Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm not a super expert RWTD but I would have thought you should have nitrite as well and then finally nitrate, I thought the nitrite converted amm to nitrate so with ammonia that high I would assume you should have a nitrite reading, seems to be how mine cycled anyhow, when amm was high so was nitrite, amm zeroed out then nitrite zeroed, nitrate went up, so to me anyhow something seems strange with you're cycle, no doubt a guru will correct me shortly but 3 systems I have cycled never went like yours, maybe you changing things like water and salt has upset the cycle, time for OBO or rupe to poke head in the door

It's easy to miss.

I think what's happened is this... ammo came down, nitrates went up, nitrites came down.. then nitrates came down...

As the plants gobbled the nitrates up... Darrell says the lettuce has doubled in size the last week...

As well... through rain the tank has probably had a 50% water change over the last week or so...

But the system is newly cycled... and barely... as Darrell has upped the feed... the ammo is spiking back...

My bet is there will be a small, short nitrite spike.... then the nitrates will begin to show again...

Rain, feed, new system... temporary imbalance... and the nitrifying bacteria that produce the nitrates wont begin to reshow until the ammo spike drops anyway...

Some people suggest water changes in here, I always am up for idea's and almost was convinced to change 30%, if the fish were looking sick I would have done, but even though I was stressed I didn't do anything, if things hadn't changed by the Sunday I would have done it, a couple of members advised not to touch anything whilst fish were happy and against my own thoughts and stress I took this advice, things flattened out quickly and have been stable since, changing water can only upset the balance of the cycle, in my experience anyhow. So Nitrite will go up and amm down and finally Nitrates up, my rates are still up a tad but all is running fine and things are growing, will soon need another tank to give the trout more room

Is the 1 ppm ammonia all nh3? or combined nh3 and nh4?
If your test kit measurement is a total, then the more toxic NH3 may actually be quite acceptable, thus, no need to do anything drastic.

My theory regarding the low nitrite is that your plants maybe using NH4 (ammonium) in addition to Nitrate.

Many aquatic plants prefer ammonium to nitrates... i.e duckweed, reeds and spaghnum... and ammonium might provide 80%+ of the plants uptake...

But terrestrial plants by preference will uptake nitrates... in almost the opposite preference .. 80%+ ...

Terrestrial plants will uptake ammonium, once in the plant, ammonium is immediately converted into amino acids or amides.

Ammonium cannot be stored in the plant as it is toxic, even at relatively low concentrations.

An example is the use of urea... Urea can be taken up by plant roots and leaves. However, in the soil, urea is rapidly converted to ammonium, so uptake by roots is rarely observed. In leaves, urea enters the plant through pores by a passive process. Once inside the plant, it is converted to ammonium and assimilated as amino acids and amides.

so would a floating raft of duckweed in my yabbie tank be beneficial rupe

test results tonight
Amo 1 same, NO2 0, NO3 0, PH 7.2 temp 13oC
Fed again tonight as mo is not getting worse.

Yep...but no real need for a "floating raft" Nocky... just grow it on top of the water...

I run two interconnected bins with yabbies... the back one doesn't receive any direct water flow... just what mingles between the bins... and grows duckweed quite well...

Just make sure it doesn't get too much light... and get the "giant" duckweed variety for summer... as the smaller duckweed will die off when it gets above 30+

yeh have some weed in a pond, but it goes wild in tank I don't want it everywhere, so will raft some I think, nice blue there to rupe, or is it the camera

Is it the camera?....

I only keep blues Nocky....

Test results tonight same as last night.
Amo same maybe even gone down a tad but still no reading for No2 and No3

Nice rupe, but they all turn red when they're cooked and taste the same, but they are a nice colour.
Well RWTD your either cycled or it is still happening but results are good if fish are happy and plant's growing

The fish are very active, water is crystal clear and the plants are a lush green so it can't be that bad in there. The Amo was defently a lighter green last night so I gave them 1 and a 1/2 tablespoons and will re test tonight to see if the Amo has increased, if not will continue on that to build them up a little.

Are you testing at the same time of the day?