new tes readings; what does this mean?

artoliva · **Joined:** Jun 20th, '08, 23:19 **Posts:** 17 **Gender:**

hello fellow aquaponicers,....., since last spoke i put a timer on; 1/2 hour on 1 hour off; timer doesn't allow 15 minutes; off during the night; the plants look better even in one day; i think they were drowning..Ozzieoutback has been giving me suggestions...that i really appreciate..my ph is still at 8; amonia up from .5 to 1.5; nitrite up from .25 to .5 and nitrate up from 0 to5...stopped feeding the fish,,is this the spike people talk about? looking for suggestions; I think maybe the number of fish about 100 medium to baby tilapia maybe too much although they are in a 350 gall tank; but the stacking pots have maybe just below a cubic foot of gravel and there are 20 so maybe my fish to gb ratio is off...open to suggestions

monya

if it is a new system, you are just cycling up. Ammonia will start to fall soon, keep an eye on the levels and do a small water change if neccessary. You need to get the ph down a bit more, use some phosphoric acid, your plants will love you for it (use a tiny amount hough) and the ammo is less toxic the lower the ph. Aim for mid 7's

Xzorby

Those values look like your system is just starting to cycle. Like Monya said, your system will be cycled faster at the optimal pH for the bacteria which is around 7,3. It will take some time for the ammonia and nitrite to come back to zero though.

I ran your system through my calculator and it says that at the moment the amount of fish should be just fine. Your growbeds are good for up to about 7 ounces (200g) of fish food a day, but as the tilapia get bigger there will be a point where your growbeds don't provide enough filtration for the fish unless you feed the fish less than what they want. You'd probably want to add 20 more cubic foot growbeds when the fish get bigger than 7 inch.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

artoliva · **Joined:** Jun 20th, '08, 23:19 **Posts:** 17 **Gender:**

Xzorby wrote:

Those values look like your system is just starting to cycle. Like Monya said, your system will be cycled faster at the optimal pH for the bacteria which is around 7,3. It will take some time for the ammonia and nitrite to come back to zero though.

I ran your system through my calculator and it says that at the moment the amount of fish should be just fine. Your growbeds are good for up to about 7 ounces (200g) of fish food a day, but as the tilapia get bigger there will be a point where your growbeds don't provide enough filtration for the fish unless you feed the fish less than what they want. You'd probably want to add 20 more cubic foot growbeds when the fish get bigger than 7 inch.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

thanks ; in the process of adding more feet to grow bed..

artoliva · **Joined:** Jun 20th, '08, 23:19 **Posts:** 17 **Gender:**

monya wrote:

if it is a new system, you are just cycling up. Ammonia will start to fall soon, keep an eye on the levels and do a small water change if neccessary. You need to get the ph down a bit more, use some phosphoric acid, your plants will love you for it (use a tiny amount hough) and the ammo is less toxic the lower the ph. Aim for mid 7's

how much is a small amount for a 350 gallon tank?

Outbackozzie

Have a look at this page, see if you can make sense of it

http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:x7Xbgvtn9DsJ:www.pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/B1130.htm+adding+phosphoric+acid+how+much+350+gallons&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=au&client=firefox-a

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new tes readings; what does this mean?

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