Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

To tell you the truth I don't know why there is such a differance in the two tanks.there was about 200 hundred litres of water and thirty yabbies in the yabbie tank and about 1500 litres and 18 big trout in the trout tank.As the trout system consists of trough and pots as I had when using hydro I figured that it could be the problem so i conected it to the yabbie tank as well which is flood and drain hoping to get the ammo down that way but it only stuffed that up too. Since I seperated the two the yabbie tank has gone back to normal but in spite of water changes the trout tank just won't do what it is supposed to .Strangely the trout are growing like mushrooms and the yabbies are not growing and I keep loosing a few.I measure the ph with a digital meter as it is too low to register on the test kit.The digital meter is a lot quicker and will measure lemon juce and up to about ph 10 but it also costs about $130.00

Have you calibrated your truncheon lately??... I'm beginning to suspect that your pH reading isn't truely accurate... mainly because your fish are still alive...

I would still do a 50% change immediately.... try the test kit again... dilute the sample volume by a factor of two... measure then work the calcs back...

If your pH is truely 4.8... and water changes aren't moving it ... then you have to find the cause .... again ... buffer with calcium carbonate....

the cells on electronic Ph testers need to be kept moist prefereably in a potassium chloride ( at least i think thats the one) as well as callibrated regularly

for $130 i dunno how reliable it would be at work we use one that costs around $1800

CHeers
Pete

$130 will buy you a bluelab truncheon.... near bulletproof....

The system is improving But I am having trouble with the computer everytime I get seven or eight lines up they all disappear .I will try later,
Don.

Hi everyone here goes I hope that the computer doesn't have another hicup this time.Since my first posting all the yabbies have met with a terrible accident ,they feel into a pot of boiling water.There is one barra and hunreds of gambusias in that tank but it still behaves much the same.I still don't know why the ph wants to goes down all the time in the trout tank but it is starting to to steady up .I tried lime for a start with only limited success.It gets a bit confusing you have calcium carbonate sodium bicarbonate and bicarbonate of soda.Not wanting to kill the fish I went to a chemist friend and she couldn't help so I thought you can drink carb soda so I used about a quarter of a packet of that with quite dramatic results.It raised the ph from4.6 to 7.4.It started to go down again straight away so I have given it a few top ups in the meantime ,it is now staying just under or over 6 without any top ups.There has been quite a noticable change in the plants.The ammo has come down and the nitrite and nitrate are somewhere where they should be.Todays readings are ph 5.6,ammo.75,nitrite 0,and nitrate.75 temp24.I checked the ph at middday again and it was 6. One interesting observation is that while a lot of plants were dieing with the low ph a bell pepper was thriving and doing better than one that is in hydro.
I am down to twelve trout now to,six jumped out and landed in the frying pan.
Cheers everyone ,
Don

The only thing that I can think of as to why the difference in the two tanks is that when I decided that it may have been the pool water that was causing the problem I was able to drain all the water out of the yabbie tank but when the water level starts to get down in the trout tank they stress out prety badly so they did not get a complete water change but I thought that there had been so many partial changes that there wouldn't been any pool water left.Other than that I wouldn't have a clue .You will find more on this under another heading,using pool water in AP.

Dbird... go to Bunnings... buy a 500gm container of EcoRose... Potassium Bicarbonate....

Test the pH of the tank ... put two tablespoons into the tank... wait two hours and test pH again...

Let us know the results...

Thanks Rupert,my nearest Bunnings is 200k away but will get some the first time I am in Perth.

Hi Rupert,
I went to Albany last weekend and found a Bunnings store and they had eco rose ,so far so good but the story has a sad ending.The temperature was 40+ while I was away and all but one of the trout were dead when I got home.I put two table spoons of eco rose in which brought the ph up to 7.1 but it started to go down again so put another one in which has brought it up to 7 .It has started to slip back to 6.9 so I have added a bit more to it.I had a lot of gambusia in the tank as well which the trout were feeding but they all survived.Someone once told me that those bloody things will live in your cup tea. I also have a few tilapia in there now so I should be right till the winter comes now.Since I have raised the ph and the ammonia level has come down there has been a very noticeable improvement in the look of the plants.If nocky comes around tomorrow we may post a few pictures to let you see what some of the plants looked like.
Cheers Don.

That stuff buffers pretty well .. eh dbird... and provides lots of potassium...

Good to hear the plants are looking better... sad to hear about the fish...

I've made it a policy... never to leave home anymore if the temp is going to be above 30...

The fact that your system wants to keep the pH moving... then I think you need to add a more permanent, slow release buffer ... like shell grit.... to stabilise the pH...

Unless you're prepared to wear the drift... and use the EcoRose when needed... sure the plants wont mind...

Just remember though ... how powerful a small amount can be in moving your pH... and that pH is logarithmic... a change from 6.1 -> 7.1 is a factor of 100%...

A change from 5.6 -> 7.1 is a factor of over 200+

Too sudden a change in pH can be detremental to your fish... especially freshwater fish...

So use judiciously when you restock... even if it means very small regular amounts when the pH has moved about 0.2-0.4 points maybe??

Should read... A change from 5.6 -> 7.1 is a factor of over 150+

Thats a good idea but fish are cheaper than a divorce.

This is what some of the plants looked like when the ph was very low .

And now????