Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

"Lucky" the trout just ran out of luck!
The one surviving trout from the fathers day massacre just got taken out because I feel like a feed.
He got to 562g, will post picture later.
What a shame I didnt have 25 at that size!
Time for a silver to go too, lucky I bought a few bigger ones. Never tasted it, looking forward to trying it.
Havent checked the water for months now, going to expand to another larger system soon I hope.

... look forward to the pics and report...

This fish survived 16 hours without the pump running, where all 25 of his buddies died.
His luck ran out today when I netted him.
He was pretty small when I first put him in the new tank in June.
Cant wait till next season.

Gday people
Havent done a water test for while so I thought I'd do one.
I have 12 Barra which have grown nicely and would be plate size as well as 11 silver perch of varying sizes.
Also 2 yabbies (gilgies)
My ammonia is at 4.0.
My ph is below 6.
Water temperature varies between 22 & 30.
Fish are happy.
Reading the chart from earlier in this post I interpret ammonia at that level is ok.
Water is clean hardly anything on the bottom of the tank.
I've had a bag of shell grit suspended in the water for 3 months but it hasnt bought the ph up at all.
Plants seem to be growing well and look healthy.
Any opinions from anyone who's had their systems going longer than me on the ammonia level?

You're only getting away with your ammonia level becuase of a combination of water temp & pH.....

If either alters, you could be in trouble real fast...

While your ammonia level might not be lethally toxic... at that level... continuous exposure will be stressing your fish, and possibly inhibiting growth....

Same with your pH... constant exposure below 6.0 is probably not good...

Together, you're probably "burning" your fish... have you salted at all???... salt at 1ppt will at least soothe the fish by stimulating slime coat production....

Your problem is... if you bring your pH back... and your water temp drops.... then that level of ammonia approaches lethal rapidly....

IMO... you need to address the core problem.... why is your ammoina running at a level of 4.0?????


I t might just be that your system is under filtered for your fish bio-mass and feed rate.... and I suspect this is probably the case...

What size is your tank... how much capcity are your growbeds... and how much are you feeding each day???

Ammonia at 4??

Bacteria colony crashed because of low pH??

I think the real question is what has happened to your system such that your cycled system has allowed ammonia to get to 4... Cycled system should have ammonia and nitrite at 0 or some small traces...

Sounds like the system is "walking very close to the edge"...

Yep, it's quite possible that the pH could actually be closer to 5... and that the bacteria are inhibited to the point that they can't process the feed rate...

I'd suggest that you stop feeding for at least 2 - 4 days.... and try bringing the pH back (slowly) to about 6.4... small quantities of "slaked lime"... enough to move pH about 0.1-0.2 each time...

Thanks for the advice guys.
1000 litre tank with one BYAP grow bed.
When you say small quantities of slaked lime, how much do you mean?
Is slaked lime the same as brickies lime?
I have stopped feeding all together.
Will add some salt today.
Didnt think I was feeding to much though, usually leave them wanting more.

Yep, "slaked lime"... brickies lime... try a heaped tablespoon... wait a couple of hours and test.... post results....

Do you think its wise to leave adding the lime for a few days to let the ammo come down first?
But then again, is it likely to come down with the ph so low?

Also how would you the add lime? - Mix with water in a bucket and pour on the growbed - or mix with water and add to the tank?

Mix with water... throw in tank.... as above... then check pH...

We don't want to move pH to much with that ammo reading... just enough, in combination with no feeding, to start bringing the pH back to a point where the ammonia is being processed...

Wow, slaked lime works fast. I added a slightly heaped tablespoon in a bucket of water.
I switched the pump on to continuous after I added it.
Ph now reading 6.6 I think. (hard to tell, very similar colours, could be at the most 7.0 but looks like 6.6)
Ammonia is looking more like 2 than 4 now.
Hopefully thats not too much of a ph shift.

just on a side note, I've had an eating size marron in the tank for 6 months now who has survived high ph early on, low ph for the last 3 months, temperatures up to 31 degrees and low oxygen when the pump was switched off and all my trout but one died. I heard they carked it pretty easy but not this one. (Maybe I shouldnt have said that!)
I think I better eat him soon.

OK... your pH obviously wasn't much beyond 6.0.... no more slaked lime, no feeding... keep pumping and aerating...

Test again tomorrow...

actually I just did another test and the ph is a bit lower, now definitely 6.4 maximum.
Must take more than a few hours to fully mix around.

Even better... if the pH has only moved about 0.4 ... which is about what I expected...

One mans "heaped tablespoon".... is another mans small shovel...