Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

in the process of trying to feed train my wild carnivorous fish i have allowed a handful of pellets to remain for 2-3 days and im outta whack bad! everything else in in check, ph is a tad high but not bad. i also added 3 TBSP of seaweed extract 2 nights ago (200 gallon sump and 300 gallon fish tank) if that matters.

im headed out now with my shop vac to suck up any pellet and krill that have gone uneaten. will this drop fast or do i need to add anything?

BTW, as always, thank you guys for the help

What's your tank temp... and pH... exactly....

You will probably have to do a 50% water... especially if you've already lost a fish...

No feed.. or seaweed.... as much aeration.. and pumping.... as possible

i changed out 1/3 of the water 2 days ago

nitrate 5

nitrite 1.0

hardness 100

alkalinity ? its always a mixture of colors

PH 7.2

ammonia 4.0

i wonder if the fish i found was already dead and that jacked my level up? just a thought ...

7.2 certainly gives you some leeway.... what's your tank temp??

If your fish had cloudy eyes... then it was probably dead for a couple of days.... and would have (along with the feed) pushed your ammonia higher...

yes eyes were cloudy, first time i lost one it was sunk this guy was floating so i dont know how long he was dead. i took a shop vac and sucked out the excess krill, pellets anything uneaten, changed out 20% of my water, and ran a full on beds filled hardcore pump wide open cycle for 30 minutes nonstop, and i just rechecked my levels and i am at

nitrate 5

nitrite 1.0

hardness 100

alkalinity ? its always a mixture of colors

PH 7.6

ammonia dropped to 2.0

anything else i should do or just watch it? im sure i have a a number of rotting pellets/material in my grow beds, i tossed out any i could pick up. .

Salt to 1ppt to mitigate against the nitrites... and keep pumping continuously for 24 hours....

What is your tank temp... with your pH now at 7.6.... even though your ammonia level has dropped... you may still be toxic...

Indeed... being early summer over there... you probably are pushing toxicity...

i was wrong ammonia is more like 3.0 still, and tank temp is at 63.5

Ok... that's about 17.5C....

If you look at the chart above for 17.5C @pH 7.6.... you toxicity margin is about 1.5....

And your reading for ammonia is 3.0......

You should really do another 20-30% water change... trouble is, based on the last change... you're likely to lower your pH further...

Say if you went to pH 7.8.... then your toxicity margin would be about 1.0.....

So you just might have to ride it out... and hope that continuous pumping and aeration... brings the level of ammonia down over night...

Maybe time for some continual pumping (as Rupe says) and some patience.

PATIENCE. Until that system is fully cycled, it will be as unstable as heck.
Run your pumps 24 hours, not just 30 min. Fish and plants can go without feed for days (maybe weeks?)
Go easy on feeds when you do get it going. Do not let food go foul.

Oh if I forgot to say earlier. BE PATIENT!! Remember you only started this game a few weeks ago.

ok so 12 hours of continuous pumping and I just rechecked levels

nitrate 5-10

nitrite 1.0

hardness 120

alkalinity 80

PH 7.2-7.6

ammonia 3.5 ok so a small water change was not enough, i guess im going to have to do a large amount this morning.

12 hours... Perhaps the better mind frame would be 3 weeks. The tricky thing with water changes is it slows down the cycling process. Water changes are an important tool, but it needs to be done judiciously. Are these the pumpkinseeds? Did you add salt yet? You will have to get your math brain out o figure how much salt will get you to 1-3 parts per thousand based on your water volume. If you shoot for 2 parts per thousand, you will have some room for error.