Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Salt
Ok, so back in June I had some little silvers get the fungus and i salted the system. At the time i guessed there was not much left in system as i hadnt salted for 4-5 months, added 3ppt.

Well, my snow peas died and now my spinach which has got big enough to eat has a salty taste! No more sick fish so it did the job, but i think i need a salt refractometer to keep on top of it a little better.



Flood
The rain has been keeping my tanks full to overflow point. When they are this full, the front GB planted with bok choi was flooding to above the gravel. The GB was not overflowing but it drains straight into the tank and the outlet pipe when submerged doesnt drain as quickly/easily as when the tanks are emptier. I lowered the standpipe level and within a week my Bok choi - some of which was dead, all which was going super slow has suddenly started growing with gusto! Kale is also going better. Too bad i didnt realise earlier, but they plants didnt like being flooded 20 times a day!

Ok well in the last 2 weeks I have unballanced things.
My Bok choi have just wilted and died 1 by 1, wasnt sure why. Noticed froth on the surface Saturday arvo and stopped feeding. Froth clearer but still there Sunday. Still there this morning. Got off my arse to test the water:
PH - below 6
Ammonia - now .5ppm

I have shell grit suspended in the tank near the water outlet but havent added anything to the system in a while. With the constant feeding of the trout the PH must have tipped lower and now the ammo is creeping up...
I think i caught it just in time (fingers crossed). I have put 1 cup of lime in the system - will test again in a few hours.

Ok - so I may have worked out why I had the sudden drop. Scooped the bottom to see if anything was causing my ammo spike. Found handfuls of kitty litter -which preumably was soaked in cat piss! Yes thats 3 year old handfulls! Damn, must have been before the weekend when the tray was outside ready to change over. My nitrates are still zero so I'll hold off feeding till things get back under control.

Bugger , hope the fish are ok
Its sometimes the silliest thing, like when the cat peed on the power board and knocked out our tropical aquarium when we were away.

Yep - will have to add cat piss to the cycling up method!

Kids have been the cause of quite a few HSMs that I've heard of, and they can be the hardest to work out sometimes..

Yep, a little stressful but no fish casualties apparent at this stage. There are a heap of rocks in the bottom of the tank as well - a bit hard to get them out also. Lesson learnt about leaving the gate open during winter.
I meant to say nitrites are zero which I hope means the baccies are still processing ok, but then again with ammo steady at .5 maybe theres nothing to process. Ph is still sub6 . Plants and fish dont apear to be struggling so I'll sit on my hands for a few days...

Ok so levels have settled to less than .25 for ammo and a tinge of green for PH - above 6. Fish had a feed thismorning so are probably not so hungry any more. Caught this one so no major dramas but definately a novelty!

Caught a few fish - some are about 20-25cm some about 15.

I also had the foam last season. Just suddenly appeared and then went away again. perhaps the fish going through some kind of reproductive cycle.

your system looks great for your space. I wonder are you dissolving the Seasol and Iron in water before adding to the tank?

Cheers Donone - maxed it out as much as i have approval for!

I add the iron powder to the GB water outlet so it dissolves in water before it drains back into the FT, same for the seasol.... I'v always done it this way so wouldn't expect that to be the cause of the bubble incident. Although i did add those things at a similar time to the bubbles, maybe they were just a coincidence for the ph drop and the ammonia spike. Happy coincidence if thats true as it made me test the water when i usually wouldn't....

BF - theres no reproductive stage going on with the fish Im certain, but I have read a few things on here warning of foam preceding something bad!

bonsaibelly i have always had foam in my FT/FT. No idea why but they come and go.

Hi Zman, I often have a little, especially since I got the air pump - but when it suddenly increased I took it as a warning.

While I think of it the main benefit of the air pump tha I can see for my system is that it keeps the solids suspended long enough for them to get sucked up the slo. I used to have settled areas of mass fish cr*p and any the rest. Was quite foul if i left it un scooped - now i get a clean tank from the swirling action...quite good.

Obviously the circulating air will keep the oxy up and happening so its peice of mind if anything goes wrong with the pump...

Foaming is often caused by the presence of disolved organic solids (DOS) in the water. These will always be present to some degree. In RAS systems and salt water systems, sometimes a foam fractionator is used to reduce the amount of DOS. In AP though, it probably isn't a bad thing to have some elevated DOS, although there would be a point that it is undesirable too. Does anyone know what the acceptable level is?

Cheers FB
Ok well have found some interesting reads on DOS by searching around. Probably obvious to some of you guys but havent heard much about it before. Found some stuff about the link between DOS and dissolved oxygen - the more of the former the less of the later and also the link between properly cycled water and water quality. Didnt immidiately find any evidence of a 'level' of DOS but i say it would depend on the individual factors in each system. Intersting though when i was reading around that where you find talk of managment of DOS in ponds, tanks etc, there is usually reference to not overstocking the fish and maintaing the water quality.....