Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

see more, get some dipel from bunnings, non toxic caterpillar spray for your big leafy vegs

And where did you get your IBC from - 2 hours driving around today and I have only found 1 that hasnt had oil in it.

Great growbed stands S-M. Where did you get them?

Nice system too. Love the goldies!

Scottie, the growbed stands came from what was lying around at my husband's work and he put together the other one. He now has to make me another two.

We added silver perch fingerlings to our system in February. We bought 100 very small ones and lost some through the pump and a few got washed overboard when my husband left the tank filling overnight. So, we have about 80 left now. However, our water readings lately have been a bit disconcerting. I spoke to Gnashy about it when he was here the other day as our ph has been 7.6, ammonia 0.125 and the nitrate and nitrite 0. He spoke to Joel about it when in Perth on the weekend and as a result I have upped the feeding to try and boost the nitrate levels. Did a test this afternoon and the ph is up to 8.8, the ammonia .025 , the nitrate 0.5 and the nitrate still 0. I had previously been feeding small pellets and the silver perch food but have run out and so have been using the powdered perch food that I bought when I bought the fingerlings. Could the type of food be having an affect on the readings or is it just that the cucumbers and zucchinis are zapping all the nitrates. HELP please!

That PH is waaaay too high seemore - can you retest it?

That's exactly what I thought Ob. I re-tested and it has dropped to 8.2. Still much too high. The water out of the kitchen tap tested at 7.4.

What have you done to raise the ph? Anything been added at all?

No. I only added another lot of food when I did the first of those two tests.
Obviously I need to add more water to the tank and bring the level up a bit.

mix some of the food in some water and test the ph of that water - it may be the food...

Any mysterious objects accidentally fallen in the tank or GB's ? To raise that high in ph you must of feed alot, will try and get over 2 morro and have a look.

is this like Tony's bore water in the pond?

Nope just tap water

Do they add chloromine to your town supply OB??

From the smell of it, yes, I'm pretty sure they add chlorine to the water Rupert.
Thanks Gnash. Not aware of anything.