Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

NEED SOME HELP PLEASE:

ok so.. the system wasn't cycled and (in what is seen by some as a rather rash move) I removed the fish from our pond and got DH to pee in it last weekend

now we have pH about 8, nitrites ..... looks like probably 2 and nitrates are around 100mg/L. Ammonia is zilch.

plants look great (4 strawberries on the strawberry plant), fish are happy in a cut off blue barrel, pond has green slime etc everywhere.

what do I need to do before I put the fish back into the pond???

we have plans to mount some shade cloth over the area, but funds probably won't permit that for a month or so.

also wondering how many goldies/koi should be in this system?? pond is probably around 400L and currently 3x 100L grow beds. current fish stock is 3 very small koi, 10 goldies/comets (not sure which) of various sizes. As this pond is at the front of our house and it is rather shallow not sure about which other fish species could be used in there and not jump out.

just looking at the nitrites card again.... it could be 0.50 as there is not enough pink in the water. will take a pic and load it up ASAP

Personally I wouldn't stress with Goldies Priscilla, they will live in a cup of tea, I have a small bathtub system with goldies and have hardly tested it, fish are fine and plants romp, Ammonia of 0 is good and Nitrates are fairly low and system is probably cycling well, Nitrates are what the plants are after, biggest mistake a few have made is stressing to early, weather in WA is not exactly perfect for cycling a system at the moment, pH of 8 isn't that bad it will come down, as you have no Ammonia fish will be fine, well now DH has pee'd in it you may have ammonia My big system has Nitrite of .5 for weeks now but trout still chew my arm off getting food, heaps of people have goldies down here in ponds, some in pea green water, and haven't seen one die yet, no doubt someone will post differently

Thanks Nocky for your quick reply..

so the verdict is put the fish back into the pond and not to worry?? should I get some more??

well I have six huge goldies in 200lt of water and a few Pygmy Perch and seems plenty, Goldfish cost $7 - $9 down here so if your plan is to only have Goldies well a few more wouldn't hurt, if you are going to have edible fish soon, then hang off save you're$$$'s for some Barra or Trout down the track, check the ammonia isn't too high after the humonia, but shouldn't be and should go down quick, but again goldies can handle it

What are you feeding your Goldies Nocky... I had some, along with some Silvers... and was throwing SP feed in...

But the goldies were hogging it... and carked it... due to bloat from the high protein content of the SP feed...

Rupe I feed them fl0ating granules bought in Coles, they are about 1mm will get the brand name after lunch, a mate has about 300 goldies and feeds them dog kibbles