Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,
Already introduced myself in introductions.
Thought I'd put my system in this area which might be more appropriate for asking questions.
Sytem has been running 16 days, 11 days with 25 trout in. Located in the Perth Hills.
Mentioned in introductions that ammonia was at 2 ppm.
Am now wondering about the accuracy of the test kits.
Did a 1/3 water change this morning and did another test which showed absolutely no difference in ammonia reading.
How can that be? The fish seem happy enough.
Being new at this I guess I am worried that the fish might drop dead all of a sudden when I'm at work one day due to high ammonia. Does this happen? Whats the opinion on using ammo lock?
Should I put the test kit away and only worry if the fish start showing signs of having something wrong with them?
Regards.

was a test done IMMEDIATELY before and after water change? ,, un-cycled system would be taking up near no ammonia ..... so if tests done yesterday , then 30% water change and reading was same ,, that just means your fish produced another 30% ammonia.

Perhaps you could try testing your source water, just in case it has an ammonia reading of its own. I have heard of this happening before.
Faye

Tests were probably done an hour apart.
Tested the tank water that I topped up with, read betwen 0 and 0.25

When did you last feed the trout?

how high does ammonia have to be before its harmful for the fish?

I didnt feed them for 2 days and there was no difference in ammonia levels, so I gave them a bit this morning as I was going to do a partial water change. Realise now I probably only did a 1/4 water change buy the way.
Would it be good or bad if I decided to leave the pump on continuously for a few days? (instead of 15 minutes on 45 off)

oldute,

others like Rupe will have a better idea than me, but, I would stop feeding the trout for at least a week, to see if the ammonia levels drop. If your temperatures are anywhere near what they get to in the Adelaide hills (bloody cold) then I would say that your system is going to take a while to cycle.

i.e. at the moment I don't think you have enough good bacteria in you system to act as a biological filter.

Himzo.

Ammonia toxicity is a function of pH and water temp... this time of year, with tank temps down, there's more lee-way with ammonia...

Time to post the old ammonia chart again...

I'd be leaning towards 24/7...
But would be interested to hear other comments

With enough o2 in the water I'd run it more of a day at least. Any one near enough to swap 50ltrs of clay with or an IBC of water.

Thanks for that chart Rupert. I'll try to lower the ph a bit to make me feel better. Its currently at 7.6.

Any ideas how much pool acid to add to my 1000 litre tank?
ie a cap full, a cup full?

I intend to mix it into a bucket of water and slowly add it a bit at a time over a few hours.
I did a bigger water change the other day (definitely between a third and a half) and ammonia went down to between 1 & 2.
Noticed if I leave the ammonia test result in the test tube it gets darker the longer its left in, ie reads 2 the next day.
Have also had the pump on continuous for a few days and the water has cleared up so I can now see the fish which is good.

You're still cycling... and that will take time with temperatures as they are... pH 7.6 isn't a bad pH to start with... as it will move as you cycle and the system matures...

At this stage... I wouldn't go mucking around with things... just leave the system to cycle...

Do another test and post your values up... including water temp... and how much you're feeding...

Have just done tests.

Ammonia between 1 & 2 (probably closer to 2)
PH 7.4 (ended up putting in a little bit of acid thursday morning)
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
Water temp at time of test (7.30 am) was 12 degrees

System running 20 days, 15 days with 25 trout in.
I did put 2 small goldfish in the first day. One was eaten by the trout first day and I just found the other one floating this morning which I removed. I assume it died from either no food or getting hassled by the trout.

I have only been feeding a teaspoon max each day for the last week.
Trout seem very lively.

Ok, just let it go for a bit, them readings are ok. I would definately keep the feed at the same level, do not increase it yet.

The Trout are harrassing the goldies because they are hungry. Once your system is cycled and the Trout are taking 1% body weight of food per day, reintroduce some goldfish. They do a great job of cleaning up after theTrout.

You probably have another 2 weeks until you can really start pumping some food in.

In regards to increasing the pumping, I would probably not do it with such a small system at this time of year. You will end up getting big temperature swings, which will hurt the fish a lot.