Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Temp - 16 centigrade

Ammonia - 2 ppm

Nitrite - 0.25 ppm

Nitrate - 0

That was last night

Not sure what your pH is.... previously you mentioned 6.4 - 7.2....

But you've done a series of water changes....

If your pH is now down around 7.6 ... at a temp of 16 degrees... then your ammonia would still be toxic....



Chances are your fish are dying from previous ammonia and nitrite effects... and even the rest may be beyond recovery... although each day that passes is a good sign....

I'm a bit loathe to suggest it.... but maybe 2-3ml of hydrochloric acid... to bring your pH back a bit.... would give you a wider margin of tolerance.... without doing another water change, which will only slow your cycling further...

No feed... report again tomorrow... with readings, including pH please...

Have you added any salt since the water changes??.... and/or, do you know your salinity level??

Hey budy

My ph seems to be pretty stable around 6.4

I know this slows cycling down but I've kept it there so I stay far out of the toxic range for ammonia I have also kept the temperature down for the same reason

The ammonia has been close to toxic before but never in the toxic range

Im pretty sure the nitrite is the main issue

I have resalted to 1ppt at every water change

I don't have a salinity meter but the salt is in there if anything it may be a little over 1 ppt

Last nights readings were as follows

Temp - 16

Ph - 6.4

Ammonia - 4ppm

Nitrite - 0.5

Nitrate - 0

I didnt do any water changes last night I didn't have time but the ammonia even at 4ppm at these temps and ph still isn't toxic so I left it

In thinking I have to raise the temp and raise the ph to speed up cycling but I'm not sure

There were no dead fish but one looked sick it's skin was sort of peeling off so I decided to euthanize it as I thought it was more humain

Other than that with much less fish the system seems healthier I've got biofilm everywhere and the plants are happy

Your pH wont inhibit your cycling as much as high ammonia levels will...

I'm not sure what you mean? How deos the ammonia hurt cycling?

High ammonia levels particularly inhibit the final conversion of nitrites to nitrates...

Basically the final nitrification process wont proceed until all ammonia is absent...

This is why the cycling process shows nitrites spiking, but minimal levels of nitrates... until ammonia drops to zero... nitrites then follow downward rapidly.. as nitrates soar...

So should I stop doing water changes and let the levels climb?

If the ammonia level won't drop is that why u shouldn't have too many fish before cycling?

You should not have any fish, until the system has cycled.

You can cycle with fish... it just requires some diligence and restraint...

You're ammonia is slow to drop... because it was very high... temps have cooled... and cycling is slowed...

On top of that... you had way too many fish... and fed them...

It's possible that you've still got too many fish for your filtration.... and the cycling just can't cope as yet....

Don't feed... and add more grow beds...

I don't think anyone said that you couldn't. The comment was - You shouldn't!

And why shouldn't you cycle with fish....

I add fish day one... to all my systems... and client systems....

But I don't stock them to the ridiculous densities that many people do....