Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

C1 - not worth two bob

Marnie, adding shell grit will only buffer at about 7.2

I think recent discussions has people leaning toward the addition of CaCO3... Calcium Carbonate... for quicker results than the shell grit...

where do you get that calcium carbonate from? (have a feeling this will be a silly question but thought I would ask anyway)

stock feed or produce stores should stock it (horse product)

pharmacies have it, but it's expensive due to it's purity, but if you wish your fish to have Calcium Carbonate to British Pharmacopoeia standard,that's where you get it

I put in one kg and it raised ph in 3000 litre from 6 to 6.4

alright here is another stupid question but has anyone tried adding sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to their systems. there is mention of it on the back of the ph testing kit but i am hesitant to add it unless others have tried. also what about adding limestone, hubby thinks that might be an idea. would rather ask the experts first. trust hubby but loss of yabbies is not in his favour.

Can't see it being a problem with limestone... baking soda... by description contains Sodium (main component of salt) which can have an effect on plants and the uptake of other minerals .... not so sure on the baking soda

7.2 will be heaps fine for your yabbies. I bet if you grab one you'll find its exoskeleton a bit softer than it should be.

See how you go with the calcium carbonate, otherwise just use shell grit. do a bit of a water change (if your tank water is higher than the pond water).

Sodium bicarb has a bit of a bad rap due to the sodium content, but i think we may have been over reacting on it. Some of the salinities our members have been using (by addition of salt) has reached 13% sea water conc. and the plants have been fine.

Shell grit (CaCO3) will give you a slower ph change (which is good) and will halt at around 7.2

Sodium bi-carb will go up to about 8.4 and will be nearly instant change (try not to adjust ph by more than 0.5 per day)

Steve

Bi-Carb in my experience with Aquariums has not caused any problems that I can think of. However I would imagine NaHCO3 would work out more expensive.

Either way you do it do it gradually, nothing more stressful to fish than a big pH jump.

Sorry Nick - a bit late in responding but better late than never. Got mine from Gleam of Dawn at Samford.

Tim - my CaCO3 was 1.40 a kilo. Not expensive at all - way cheaper than bicarb.

Thats what I said ......

That edit button is handy heh - but so is the edit time stamp

yeh, pesky time stamp, catches VB out all the time