Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ok, so I wanted to know exactly how much nitrites were in my system. After many dilution levels, I was able to determine that it is at 10 ppm. It took so many tries, because 2 and 5 ppm look identical. When I added 5 ml of system water to 95 ml of reverse osmosis water, stirred it up, measured 5 ml into the tube, I got .5 ppm. That times 20 is 10. It is currently equal to my nitrates. I am wondering why I even bought food for my tilapia, they have been on a diet, yet they still grow. At least the ammonia isn't at 10 ppm.

Can you take a pic of the nitrite test against the colour chart for us please Ron

Tilapia must be tough little buggars. With those levels I wouldn't have any fish left
Set up looks great , lot of work to fit in such a compact space.
Good luck

Did you dose your system highly with an ammonia source ???

I have already cleaned up the test. When I diluted it to 1/20 th, it came out to .5 ppm it was pretty clear that that is what it was.

No. I had put a small ammount of humonia in a bit before I added fish. That was 5 days before I added the tilapia. It measured at 1 ppm that day. It was about gone when I added the fish. I wonder what the readings are in the Salton Sea, where they came from? The problem, I'm sure, is that I got too many on my trip. And I did not realize how many I had until I started loading them into the tank. One thing is for sure, tilapia from the Salton Sea are hardy!

The full effect of hummonia... takes 3-4 days to show...

Normally... to get a nitrite reading of 5+.... you'd see an ammonia reading of 8+....

The highest my ammonia ever got to is 2.0 ppm. And right now it is at .25 ppm.

Well that just doesn't fit with a nitrite reading of 10+....

check the dates on your test kit...
also, make sure you really shake the liquid very well (as the directions indicate)

Expiration 01/2017, shaken like the vodka and vermouth concoction that Bond *calls* a martini. Everyone knows that a true martini uses gin...

NOT stirred!!!
lol

bk

Today's numbers:
Ph 8.2
Ammonia:.25 ppm
Nitrite: 10 ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm

A pic of nitrite diluted to 1/20th:

Still no fish deaths , they aren't behaving strangely. Their first home was quite the hostile environment from what I have been reading. In the middle of summer there is a major algal bloom that dies off leaving no oxygen, and massive nutes that causes a major fish die off. These are the offspring of the fish that survive. Not to say that they themselves would survive through a Salton Sea summer. But they are the offspring of the survivors. A case could be made that their parents were in the waterways leading to the Salton Sea, but they consistently have higher nutes than the sea itself.

It looks like things are kicking in. There is considerably more biofilm today. Nitrites are still over 5, but less than ten. The one twentieth dilution looks closer to .25 than .5. Ammonia is still at .25, and nitrates are looking like they are in the 40 ppm range. Ph is still 8.2. There has been tremendous growth on the Swiss chard, the grape vines have also grown a bit since yesterday. The jalapeño plant has also grown a few inches since yesterday. The fish are swiming about happily, no mortalities? My dill hasn't survived however. I think I am going to plant it from seed.