Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

It's fantastic, really neat and tidy, great work!

Great looking fish house!

ok so i need help,,

the tank was fine but over the last week my ammonia spiked so ive stoped feeding them for 5 days now,
and now my nitrite has moved up over last 3 days days, its stayed like this an droped a little from what i can tell.

i added another growbed full of seedlings to try help it out.
should i salt tank or should i waite longer ?????

any advise..

I've got two 600litre grow beds and 5000 litre tank
my pump moves 12000 litres an hour

my test results today are
ph ~7.4 and has been the same for two weeks
ammonia ~between 2.0 and 4.0 ppm been around that level for 5 days dropped a little
nitrite ~2.0 ppm and has only recently gone to this level in last two days
nitrate ~ 0ppm been here since beginning

He Brent because you have 50000 tank with that many fish and only young plants in one GB and seedlings in the other theres not enough to take up nutrients so it was a good move to put seedlings in the other GB this is what I have been told by others any way that was my observation when I saw your system Thursday I don't no but others might say salt the system

yer thats what i think but how do i fix it would a water change help

Well get some feed back first and secondly like I've learnt patience don't panic

yerp well no fish lost and water is crystal clear so no panic from me

Hiya Hezzy, nice set up. Sounds like your system is still going thru the cycling process? How many fish do you have and what are your water temps?

hi skeggly
i have 60 trout and my water temps are between 13 ~16

So with 60 rt's you are looking at about 1200-1500 litres of wet media at 20-25 litres per fish (grow out).
How much media do you currently have?
According to the TAN chart pH7.4 and 16 degrees ammonia is toxic at 2.7ppm.
Hold off the feed for a bit and wait for the levels to reduce.
This time last year my levels were considerably worse and all was ok so don't panic.

i currently have 1200 litres of media and another 600 litres will be added in next few weeks putting it to a total of 1800 litres of media.
how do u use the tan chart and were will i get one skeggley..

so i should dose tank with salt or waite do you think.
how high have you had yours

Good stuff but remember it's not quite cycled yet the bacteria is still catching up to the fish load.
Run your system cf if it's not already. I've always added salt because of the benefits for fish health but it does affect the vegetable growth. I run mine around 1ppt. Your call.
I'm not saying what my levels were because it's too embarrassing.
TAN chart attached copied from the forum.

lol nothing is embarrisng its all learning hahah
its easy to get exited when ur feeding them i know that,, i have it on constant flow at the moment ,
if i dose it with salt will it affect veggies much ,, if i do how much salt would you add to 5000litres
thanks for the chart ill keep that in mind for future reference

how long are the fish ok to waite for food

I would salt to at least 1 ppt so for 5000l tank add 5 kg of pool salt. Get a 20kg bag. It will protect your fish from nitrite poisoning. Also I would hold off on the feed until the ammonia and nitrites are back closer to 0. Fish can go for days with no feed


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