Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Found my self at Bunnings today and looked for the Chelated Iron with no success. bought a container of Iron sulphate. Is this the same thing?
the label says it does everything that i want but not sure if its the same or not and whether it will hurt my fish?
Label says it can be used to fix Iron deficiencies in plants and also Iron deficiencies in soil, raising the acidity of soil. At this stage I'm keen to give anything ago. If this is true it should also fix my high PH although I have put that problem on the back burner until I see if the new feed changes things.

Quachy droped in the other day with a bucket of cycled water and some GB medium and also some high protien feed for me to hopefully kick my system into gear. I've added the water and gravel and started feeding with the new feed. (which the fish seem to love) I've also uped my feed rate to twice a day and while still off work will try and up that again to 3 times a day.
I added a dose of seasol again today and will test everything again tomorrow and hopefully daily untill I see some sort of change in the readings.

keep testing daily and keep the feed up. the warm weather will mean they will eat like nothing else. if you are up to it, get the gravel off the bottom of the ft and put it in the gb. that way you will see how much food is being eaten or not.

keep us posted.

The Iron Sulphate would be alright... but is acidic as you note...

Problem is at your current pH.... it probably wont take up... even a chelated iron would be limited by the pH...

But give it a whirl... the Seasol will help...

Surprised Bunnings didn't have it... it's a Yates product... widely used...

Okay so its a Yates product, does it come in bag form or container, what size? give me a bit better idea of what i'm looking for. Is it in the outdoor garden area of bunnings with the composts and lime bags or inside in the fertiliser section.
As long as what i have bought isn't going to harm my fish i'll use it. I'm thinking that being acidic will help my PH anyway or at least wont do drastic damage anyway.

P.S... don't mix the Iron Sulphate and Seasol in the same application...

The Iron will bind with any phosphorus in the Seasol... and just settle out as a sediment... negating any possible beneficial effect... the main reason for using a "chelated" mineral is to prevent this...

For future reference...

http://www.yates.com.au/products/fertilising/specialised/yates-chelated-iron/

Chelated iron should be stored not far away from Iron sulphate... if it doubt, print out the page and bring it along to Bunnings...

how are the silvers going on the new feed?

Yeah good they love it. Used to be good to watch em hit the surface on the flake but they seem to just stay down the bottom fighting over the larger bits that sink. I'm pretty sure i'm feeding em too much. as there is starting to be a bit of build up on the bottom. BUT (correct me if i'm wrong anyone) this should produce the ammonia spike that i'm looking for.

Test results today tested 8:00am:
PH: 7.6
Amm: .25
Ites: 0
Ates: 0
Temp: left my thermometer in the sun and its fried.
will test again this evening and see if that theory about PH swings when algae present is true.
Have always tested around midday or evening. Was intrigued by the low(er) PH reading this morning.

Algae will definitely swing pH morning and evening... but the move might be due to increased nitrification through increased feeding...

forgive my ignorance but when you talk about nitrification are you talking about nitrites, because my readings were still .25/0/0.

Talking more about the process in general...

A balanced system performing nitrification of all feed/wastes may actually have readings of 0,0,0... but the acidifying nature of the process will reflect in pH movement toward acidicy...

Simone, are you using a cup or something and then crushing the feed? Get them to about the size I showed you 1mm ish and then feed them a good pinch at a time. They should start to swarm the feed and hit it pretty hard. This will give you a good indication of how much to feed. Have you managed to get the gravel off the bottom? This will also let you know if you are feeding too much. I am feeding my fingerlings 4-5 times a day at the moment and the bottom is clean as. They mop up once i'm gone, but I can see this as there is no gravel on the bottom. Have your ammonia always been at .25? If you don't get a reading a bit higher in the next couple of days, I would up the feed a tad or have a wee.

Not at that pH.. I wouldn't... not unless you were sure that you were cycled...

The gravel has to go... and try the suggestion of grinding the feed if it's too big... so that none is left on the bottom...

Yeah i'm grabbing a small handfull like you showed me Quachy and then using an empty VB stubbie to crush it up in the bucket. My hand full is probably i bit bigger than yours tho. I'm lightly crushing it so there are some little chunks (1/3-1/4 the size of the original pellets) but most is crushed to dust which floats on top. Ive stayed to watch em for a few minutes and they just pick off the bottom but very actively. Not sure if they come to the surface after they clean up the bottom after i walk away.

are you talking about the weewee rup or uping the food rate.

and as for cleaning the gravel off the bottom, Its not something that I can do at the moment. I cannot bend over at the moment due to my knee operation. Feel my hamstrings tightening just thinking about it. hopefully in a few weeks i'll try with one of those gravel syphon cleaners. not sure if it will be strong enough to lift the blue stone gravel tho.

All the more reason not to overfeed then... and no humonia.... if you get a sudden spike and can't take action (clean tank etc)... then you up the creek...

The fish will survive on minimal feed... and the system will continue to cycle even with traces of ammonia...