Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Tank temp 19C this morning so all good. Sunny today so things will warm up in the greenhouse but worried about days when it is overcast and the greenhouse doesnt warm then cold nights. More heating is needed me thinks.

Ammonia back to 0.5 tonight and after light feeds so I am now thinking a bacteria colony crash due to low ph. PH was 6 three days ago and so could have been even lower. Adding some shell grit got it up to 6.4 yesterday but tonight back to 6 again. Much more shell grit has gone in under gb outlets and buried in the constant flood beds
Been slack with the ph tests

Get some lime it will bump it up

I have got some dolomite lime , would that do ??

Yeh infind if my ph goes below 6.4 then ammo goes up ....

Put a pinch of lime in, remembering that this is only a 500L maybe 600L with constant flood beds so it shouldnt need much

Slacked line like the brickies use is what you need

Ph 6.6ish tonight but ammonia still 0.25. Gave the fish a small feed. Gonna try to keep the ph in the right range. Still learning

Hey mantis when you say pinch of lime which lime do you mean? I'm having the same prob ATM

I used dolomite lime but slaked lime is what Milne recommends above. I think dolomite lime is less potent but does the same job
Bigdaddy recons a level desert spoon in 1000L raises his system 2 points
Just dont go over board with it but I reckon you know that.

"Slaked lime"... is also known as "hydrated lime"... and yes, way more powerful than dolomite...

Put another pinch of lime in this morning as the ph was down to 6.4. The shell grit doesnt seem to be doing much as yet

A question. If my PH had dropped below 6 and may have been for a while, how long should it take for the bacteria to build up again after raising the ph??

In my experience, the bacteria do fine even when the pH is slightly below 6. My pH has always been at or around 6, though I think my system contains more water and is older so it might get less spikes than yours.

If you are experiencing bacteria colony crash due to low pH, then I think it shouldn't take long for them to build up again if you raise it, especially at greenhouse temperatures.

Been going through some of the pics you posted earlier, nice system!

Been slowly raising the salt in this system to 2ppt in preperation for getting trout this wednesday. Tuesday the Jade Perch are coming out, so will be interesting to see what size, weight and fat content they have. This will be 5.5months since I got them as small fingerlings.
The plants are growing really well and I pulled three leeks for a potato and leek soup for tea