Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

ok i am kinda worried here, not quite HSM but i think it will be soon.

I put my trout in on Friday, i put my first GB in on Sunday. Yeah i know not good. I had a pH of 8 and an ammonia of 0.25 on saturday and sunday.

I added a bag of peatmoss and some chemical buffer to correct the pH. Not a lot as i did not want swings.

Today my pH is 7.4 but my ammonia is 0.5. I tested my tap water and it has a pH of 8. If i do a water change, i will raise my pH but i have over 3000l of fish tank. how much water do i need to change to get my ammonia back to 0.25 and will that higher pH be worse?

you will need to change 1500L all in one hit to reduce it to 0.25

yes, higher ph will be worse.

DP, this is going to sound harsh, but let me confirm.

you added fish (how many?) on friday and your first bit of gravel (the bed) on sunday?

If this is correct then you are going to go through hell for the next 4 to 6 weeks.

1) Do you have any seasoned AP systems near you? if you do then beg borrow or steal AS MUCH gravel from their system as you can.

2) DO NOT FEED YOU FISH. AT ALL.

3) stop playing with the PH. lower is better with ammonia, but bouncing the ph around will only make the fish worse. consult the PH-ammonia table for when to do the 1500L water change

4) Refer point 2

5) Point 1) is going to give you the best results.......................Joel..............how much is seeded 50L bag of gravel gonna cost?

I'm trying to be helpfull, if you know anyone with tropical fish ( healthy), grabthere sponge filters squeeze out in bucket with small amount of water from fish tanks and pour over your beds.
Please confirm with a more experienced AP'er , I'm stillon my "L" plates.

I'd prefer the gravel from an established AP system in the area, but an aquarium (cool or tropical) is better than nothing.

I suggest the AP system as the temperature and PH will be similar to yours, and there are many species of the nitrosomonas and nitrobacter each with preferential environmental conditions for optimum efficiency (wow, what a mouthfull!)

yes i did. i had the trout booked for mid may, but they came early.

I have my duckaponix system, and i have stolen about 50lt of water from it to seed, but i might swap the entire volume of the duckaponix with the aquaponics. What is better water or gravel?

the gravel would be better than the water, it will contain more bacteria, maybe a light rinse of the gravel first to remove most the duckpoo

went back though the thread becasue i was sure you had a duckaponix system! must be a different thread

yes, swap out all the media from the ducka beds to the new AP bed

Gravel is what you want, but if you want to put the water over as well its not going to hurt. i'm SURE there are many motile beasties in the water column that make up an aged system.

do this and you'll be fine, i'm sure of it! check NH3 and NO2 24 hrs after the change and if they are zero let the feeding begin!

J and DP,

If the ducka system is showing perfect levels ie NH3 and NO2 the personally i would not rinse the gravel, less die off is best but this is just personal preference.

there is no duck poo, the duckaponix works so well you would swim in the duckpond no worries. the levels are perfect. do you think 100 lt of seeded gravel and all the water would be enough?

I dont want to do a water change with tap wate as i have the pH down where i want it. Perhaps i could swap the water over every few days.

The duckaponix is only 600lt and the aquaponics is over 3000lt

yep, that would depend on the testing results for the duckaponics (don't ask me the numbers, you know I don't pay attention to that part of things )

i have a 200lt buffer tank in the duckaponics, would 50+ trout fingerlings be too crowded in there?


My plan:

tonight drain the duckpond into the fishpond. refill the duckpond with fishpond water

tomorow swap 100 lt gravel from duckpond to fishpond.

If that does not work i will move as many fish as will fit into the 200 lt duckpond buffer tank

DP, i'd move ALL the gravel from the ducka system over to the AP system and move the AP gravel to the ducka system.

don't stress, you've headed off an AP emergency by posting.

breathe..........breathe..............

i have swapped the water over, and will test the duckpond tommorow am before work, if the ammonia is down to 0 i will swap water again. How fast does the ammonia get converted in a mature system?

I am trying to avoid swapping ALL gravel as the duckaponics is running really perfectly. swapping water is my preffered option as i hope the duckaponics will use the nutes up.

Can i put 50+ trout fingerlings in a 200lt tank that is already attached to my duckaponics without overcrowding them?

the duck system doesn't have fish to kill, you ap system does.

see tclynx's pee ponics page for speed of ammonia conversion. Put it this way, if you put .5ppm water into the duck pond then i'd expect it to be gone well within 24 hrs. (but unless you want to be doing this DAILY for 6 weeks then change the gravel, please.

seriously, try as move as much of the gravel (more than 300+L 500 if you can) into the AP system. The duck system will re-seed quickly.

TRUST me