Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The salt may have killed some of the algae - this then releases the fine dirt that it was holding.

Or the fish may be eating the algae now they are happy.

That would make sense. The fish have been eating more the last couple of days too. Only problem now is we just checked the water and the nitrites have rocketed, so doing a water change...which will dilute the salt....

Salt will buffer the nitrites. What are they up to.

Nitrites are 0.5, up from 0.2 only 3 days ago. pH 7.6, ammonia up slightly though still below 0.1 I think, DO 4 and nitrate 15.

I've had a nitrite reading of 1 for a few weeks with salt at 3ppt and the fish are still happy. Water changes slow the cycling down. You maybe able to give it a couple of days and see if it goes down. If you don't want to risk it then do a water change.

thanks...have already started the change so will continue but will panic less next time and watch for a while first!! I must say the fish seem happy and were eager to eat this morning, so perhaps we didn't need to rush.

do you keep your water at 3ppt all the time?

Yes between 2 and 3ppt.
How did you test the DO.

We measure the DO with a test made by Sera. It was recommended by our major aquarium suppliers for measuring DO...not sure how accurate but at least it is a guide.

Do you measure DO? and if so how? How do you measure your salt content too?

No DO tester yet. Salt I use a Salinity Refractometer.