone under my rafts will try sort it out before summer comes thanks.

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Yes 6.5 is slightly acidic so that would definitely help. Gotta love payday!!

Ok cool then I shall do that. Yes indeed pay day is awesome lol.

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I just hope my filter lid stays on so my levels can rise so I can do tests. My ph is 8.2 from the water in the grow beds so it's still high.

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Do you have a hole in the filter lid? It might be popping off due to the water being pumped into the bucket and no where for the air to go. I would recommend punching a small hole in the top of the lid using a small nail or something similar.

It was fine for a long time until I cleaned my pump filter. No all of a sudden it's popping off. Very annoying. Was thinking of poking a hole in it this afternoon , might do it tomorrow, thanks

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I think your pump is delivering more water to the filter than the drain pipe can handle, then you build up pressure and it pops the lid.
Try reducing the pump delivery by squeezing the tube a bit.


-Jens

Welcome to the forum Jens

Jens: I have installed a ball valve on the line that goes to the filter it still pops open even though the ball valve is almost completely open and the filter is hardly getting any water. Worked fine for a while and all of a sudden it just started popping open. Super annoying. My husband thinks the lid of the bucket is worn out on the grips where it clips.

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