Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

i checked the ammo this arvo and it was back to zero. So before i had read your advice rupe i fed them about two desertspoons. Ill test again in the morning as i only tested the ammo this arvo. Two of them were flashing so i upped the salt a little. Its so exciting i can watch them for ages. The water is crystal clear and doesnt taste to bad either.

latest readings ammo 0.25 nitrite 0 nitrate 5 ph 8.4 . Overnight the ph has jumped from 7.4 to 8.4 thats a huge increase. I cant think what would cause it. I have a bucket of oyster sheels suspended over the return pipe to act as a buffer. Any one know what would cause a massive ph spike. I did a 10% water chage at 6 this morning. I gave the fish another 2 desertspoons of feed. The water is still crystal clear. I live on a hiill so i set up a syphon and used it to drain ten percent out of the tank. it has a long leg of about 10 m vertical, im using a 32mm pipe . It has so much force it sucks scum off the bottom of the fish tank like a creepy crawly. I put a gauze over the end because i thought it might suck out my fingerlings.

Sudden ph rises can be caused by the fish food.

I wouldnt worry about any more 10% water changes - they can cause more harm than good, they are not really required for ammonia 0.25

Can your tank overflow safely? I find that to bring the PH down slowly (if you have heaps of water) - continuously running a trickle of water into the tank works very well. Provided that your water supplies ph is below 8 obviously.

Well afishanados
latest test results
6.30 am ammo 0.5 nitrite 1 nitrate 5 ph 8.8
turned the pump on and ran continuous until 1.30 pm then checked the water again:
ammo .1 nitrite 0 Nitrate 7 ph 8.4
6.30 pm ammo .1 nitrite 0 nitrate 5 ph 8.4
i fed the fish this morning at 6.30 1 heaped tablespoon of food.

Is the ph level acceptable or should i try to lower it ?
the ammo is only at 0.1 should i be aiming for 0?
i have a twenty ltr bucket filled with oyster shells suspended in the fish tank will that help to lower the ph?
should i be panicing?

Take the oyster shells out Bluefin... there purpose is to buffer the water... (not that it's probably doing any buffering at pH 8.4 anyway...

You want your pH to move in the other direction....

The ammonia level has dropped to 0.125 and the ph seems to be stable at 7.4 after taking the oyster shells out of the fish tank. Nitrite is zero and nitrate is about 7. I have noticed also that the broad beans i had planted back in august had become yellow and lacked vigor however in the last week they have greened up substainually. This may have been caused by increased nitrate levels. Overall the plants in the growbeds appear to be growing faster. The watercress has gone ballistic and is in danger of taking over one of the beds. The s perch are constantly hungry and come to the surface whenever i aproach the tank. They seem to be increasing in size although im not sure how to tell acurately. There is a fine silt/ delitrious material on the bottom of the fish tank, that gets disturbed when the fish feed there. A mate has got a freshwater muscle he has found and will drop it off soon. Hopefully the lone bivalve will get to work and clean up the bottom of the tank. Are red claw compatable with mussels or will they fight? Can anyone tell me if red claw will damage my sp fingerlings? Will redclaw clean up the tank as well as mussels?
thanks afishinados

Sounding a bit more balanced now Bluefin ...

Red Claw and Mussels wont bother one another.... Perch might have a go at the Red Claw when they get bigger though....

Think the Mussels are better at "polishing" the water than anything... but they're filter feeders... and wont eat the "detrius" material as such...but will filter the stuff in suspension...

The Red Claw should cleanup some of the stuff from the bottom... but if it keeps building up it could present problems...

Either need some more Red Claw... or perhaps a little less feed...

latest pics, the tomatos are going berserk and the babes lilies are beautiful. i tried to get a photo of the fish but it is really hard to get then in a complimentary light. They have increased in size 4 fold since oct 1st when i first introduced them into the tank. They are voracious feeders. They also love lebanese water cress, i put a couple of handfuls in the tank bfore i go to work and by the srfternoon all that is left is striped stems.

tomatos

Good to see things are humming along Bluefin...

Nice use of materials too

i have been having problems with my water quality in the past two weeks. The amonia has been up to 4 the nitrate is about 100 and litrite is high too. I have been doing frequent water changes. However the tank water used to top up the system is 7.8 ph to staart with. So after adding it to the ft i get a reading in the low 8's. i started with 150 fingerlings back in october 1st. they are now about 200mm to 250mm in length. I dont know if i still have 150 i cant count them as the tank is dark and they move fast. There would have to be at least 100. The tank is 1250mm in diameter and 2000mm deep. The tank holds approx 2250 lts. I have 10 baths and 2 ss tubs as grow beds. I think that the problem lies with the fact i need more biological filtration if i want to have that many fish in the tank. I suggested to my partner i add more grow beds, she is more of the buy a bigger tank crew. I have the finance to buy another tank. This is in itself problematic as i want to site it in another area, which would neccesitate building an entire new system in a different part of the yard. In the mean time what to do with the fish. Another solution would be to start eating some of the fish to reduce the population. I am a firm believer in keeping things simple and having just the one pump in a sump feeding the ft. ie chift pist. Ill post a few pics of the new site soon. any solutions for the above or sugestions on the new design would be greatly appreciated
pete

yep eat some

Take your wife up on the suggestion of a bigger tank.... this will require more fish and more growbeds .... later...

At that stage, when adding more growbeds.... perhaps you could use your existing tank as the sump.... filled with redclaw perhaps...

If the wife ever suggests anything that will create a bigger system, GO FOR IT!!!!!