Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have had my system going for over a year and nothing seems to be working I have tested 3 samples of water in the last week these are the results:
ph 6.5 ammonia 8+ nitrite .5 nitrate 80 2 days later ph 6.8 nitrite5 nitrate 40 ammonia 8+ then today after having rain 2 nights ago (hasnt really rained for a year) ph 6 nitrite 0.25 ammonia 8+ nitrate 160 The rain has affected the system as my chilli plant did not like it at all I have 12 large barra 400 to 450mm I get a new batch of barra on tuesday nothing is really growing that well and IZ am at a loss as what to do can anybody give some suggestions I will try and attach some photos

Are you sure that your ammonia is 8+? How often are you flooding and draining your system?? Make sure your pump is still running at full capacity and that your growbeds are still flooding to the top of the standpipe and overflowing over the standpipes...

Move a net around the tank bottom and make sure that there aren't any dead fishes in there....

Silly question but is that a solid tin roof over the top? If so, light levels could be affecting the plants.

Not going anywhere near giving advice on the readings.

Too dark

Hi Sandi,

I will start with general advice.- Plants will require adequate light for good growth. If conditions are too dark leaf growth is likely to be weak and leggy as the plant grows towards the light. The fish tank may be located under a solid roof. Each of your growbeds would support up to 25 barramundi, based on the weight at harvest of 500g in around 6 months. I would expect to feed the fish 2-3 times per day and the nutrient available to the plants is directly related to the amount of feed going in to the system.
Your nitrate readings indicate that their is available nutrient there. I guess you will harvest these fish before the new ones arrive as Big barra will eat small barra. I would plant the beds with a mix of lettuce, herbs, mizuna, silverbeet, celery and other seasonal vegetables, fill them up, you can always add a little seasol applied as a foliar feed to help the plants.
Do the fish seem happy? The ammonia reading is very high.
Is there anything else you can tell me about the recent history. Have you just emptied the beds?

I have been adding seasol and fish emulsion to the system over the last few months I dont know why the ammonia is so high but I have been following all the distructions to do the test. I am agreeing with you about the light factor I will be removing the shade cloth in the next week and then the plants get more light it gets really hot in summer here so we thought having it in this position would help during summer. (adding more light we will address soon) We have a drain tank that our little barra will be put into as it will be easier to grade their size, the barra are all healthy I havent fed them for the past 5 days. Faye I have tried a lot of those plants, but cant seem to get them to grow I have got some celery coming up I originally seeded one bed with celery and they are still doing there thing. What do you suggest I do to get the ammonia down my system is set on a timer to flood and drain every 15 mins...........

Fish emulsion could be the cause of the super high ammonia reading, or perhaps there is something wrong with the ammonia test solution because I wouldn't really expect the fish to be very happy with ammonia readings like that. Actually, I wouldn't really expect the plants to be all that happy either.

Seasol or seaweed extract is what most people add to a system to provide potassium and trace elements. Fish emulsion is like adding ground up fish into your system and can have the same ammonia spiking effect as leaving dead fish in the system. I would not be using fish emulsion in a system that has living fish in it or even a system you are about to add new fish into. You want your ammonia and nitrite to both be 0 ppm before adding new fish.

So, more light, for the plants and less fish emulsion, you have plenty of nutrients at the moment, no need to add more beyond what the fish and fish feed can give you. Let your bacteria catch up!!!!!!! Too much nitrate fertilizer can cause many fruiting plants to simply grow lots of leaves but not fruit well for you and not enough good sun can do the same. Next spring, put the flowering/fruiting crops out near the edges where they can get the most morning sun and save the interior less sunny areas for the greens. Going into winter, do as Faye said.

All of what TCL has said^^ & Faye.
Fish emulsion is good for plants but not good for your water quality.

If you are planting from seed then check out the (search the forum) for Moon planting guide.
No that is not planting on the moon

I thought more about this last night after I went to bed Sandi, as you do! I wonder if you are only growing from seed. I would get a heap of seedlings planted in there first. I have recently been told that plants can and will take up ammonia.
Anyway, since there is not a lot of light from what I can see, go for plants that do not need so much light. As a general rule fruiting plants need sunlight- so yes tomatoes, capsicum, cucumbers are likely not too perform.
The wider the leaf the less light that is required. They still need light though. As I said before silverbeet, lettuces, cabbage.
Is it possible to get the growbeds out under natural light, or replace tin with clear sheeting or shadecloth?
The ammonia of 8 just does not sound quite right. Make sure that there is no uneaten food on the bottom of the tank, or a dead something hiding or trapped.

^^ that too...
Morning faye

which direction is the shade cloth dimming the light from?? is it needed during winter??..

could you use a white shade cloth instead..if you are blocking something else other than light...

nice setup tho...

Hmmm, I would have guessed lack of light as being a major part of the issue there.

Hi there... this link might help... 5 vegetable that grows in shade...
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1623171/5_vegetables_that_grow_in_shade.html

Do use seedlings... I found it hard to grow some veges directly from seeds tossed into the growbeds...
Some vege seeds I believe prefer to germinate in the soil or seedling tray environment rather than in the growbeds...

I'm a noob compared to all those other posters, but I strongly suggest you don't put any more fish in till you figure out what's going on. Particularly the ammonia reading.

Also, I would contact the person who sold you the beds and FT. Looks like you spent much $$$ and could use a little tech support.

Thankyou for all your suggestions I will be replacing the tin above the system with clear sheets(whatever their called) I would say also the fish emulsion was probably the cause of the ammonia being so high I will do a water change out also I have been trying to grow from seed sometimes I have used seedlings but with a combination of lack of light and lack of supervision nothing has really happened. Also prior to doing the levels I have posted I had a fish loss of 120 x 20mm barra I had put them in my drain tank and they were all pumped into the large tank and fed to my big boys!!! We had checked that there wasnt any of those fish in the tanks and they have definately gone from the tanks whether they are in the beds I dont know. (another possible reason for ammonia to be high) I will be putting suggested seedlings in this week also So a water change will help lower the ammonia?