Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Has anyone had a rise in there ph after the recent rain fall. I've heard of fish dying because of the swing in ph. Even my larger system had the ph go into the 8's.

Hmmm Alkaline rain, pretty rare in built up areas from what I've read.

H.

Mine didn't even get the rain off the roof. This was straight rain. Ph from the low 7's up to the low 8's. 2 days later the system is back around the 7.5. Smaller systems the shift would of been a lot more. I didn't mind it in my system. Think it gave the bacteria a surge.

Could it be algae Duff?

Try a daily profile, am, noon, pm, of your pH - if it swings, it's most likely algae.

+1

Algae looks the same as normal. Will have to start keeping a better check on it. New battery for the ph tester.

my water always goes cloudy after it rains for a day , both systems , all different pH levels , always goes cloudy for the same amount of time

dont know why , but the fish dont seem to mind

There were at least 4 systems over east that had big fish kills after the recent rain, that was couple with a prior dust storm - the general thought seems to be that the dust in the rain caused a large ph swing.

Was it the dust in the rain, or was it the dust that added trace elements that triggered the algae that created a pH swing?

Caused a big kill overnight, before algae would have had a chance to form.

Wouldnt mind knowing the exact cause - I just hooked my gutters up to my tank

Was it in AP systems or larger systems (dams) - storms in general can de-stratify larger ponds/dams, which can cause rapid fish kills?

Nope, normal AP systems, just the rain falling on growbeds + tanks.

Good Questions.......hope somebody can work out an answer!

I know from farmers/orchardists.......they like the rain during or after thunderstorms.
Apparently it is super saturated with nitrogen, useful for trees/plants.

My conclusion: lightning strikes between + charged & - charged clouds in the upper atmospere (Meterologist counted up to 400,000 lightning stikes during thunderstorms) would use up a lot of O2.......what's left........ nitrogen (etc.) coming down with rain.

Makes sense

Dont know whats going on with my system 60- 4 in silvers12-12in silvers 30-16 in trout 5000 litres water has gradually drifted down to 5.5 i am adding 1/4 cup of calciam carbinate every second day theres 15 kg of fine shellgrit buryed in the grow beds the tomatoes are booming have just taken out cabbage that measured 1 metre accross[leaves] and 2 silverbeet plants that ware nearly a metre tall
Problem is the tomatoes are booming good crop of onions grape plants are 2 metres long every thing else that i plant just struggles [toms corn ect]
the fish are making waste i am feeding 1/2 kg of food a day
is there anything else thet will rase the ph

Rather interesting subject Heka. Still checking but looks like a combination effect. Algae, cloudy, night (absorb o2 give off co2)
low pressure decrease waters ability to hold gas, ph swing thunderstorm, stratification thunderstorm. There are some interesting articles re No etc in thunderstorm rain (but most are those *sigh* pay for it stuff).
Easy to read link http://www.miamidade.gov/derm/library/c ... _kills.pdf
F&F, what are all the other tests showing?
This site is interesting http://www.aquatext.com/list-p.htm
Just scroll down to ph the carbonate should be having a reaction