Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Correct 24 hrs. I

am not advocating it or saying do it but I did over dose last year during an algal bloom and moved the water my trout were in by 1.0 in one dose and they were OK. The point is, if you do happen to over dose by accident, just leave it rather than trying to compensate back the other way as that will probably just stress them more. The good thing was the sudden change was enough to kill the algae and it went from pea soup green to brown and started to drop out within 24 hours.

Thanks for your help guys. If I get home in time tonight I will test and dose again.

Tested again tonight and PH doesn't seam to have changed much if any.
I have added a little more HCL tonight and see how it is tomorrow.
Silver seam to be starting to eat well and the Koi are eating heaps.

After a few days I seam to have sorted the PH problem.
I am not sure what happened, I added some HCL for a few days with no change and then I
checked and the PH was 6.5 and it seams to have stayed that way. Unless I have used up
whatever might have been buffering the Ph and now it is stable.
Anyway it is all good at the moment so I will check it again tomorrow.

That's exactly what has happened Whispers.... you've removed the carbonate buffering with the edition of the HCL... and your pH now reflects the acidification of the nitrifiction process...

You will now need to keep an eye on your pH... as it could fall rapidly... especially as you increase your feed rate....

Indeed... you may find the need to add some carbonate buffering back into the system...

Shellgrit is a good "self-regulating" buffer.... that will hold your pH between 6.8 - 7.2...

If you wish to allow your pH range to be between 6.2 - 6.8.... then you may need at some stage to add some slaked lime (Calcium Hydroxide).... to bring the pH back periodically....

Should have left it alone, and just increase the feed when the weather warms up...

I don't agree Ivan, if I had of left it all my plants would have really struggled.
I have seen them pickup in the last 2 days and I am really happy about it.
If I have to buffer again later then I will, even if I hadn't of taken action I still may have needed to buffer anyway so it is all good.

Excellent results after dropping the PH. I have peas on my pea plants, I have flowers on my tomato's, Zuchinni, Cucumber and Water Melons.
I will try and take some photo's soon and post.

Anybody ever had any problems with Silver Perch and Goldfish in the same tank.
My parents have had 23 silvers in there sump tank for 6 months. Now they have moved most of the silvers into the main tank and left 2 in the sump. They have been there for a few weeks on there own and then they added 10 Goldfish. Over only 2 weeks all the goldfish have died.
All water parameters are good and the perch are still fine. Any ideas?

I added my Silvers in with the gold fish with no issues?
It could have been the gold fish? I bought a batch from a pet shop and nearly lost the the lot I already had. I think they weren't very healthy when I bought them.

Might pay to quarantine the gold fish for a few days to make sure they are all OK before adding to the silvers.

I have 25 Silvers (growing fast!) and 6 large Goldies in a Megabin tank. They have happily coexisted for months now. No signs of any problems.
Cheers IanK

When you buy goldfish from LFS, make sure you specify that you are using them for live feed for your very expensive Serratoga which is about 40cm...that way they wont sell you deseased fish.

On 2 occassions that I have said that, they make a quick left turn to a healthier tank.

LFS greatly overstock their fish, so quarantine and choosing the best fish is advised. Last thing you want is to introduce sick or dying fish.

thanks for the responses. I did forget to mention that there are 10 others from the same batch in a seperate aquarium and they are all fine.

Possibly water temperatures too hot or being outcompeted by the silvers for food... I have goldfishes and silvers as well in the same tank. I tend to throw in a bit more food after the silvers have had their share...

Got goldfish with my silvers but the goldies are getting very fat. The tank is still too cool mostly for the silvers to get very active