Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I got the following numbers today when I tested my water for the first time.
I have been running/cycling it for 2 days. (with air pumping in it)
Today I added 10 comet goldfish and tomorrow I will plant a tomato plant
(start) and a spearmint plant (start)....

Can someone help me understand these numbers please...

pH 7.6
High Range pH 7.8
Ammonia 2.0 ppm
Nitrite 0.25 ppm
Nitrate between 0ppm and 5.0ppm (it was darker than 0 ppm and lighter than 5.0 ppm)

Thanks,

Plant your plants... don't feed your fish....

Watch for your ammonia to drop to zero... yournitrite might climb to 1... and then drop off... nitrates may then climb, depending how many plants you have...

That's a very high Ammonia reading, especially for two days in and considering you only added the Comets today... was the Ammonia reading taken before or after adding the fish?... how many litres is your water capacity?.... and were you adding ammonia or anything else to the water?

The water test was taken about 2 hours after I added the comets (goldfish) along with their water they were bagged with. I have approx 90 to 100 gallons flowing through [constant flow - no siphon] and I have not added anything except for the 10 comets and the "squeeze" from the filter they were in at the pet shop (they gave me a squeeze from the filter to help start the bacteria). I have not added any ammonia from other sources.

Use caution planting any type of mint in an AP system; they grow exceptionally well, too well in fact, often clogging pipework etc.

thank you for the heads up. I knew that they grow fast and have a dense root system so I planted it in a cup to keep it from spreading out too far and I will "trim" the roots back occasionally. I do have it planted as far from the pipes as possible to help as well. I did almost reconsider knowing mint's habits but we use so much spearmint I thought I would just try it. Might decide to take it out if it gets too much.

I've never tried with spearmint, but we grow chocolate mint and apple mint in a floating basket in the FT, and watercress in another basket; it keeps things under better control.

Oh I so miss the chocolate mint. I also once had orange mint too

I was telling a friend about the high ammonia levels and he suggested me testing the tap water... sure enough... stupid tap water is the source of the ammonia... grrrr.

If you're getting an ammonia reading from your water Di... ask your water supplier if they treat the supply with chloromine...

I used an ammonia remover and it did not change it a bit.... I am at a loss as to what to do from here. I have removed the comet fish and put them in their own tank but I suspect they won't live long with the ammonia level not changing (checked their water and treated it too - no change).... as for the grow bed and orig fish tank.... I don't know how to reduce the level especially since the water source is heavy with ammonia (of some form) therefore, changing out some of the water is not an option. Do I need to remove the plants too? Will the high ammonia kill them?

I used TOPFIN Ammonia Remover ~Neutralized harmful ammonia, chloramine and chlorine.~

right now (after 3 treatments) it is reading 1.0 (better than 2.0 but still... after 3 treatments, you would think it would be 0.0) Will test again in the morning although I am not holding out much hope for much difference.

When I made my last post I was thinking chloramines may have been where your Amm was coming from, unless you had been adding Amm from another source, hence my question.

I wouldn't bother treating the water anymore, leave the Amm at that level and keep testing your Amm, N02 and N03 daily.

This will give the developing bacteria something to feed on as well as giving you a base reading to work from. When the Amm starts to drop from 1.0 your system will probably be starting to cycle and you should then see an increase in N02, followed very shortly after by an increase in N03… Once this has happened and your N02 reading has peaked then started to drop… chuck your Goldies back in.

That amount of Amm won't harm your plants.

Ok.. will do. I appreciate it very much. I was very frustrated yesterday over all this. I hope that it will start to dissipate without issue in the near future. I think I will get some bought water for the fish in the mean time. Have a great weekend. (edit) I was thinking and my Aunt has a fish tank that is not in use at this time so I will ask to borrow her filter until this works out better (for the fish in the temp fish tank).