Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello all,

I have a newly upgraded system and having issues with my temporary goldfish going belly up.

My System has 1000L FT, 30 Gal RFF, 30 Gal GB, 4- 26 Gal GB Filled with Lava Rock and Clay Media, 30 Gal Sump and about 30 FT of PVC NFT tubes. I cycled with pure Ammonia(No Detergents). Water Temp has been between 60-75 F. Levels before fish PH-6.2, AM- .25, NO2- 0ppm, NO3- 20-40ppm. I waited over a week after last AM dose and added 2 dozen goldfish, all died with in 12 hours. I did 3 30 gal water swaps over the corse of a week. PH went up to about 6.8 and everything else stayed the same except the NO3 would climb as high as 120ppm before a water change. I find that strange because I was not adding an AM... Also, all the dead fish were accounted for. Well I added 24 more goldies and 3 days later and 12 are dead. I just did another 30 gal water swap. My Catfish should be ready in a week the supplier said but I won't be ready if I keep killing Goldfish. What could be causing the mortality of these little fish. My water was cloudy after cycling before the first set of fish but not now its crystal clear. I am using city water but treating with Vitamin C for Chloramines and letting it sit for at least 24 hours before adding it to the FT.

I need help before my Channel Cat Fingerlings are ready. What could be the problem?

Help,

Ben

Does the vitamin c take out the ammonia in your water?
Our tap water is reading between .5- 1.0...yeeks!

I don't think that vitamin C does anything for Ammonia, I will do a test tomorrow to see what happens. I am not really sure what my Tap for AM is so I will see what that that is too.

@GHaquaponics - Hi, can you provide some photos on how and where your system is setup? It will help us to understand your current predicament better. If i am processing your information correctly, you run a 1000L FT to about 134 Gal (507L) GBs?? If that is the case you might not have enough filtration, but this depends on how densely you stock.

Please also include the water and environmental temp throughout the day for your system too if possible. High temp fluctuations will also stress your fishes out.

Take a look at the attached link, it provide some interesting information.
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6646

Regards

The initial deaths sound like the water parameters of where they were coming from were way different than in your system and basically they suffered shock and died . I suppose they are still having stress problems if this new batch came from the same place. Try salting the tank to help the fish build a slime coat, this also helps protect them against nitrite spikes (but not ammonia) - 1ppt = 1KG per 1000L or 1gm per L.

Check the parameters of the water that you have them in before you put them into the system.

Another possibility is a toxin in the water. What was in this tank previous to setting it up for your system? When you cleaned it out did you rinse well after you were done?

I will try to upload some photos. 3 more down today. The fish have come from 2 different LPS. Are you saying check the water in the bag before I transfer? I am not sure what its original use was for but this is the second time used for aquaponics, I got it from a guy who raised tilapia, so I don't think is a contamination issue. My PH is down to 6.0 again today... Something is making my PH drop could this be related? As far as my grow beds I have about 104 Gallons of Continuous Flow Grow Beds and the PVC Tower I made. It grows approx. 50 plants, not really sure how to figure gallons on that. I have a RFF Filter made from a 33 gal Trash Can as well as a BioFilter from the another trash can. It has Lava Rocks, Pieces of Screen tied in loose knots, Sponges and Dish Scrubbies from the dollar Store as well as 2 air stones. I think it is filtering well? Oxygen seems to plentiful in the Fish Tank I am using a Venturi Air Pump. So when the Sump Pump in the Sump runs in adds a bunch of air as it runs usually about 35 secs every 2 min is what my pump will run, Everything else is gravity fed. I am going to salt the tank to see if that helps any issues. Thanks for all the fast replies. As far as AM in my supply water it is about .5 when I tested it today but a PH of 7.8. The Vitamin C had no effect on the AM.

Great info,
Ben

Also,

Water is at 70 today, the greenhouse stays about 55 to 85 degrees. The coldest I have seen the water was 66 degrees in quite a while.

The system is all enclosed in a greenhouse.

Ben

Is there a way to make album or link to adding pictures of my system. I get an error saying the image has to be 0 pixels by 0 pixels. I think that is pretty low resolution photo

Well I added them to a Album on Aquaponics Nation, if anyone would like to look at my small Aquaponics system
http://aquaponicsnation.com/forums/gall ... aponics-3/

Photos need to be resized to 800 x 600. This tutorial should help you get your pics posted to the forum - http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21754

Tough to figure a fish stocking capacity but it sounds like you have around 130 gallons of filtration as Curious noted. I don't think most would count the tower for much filtration unless it's filled with some type of media, like the zipgrow towers.

You're close to having toxic ammonia concentrations but unless it's peaking at times when you don't get a reading you're not quite there. What I was trying to say is that the transport water can get pretty bad if it takes much time to transport the fish and sometimes the mixing of the two waters can exacerbate any water quality problems.

Your system looks good but I do worry about the black IBC which I'm assuming is the Fish Tank. Between this and the grow beds I'd expect the water temp to change quite a bit on a sunny day. I'd be surprised to see it change enough to kill the goldfish in 12 hours though. What was originally in this IBC?

@GHaquaponics - Hmm, after looking at your pics i have to agree with scotty435, the temp fluctuation should not be too bad. There might be something in your water.

Yeah my temp doesn't change that much in the FT, maybe 2 to 3 degrees on a hot sunny day and a cool night. The IBC I am not sure if the original use but I got it from a tilapia farmer that used it for about 3 years but was converting to round tanks. I used it for a year prior to this. I painted it black on the out side to increase heat in the winter months as well as protect from algae bloom which was pretty bad last season. I don't think that it's the tank is the problem. I am worried the about the bio filter, that maybe it's harboring something. But the last 5 fish seem to be doing ok after salting. So I am hoping it will be okay.

Ben

Well it has been solved, well the main issue at least. My ammonia test was old or faulty, not working correctly. AM was off the chart! So I was doseing AM on my fishless cycle and was way over what I should have been. No telling what I was doing. But I did a 200 to 300 gallon water change and my AM is at 8ppm. Well hopefully I didn't kill any nitrating bacteria. Thanks for all the help!

Thanks for letting us know what you found, might help someone else later on

@GHaquaponics - Thanks for the update. Glad everything is resolved.