Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all Rexy here im a new here and this is my first post, and its been fantastic reading what everyone is up to.

My problem is that i have a new system to which 75 silver perch have been added, my ammonia level are reading zero however my nitrite levels are up at 2ppm. I am wondering if i should just wait and see if they start coming down or should i have read possibly as some salt to reduce the toxcity

Do a water change and add some salt.

are you getting nitrate readings yet? How long has the system been going? When did you first get nitrite readings? What is the pH?

the system has been running for about five week but with only five marron, the nitrate levels are between five and ten ppm and the pH is 7.8

as VB said

What's the salt for? Just in case, or does it help with nitrite resistance?
I thought you guys would say stop feeding for a day or two then retest. Sorry if I'm leading things off on a tangent.

sorry, the stop feeding goes without saying if you're doing emergency water changes for ammo or nitrite

steem! did you download our mag that we worked so hard on?!

the chloride ion comeptes with the no2 ion at the gill surface thus reducing the amount taken up. the exact amount of salt per ppm of nitrite has been worked out.

I downloaded it, yes...didn't read it very well tho...

Thanks Steve, appreciate the explanation rather than the RTFM that I deserve

Think it might be one of those cases of people not respecting what they get for free

steve, how high can nitrites get before its an issue?

what is the size of your tank rexy?

btw do you have that link handy?

Increase oxygen as much as possible and add salt. I am very unsure about the advisability of water changes. If possible try to keep the system cooler. I know thats difficult in Perth at the mo.

don't have the link, but with my new-found nitrite knowledge :
Try to keep nitrites below 0.5ppm, and add 17ppm salt for each ppm of nitrite.

Max nitrite levels for fish in a tank is 5 ppm (but they are starting to die at this stage...)
Do as Steve and VB are saying, should be right.
Anyway closely monitoring the fish will have to be done for the next 2 weeks, pathogens could take up after the nitrite spike because of the O² deficency (due to nitrite) that impacts the immune system of the fish.
After that have fun...

thanks for the feed back everyone all the fish are still alive just trying to avoid any disasters, i have change some water and add salt, the tanks is 4000L