Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Heh scratch that idea then Thanks for the heads up

Quick update finished all plumbing and have put in most of the gravel (didnt get enough!)..and some grass!!


I did a reeeaaally poor job of cleaning it so the water now looks like mud



So now im using old towels as a filter to try get the water clear again. Poor goldfishies wont know whats going on!

Got the rest of the gravel washed and in and have planted a few seedings. I am having a problem with the pipework into the growbeds being quite noisey making a very loud gurgling noise at the taps due to trapped air. It only happens to two or one of them. Just wordering what I could do to stop this?? Maybe add a T-piece insted of the elbow coming out of the tank to let some of the air out?

nice neat system..I'm wondering about catching fish with such a deep tank?

Solved the problem, was just a matter of opening up the flow rate.
Thanks drew, ive put a door on the top of the tank to allow access. If that doesnt work the whole lid can come off so I can jump in

Measured nutrient levels yesterday and am a bit concerned about how high my ph is

Ammonia - 0.5
Nitrite- 0.25
Nitrate- 5
pH- 8.2

I put in two teaspoons of sodium bisulphate this morning and ran the system a bit more than usual today to run it through. Measured pH again tonight and it is now up to 8.6! Had to double check I actually got acid! Chucked another couple of teaspoons in to try bring it down. Does pea gravel dust raise pH? There was alot of it in the last lot of gravel I put in.
Seedlings are going ok, had a few casualties with the tomato plants but that was my fault as they were tiny seedlings and probably could have grown a bit more in seedling pots. Goldfish seem happy. Water is still quite murky from pea gravel. I took the sheet off last week, maybe I should filter it a bit more.

You might get better results, with lesser amounts... using "Diggers" Hydrochloric Acid...

Micko,
My PH is around 8.2 as well.
At this stage I am doing nothing but I am not sure if it is affecting plant growth.
All the fish are fine, I have small silver perch, goldfish and Koi.
I have noticed that the plants are not all that good.
Are you seeing any signs of plant issues since the PH went that high.

Rupe I just got 1.5kg's of this stuff (smallest they had). It should do the same job shouldn't it?

Hey Whisper I was going to leave mine too but I keep reading how high pH is not good for plant growth. 8.6 is pretty high pH too. My plants have only been in for 3 days so cant really say how they are going, bar tomato deaths and wilting on a few seedlings. Ill see how they have faired by the end of the week. What plant issues have you had?

Just general poor growth.
I have found that seedlings are really strugling to take off and when they do it's very slow.
I have around 10ppm nitrates available so high PH is the only thing I can think of at the moment.
Maybe I should try and drop it a bit.

Sodium BiSulphate is an extremely strong acid salt... equivalent to sulphuric acid...

There's no way the addition of Sodium BiSulphate could have moved your pH from 8.2 - 8.6 ...

It should have gone the other way to 7.6 ...

What are you using to measure your pH???

The only slight possibility... is if your growbed media is limestone.... in which case the "acid" would have released large amounts of carbon dioxide into the system... and possibly some sulphur dioxide

Even so... the two should have cancelled one another out...

Something is not right here Mike...

Aerate vigourously whenever you use it... and for several hours after...

That's what I was thinking. I am using the API masters test kit. I checked it at the same time at night. the first time the colour was dark brown on the high range pH then last night it was purple. Checked it just then this morning and it is at about 8.0 .

The media is pea gravel and hydroton. I didnt aerate after putting the acid in so Ill set the air pump up, get that going and check it again tonight.
Thanks Rupe

Quick update, seems to be cycling well!:
Amm: 0.25
Nitrite:1
Nitrate: 40
pH: has come down to 7.6

Plants going well, put a few more tomato seedlings in. A few seeds planted earlier last week have sprouted and are growing quickly.
Also my water lilly is flowering There are 2 more flower buds coming up under this one

Have you thought of putting some paving around the edge of that fish tank to stop the grass growing against the edge of it?

Whipper snipper would eat that liner pretty easily.

Ya I just put the grass down but I was planning to get some flat pond rocks for around the edge to protect the liner and make it a bit prettier Anyone know where I can get some from?