Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've been feeding my perch about 200 grams a day. WIth the PH issue that is all that the bacteria can handle. Once I get the PH right - I will bring in a second feed per day and probably raise the total to about 300 grams per day. I think I have about 30 perch. They vary significantly in size.

i reckon the couple of kg's of CaCO3 powder will work a treat for you. dose it up when you're confident and then maintain a ph of at least 6.5 with bi-carb until it starts taking over.

I hope so - will keep those interested informed of the results. It's all a learning curve and have not enterred HSM, so all is good.

VB I will start the post about the green house this weekend need to get a few graphis together. How do you insert a image into a thread? Can they be from my hard Drive or from some where else?

Aussie

What are you using to check the pH?

VB spoke to a bloke at the pets superstore at Capalaba today about the ph thing. He uses calcium carbonate to buffer the ph from swings. I explaned to him the AP stuff and he knew all about it as he has a degree in aquaculture from james cook uni inwhich he ran a bio filter and AP systum. He said put the Calcium carbonate into a trickle system. He suggested to use the gravity flow from the grow beds in to the sump. Run the gravity flow water from the grow beds in to a container full of Calcium carbonate and then into the sump. As to how much Calcium carbonate to put into it I don't know. Hope this helps

AussieP

Brian - if you save it as a jpg then you can just add it as an attachment to your post.

Regarding the CaCO3 - thanks for the info. I won't be able to trickle feed water into anything between the beds and the sump. Using an autosiphon water is either not flowing at all or it is gushing. I think putting it into the sump will do the trick though.

VB, I gave up trying to raise my pH to a respectable level a long time ago.. Using two different ph test kits I get results of about 6. I've been adding garden lime, shell grit and the odd limestone rock to my systems, but they still tend to sit at around 6... Everytime I test it I'm hoping to see the the water go slightly green in the test tube, but every time it's bright yellow.. Lately I've given up fighting it.. My fish are happy, the water is clear and plants are growing well.. Conventional thinking is that my system should be in a bit of trouble sitting so low, but I tend to wonder whether my bacteria has adapted over time..

Rhonda, you can pick up pH test kits from most pond/aquarium shops.

earthbound: that sounds quite believable - or you have alternative bacteria that is suited to the acid conditions. Most australian rivers are acid, yet they have fish in them.

EB - I expect that my system has adapted to a point also. The bacteria does process the wastes, just not quite as quickly as I would like to keep up with my desired feeding regime. I might just have to adapt to suit - which is no problem.

I have a feeling that the whole issue stems from the retention of the solids in the system. My grow-bed is chocka block with solids as I'm sure yours is EB. This is great when it comes to providing an environment for the plants - particularly the fruiting ones - but does cause a ph issue. Looks like we may be able to live with this though.

On the topic of fruiting plants - my jalapeno chilli plant has produced a great quantity of fruit compared to the plants size. It has been amazing. All the energy seems to have been put into fruiting, which has meant a small plant but plenty of fruit.

Rhonda - a lot of us have bought Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Inc master test kits from aquariumsareus.com.au. Really good price even when you factor in postage. The kit includes high and normal range PH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. All you really need.

This morning I put another couple of hundred grams of calcium carbonate (didn't weight it - slack as I am) into a net pot with gravel below and above the CaCO3. I then placed this net pot in the grow-bed directly under the inflow from the fish tank - and burried so it would also be getting water contact fromt he flood and drain action. Just now I have done some tests as I want to give my fish a feed and needed to make sure everything is okay. PH is now 7.2+. Obviosuly the CaCO3 from the other night, today or both has had a significant effect. I have now removed the pot that I put in this morning for fear of overdoing it - though I expect a lot of the powder will now be in my system anyway.

dKH is now 4, an increase of 3 or 4 and dGH is 14, an increase of 1 from memory.

It is arguable that I could have left the pot in the bed - but I expect that there is a lot more CaCO3 in the system that is yet to disolve anyway, so I will monitor over the next week or so and see what happens.

Have given the fish a good feed because ammonia and nitrite are both 0.

Great VB... guess a lot of it comes back to that "P" word again huh

?? patience, petulance, practice ??

VB, you mean CaCO3, yeh?

Good to hear its worked for you!

I'd not stress about leaving it there, the highest it has brought any system of mine is 7.2 (maybe 7.4) and i think JP has had the same results.

Besides, becasue it is quite insoluble, the best buffering effect is had by always having some solid carbonate in the the system, otherwise the buffering effect may be short lived
Good to see it sorted