Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks guys, doing it now but thought I should check nonce more before I do the deed

Rob I find the rock salt does not dissolve fully so I put my salt in a bucket with fish tank water and use an old stick blender. Working the blender over the salt you can feel and hear it breaking up. Dissolves a lot better and just a few minutes extra work. Have to do my tank this morning as well. Good luck

Thanks bear & everyone for all the help...

I have read what to do with ites spikes when I first started but only in threads & on pages.. A reference book would come in handy

Haven't done the levels this morning but have no floaters, only 1 sinker







The fish were all up the top looking for a feed as soon as they saw me but will lay off until Thursday at the earliest.. Shall also do a reading as soon as the girls are sorted & the boss lady leaves for the day..

What is all that brown gunk... and where's it from?

I think that is some of the barra food that sunk to the bottom over the last few days Rupert.. The Lucky star floats so I can scoop it out where I find the Ridleys sinks after a while..
As much as could be was scooped out this morning with the rest swept towards the SLOs.. Never normally have much on the bottom of the FT...

That could be causing your ammonia/nitrite spike... as well as stirring up the beds...

Fish will often go off the feed for a day or two.. when you stir things up...

Thanks Rupert..
I have read these things a dozen times on sites & threads so it is slowly sinking in.. Won't be in such a flap next time..

Might explain mine being of the food as well as I have ben sweeping the bottom and sides.

Levels are nearly back to where they always have been.. Wanted to post a clip here but couldn't so add it to FB.. Just wanted to show the fish, tank & the tests..

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10200456397227722&saved

Think I might try to rig up a cleaner like Mantis did to look after the rest of the solids..

Thanks again for all the help all...

**leaves out a selection of ale, coffee, tea & sump water**

The nitrites still haven't settled down

They are fine for a day or so then rise & fall again (between .25 & .5ppm).. The fish were not feed until Sunday afternoon & then only ½ rations.. Thinking I have a bit of solids build up in the beds as nothing else has happened/changed in the beds & the bottom of the fish tank has been clean for a week or so..

pH has been sitting around 7.1 to 7.4
Ammonia .25ppm at the most
Nitrates still over 80ppm
900L of grow bed
30x200g+ jade perch
1600-1700L of water all up


Any thoughts peoples ??

Hi mate,

I like to look at things logically, so here is me thinking out loud..

I've run my eyes over your system a thousand times and I see no design fault. Stock levels to filtration is very safe. Your system should easily handle your fish load and your system layout and design is flawless. Your plant density is excellent. Your system is seasoned and should be stable. Good aeration.

Few random questions and thoughts...

What's your pump specs? L/PH?

Dead fish or animal in the pipes or system?

How old is your test kit?

How much are you feeding?

Overall, I'm just spit balling sorry

Hi Charlie..
I have looked at a few other systems & I don't think I am doing anything out of the norm... The only other thing I can think to do is to take the filter off line to see how that goes for a few days but I just can't see how that could be a big issue myself.. Probably wrong though

What's your pump specs? L/PH? 4500LPH

Dead fish or animal in the pipes or system? None that I can see in the FT, GBs or Sump tank.. It has been about a month since the lines were flushed so I might give that a shot later today..

How old is your test kit? Test kit is less than 6months old.. I kept my old kit so might try comparing the 2..

How much are you feeding? at the moment 120g per day... It was double that during the hot weather.. Need to revisit the feeding chart I think..
Have been using the one Rupert put up here as a guide.. I know it's for Silvers but couldn't find any other that related to Jades.. Cheers Rupert
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4291&hilit=feed+rates


Overall, I'm just spit balling sorry Well if you could clean that off the window before you go I would appreciate it otherwise I will get the blame for it again


Thanks Charlie

120g of food is a lot for 900L of growbeds. I would cut that down to say 80g/day and see how you go
Just my 2c

Thanks Mantis... That's about all they got today..

Tried out the 2 different tests this morning & both came back the same..



So I think the old test (left) are still OK Charlie..

Will test again tonight & again in the morning to see what it's sitting at with the reduced feed..

Actually thinking now that all the beds probably have a bit of a build up of solids in them after looking deeper into the clay in the beds themselves earlier.. The beds have had up to a years worth of waste gone through them so am thinking that I shall have a go at cleaning them out this weekend to flush out any build up that may be causing anaerobic areas..
Have also cut the feed rate as well as I think I have been over feeding them a bit... Thanks Mantis & Paul
Off to check the levels now to see what they are sitting at now..