Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Changing out some water would be OK. Definitely stop feeding and also keep an eye on the PH levels as well some systems PH drops dramatically Get some shell grit and keep it on hand. I could not find what fish you are stocking and how many?

Replacing bad water with good water is always a good idea.

I would change your pond water with your AP water.

On the other hand, if your pond water is good, just place the fish in your pond, for now.

its in the thread title and there is 50 of them

Just me, but i would stop feeding. As ammonia and nitrites come down then slowly ramp up feeding watching amm like a hawk. A few days without food wont kill them. If it takes longer than a few days then a very light feed every 3 -4 days.

Yep! if the water is such that you cant see the fish, as it has been mentioned, then there is no point in feeding. Reason being, that you are unable to see if the food is being eaten.

Hi all,I know it's still only early days,but putting that pond water/water plants in my sump has made a difference already,my water figures by the end of the day are,ph7.8 still,ammonia 1ppm which is slightly lower,nitrites is still just over 0.25ppm,and now I have about 3ppm nitrates, which hopefully means it is starting to cycle.i haven't fed fish much at all today,would it pay to hang off till tomarrow to feed them and does the rest of the system look on track,thanks in advance guys

Dont feed for a couple of days. Patience, patience, patience..

Yeah it is just a waiting game now firey. Do you have a filter or anything like that in your pond you could clean in your IBC water? I did this with the filter in my aquarium and it seems to have sped things up alot. What i did was pull out about a bucket full of water and clean the filter in that. I then emptied the bucket over the grow media so i didnt put any solids into the fish tank.

before you go putting pond water in your AP, check the PH of both, you dont want to swing your PH too much or you will kill your fish.


if I was you I would not be feeding at all right now till I know what my ammonia, nitrites, nitrates levels are, then go from there.

Good morning all,day two of my cycling(fish have been in now 3 days without a fatality)my water figures area as follows:
Ph.nearing 8.0
Ammonia increased 2ppm
Nitrides increased to 1ppm
Nitrates 3-4ppm
No feeding of fish again this morning
Does this all look on track,should I consider some water change in fish tank????

Yea I would wait it out now

Is it worth doing a 1/3 water change with the rain water I have which is ph6.4 to try and bring overall ph back a bit to make ammonia less toxic,or will that be worse for fish then leaving as is????

at your PH the TAM chart shows ammonia as being bad at less then 1 ppm, if your 2 then I would think thats not a good thing.

Not sure if I would be changing water so quick tho, ph swinging will kill/damage your fish too. You would need to change half your water to bring the amm reading down by 50%.

Any idea what is buffering your PH up so high? maybe do a test on your grow media to see if its the cause. I belive you can drop some grow media in some vinegar and see if you get a reaction.

Throw in a bucket or two of pond water every half an hour or so and hold off on the feeding.