Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

yep I got venturi's in my drains and I kinked the end of some poly over running from the pump and put a couple of 4mm jabs in , shooting water into the ft making heaps of air. but my air pump just fubarred it self so Up for a new one getting it either late this week or early next week, I have koi they are a bit tough, hope they make it

splashing makes a good amount of aeration too, they should be fine.

f5Well I checked the levels this morning and no ammonia reading nitrate and nitrite 0. pH 7.6
I put about 400ml aged pee in after taking readings.
Commets doing fine.
I am considering the system to be fishless cycling as I only have 7 commets in pretty large tank.
Should I be putting more pee in, Taking note to leave system for 2 days before checking ammonia level ?

sorry to put your necks out, will have take horizontal photo next time.

What do you mean by ammonia is high?? ??ppm??

Skipd, check for ammonia two days later... if it is at 1ppm, leave the system alone, do not add anymore pee. Comets are a fair bit tougher than most fishes, but the temperatures are warming up in Perth and ammonia toxicity increases with increased temperatures...

Thats a lot of aged pee! Keep an eye on the readings.

Are those cory tanks aqualined? If not, zinc building up in the water could become toxic to many types of fish, especially as the pH comes down.

I would not be adding pee with fish in the system unless you really are trying to kill the fish, they might survive it but it seems like torture to me.

The air pump being below the water line is kinda dangerous unless you have a check valve in the line. It is possible for an air pump upon shutting off or loosing power to actually cause a siphon and suck water out of a tank unless there is a check valve or the air pump is physically higher than the water level. Double whammy would be if a siphon occurred due to air pump failure and not the power or even if it was a brief power out and the electrical stuff was all wet when the power came back on causing the circuit to blow.

Good Luck.

Both GB and FT have had 2 coats of bitumen paint ( potable grade ) and the airline of the airpump has non return valve. Cheers for heads up Linx.
I am thinking of putting some oyster shells in Sump tank for low pH buffer.
Will check for ammonia in 2 days time Ivan.
Have a great day all.

Skipd, actually as adbul has brought it to my attention that the pee is aged. Missed it the first time. You can the ammonia readings in the same day for aged pee.

So if you have time, check asap.

Aha, didnt realise that one,
will check in the morning, things seem to have settled down in the FT from my heavy hand of Seasol. Should really put it a more measured dose than the dolop next time.
All the seedling I put in are going real good. A few seeds popping up from sowing a couple of weeks ago.
Dont know if the guppy is still alive as the water has darkened up and he is very shy and fast. Two of the commets I put are bronze and I only catch a glimpse of them every now and then as they blend in with black tank.
How is your setup going these days, do you have any recent pics up ?
Thanks for the pee tip,
Kind regards, Skipd.

Sorry skipd, I do not have any recent pics just yet, but maybe it is due for an update. I will see if I can get some updates either tomorrow or this weekend.

In my opinion I wouldn't be putting crushed shells in your system if your PH is 7.1. Adding shells will increase your PH
Give it more time

+1 on not adding any pH buffering.

Ideally you want your pH at about a neutral 7.0'ish as a starter. Adding oyster shells (calcium carbonate) will only add extra hardness to your water and will make it harder for the pH to lower.

Your system is still cycling up and the pH will drop with time and maturity.

Or - use an acid to lower it to 7.0. HCL works well! There are plenty of threads on using acids to lower pH. Take a look here.

BTx

Thanks for shell advice, will not put in at this stage.
Have a great weekend.