Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have a 500 gallon tank using rainwater. Water is now cloudy. What can I use to clear it?

You need to cycle it, give it time for the beneficial bateria to grow. If its white cloudy, you have a bacterial bloom (the bad bacteria) if its green cloudy you have an alage bloom.

When we first started - the first few days, the water was murky and even smelled a bit of fish - now it is clear and the dog loves to drink it.

I assume that means that all is going well.

Hi Crazy Cajun, welcome to the world of aquaponics.

How about a bit more detail (pics would be good) about your system, how it's put together and how long you have been running things etc.

Do you have a test kit and/or have you tested pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or any of them?

thank you for any info. i have a continuous flow system,has been running for about one month.i have done hydroponics for about 2 years.i had a water test done everything was fine, but in my area there is no one knows what i am doing. will get pics soon.

Depends on your type of media, amount of media,water flow, etc etc

I think it would be beneficial to retest your water parameters immediately CrazyCajun... and a report of current water temperatures would help as well.

There's obviously been significant changes occur over the month since you started....

Without a general plan overview of your system and without current water parameters it will difficult to assist you in determining a solution to the problem in a sussinct and timely manner.

i.e What sort of oxygenation methods, flow rates etc are you incorporating in your system?

More info needed I reckon : ..... we're all willing to help.

I think what ROZ means is that we all have no life except for AP......

cloudy as in white or cloudy as in green?

what sort of media have you used or is it nft?

He says he has "a continuous flow system", but as you say Steve, he doesn't say whether thats a shallow channel continouos flow system ala UVI... or continuous flow through NFT.... or through some type of growbed/media?

Pictures are now available for viewing in gallery. Let me know what you think.

How long ago did you switch to the pea-gravel... how many fish do you have and what size??

Switched to pea-gravel today. I have 20 channel catfish (8-10 inches long), several small bluegill, and countless ditch minnows. I only added a few pepper and tomato plants to the system since the pictures were taken. What should the plant to fish ratio be? Could this be the cause of the water issue? Should I change from continuous flow to ebb and flow?

wasn't there an issue with cypress mulch? like a really BAD one?

Not fish friendly at all from what I recall..... just as well you swapped to the pea-gravel Cajun....

So let me see if I've got this straight... you've got 20 (reasonably) large catfish and a handful of other fish in your tank.... looks to be about 1500ltr + .... 400gal+....

With about maybe 100ltr of growbed in the buckets, maybe 100ltr in the black drum bio-filter, maybe another 50ltr all up in your nft... and essentially no plants....

I make that to be about 250ltr of bio-filter (- 60gals) to filter about 1500ltr (400gal) of fish tank water.....

I take it you haven't actually tested your water parameters since you started and tested (I'm assuming) the inital water.....

Have you added additional water since??.... When did the cloudiness appear?, recently??

I suspect that you don't have anywhere near the bio-filter capacity to balance your system in general.....

And that your system may not even have cycle completely anyway... what have your temperatures (water/air) been like over the month.

How much/often do you feed the fish?

I suggest that you test the water parameters immediately and post the results here, don't feed the fish until you've received responses... and be prepared for a water change if suggested.