Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

That is just where it worked. I pull from the bottom of the tank so having the two close together, I figure, does not make much of a difference. Since the fresh water lands on top, pushing the water from the bottom out, forcing the fresh water down (which will soon be old water), and so it continues. Should I rethink that? I am just an urban farmer that got mad at my options with the space I had any suggestions are appreciated. I fell behind on posting (lag time of 1 month at this point, I want to decrease to 1 week) for a bit so I am actually already at 4 GB's and 25 tilapia fingerlings, one of the GB's is a duckweed bed.

Hiya Nick, more of a solids distribution question re inlet.

Hi Nick.



You're ammonia in relation to heat vs PH isn't in a good place.

If you carefully treat your top up water with the hydrochloric acid, it'll bring it down. Just don't over do it, I use two capfuls per 240L of top up water, not the amount you used before. And let it sit for a few days before adding it to the system.

Thank you for the chart, only thing is you add two capfuls for 240L of top up water. What is the top us water pH and how much does it lower you overall pH? These calcs can help me. Even today I still sit at 0.25 Ammonia and 8.2 pH. Nothing seems to change that.

It's the carbonates in the water that the acid eats up/breaks down. Some tap water has high levels of carbonates, some new media releases carbonates which raises ph to begin with.

When the fish waste/ammonia breaks down, it eats up the carbonates for energy, which is what brings the PH down. So the acid is doing what the nitrification process will do normally, which is why people say to leave it alone. And after the cycling is done, leave it alone. But if your PH is that high, with high temps, and ammonia levels, it'll make it toxic for the fish.

If you add the acid to the top up water, it'll break down the carbonates before they go in, and it's a safer way to add it. It won't make fast changes to the water ph, but it'll bring it down gradually, which is what you want. Fast PH changes will kill the fish.

nickjam,

It looks like it'll be a fine system soon. Have you wrapped the FT with something yet? The sun light going thru the tank will cause big algae issues pretty quick. I've not tried it yet, but you may consider some of that silver flexible air-bubble insulator to wrap the tank with. You should be able to find it at your "big box stores" - Lowes, Home Depot. That would help with the temperature issues too, I would think.

If you can, let your system cycle a few weeks without fish. That'll give you time to work out all the kinks and find all the things you didn't think about up front. Keep detailed daily logs of all the levels.

Good luck with that heat.

Tanks in shade is your friend.

Cheers,

Tanks are in the shade. I have a tarp around the FT and it helped to keep the algae down and the temp down. We are now hitting daily highs of 95 degrees F so it is much easier to keep the system cool! No way to go fishless at this point, since I am lagging in my posts by a month ATM. Things are going much better today, but I am one knee jerk away from disaster.

Thank you for the carbonates info. Must be why when you add acid it adds "salt" to the system. I will slowly add some acidic top up water. I am thinking 6.8 pH 5 gallons at a time (every 5 days) until I am in the range i should be.

Thanks and let me know if I am wrong in any of my interpretations of your posts!

Sounds like a plan. Once the ammonia settles down, it's fine to let it go naturally, but just keep the ammonia in the safe levels.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Thank you. Made my first top up (pH 6.2) and going to let it sit for a while. I have 55 fish counting on this!

Day 18

Just got back from camping to find that the system did just fine! 0 dead fish

TT @ 7:30 AM - 72 degrees
pH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0.5
Nitrates - 2.0
Nitrates 5.0
.The water is getting clearer and I added 25 red worms to each GB to help control the solids problems I have read about. I have vermicomposted for years so this was an easy step in the process. I am just curious how the processed castings will effect the system.

Day 19

Ambient Temp (AT) - 75 @8:00am
TT - 72 @ 8:00AM
pH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0.50
Nitrites - 2.0
Nitrates - 10

Day 22 (8/9/14) Switching to dates to help and to catch-up on posting

AT - 64 @ 7:30AM
TT - 77 @ 7:30 AM
pH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrites - 5.0+
Nitrates - 40

I am worried about the Nitrite levels so I added some tank starter to each of the GB's to help establish some bacteria.

Added a fan to help cool the Baki shower to keep TT in the optimum tropical range. TT - 82 @ 7:30 PM

8/10/2014

Last night I realized that if I expand my system, even with the gravel taking up so much space I cannot operate 6 GB's (Final buildout) on just 50 gallons of sump. Added a second 50 gallon sump connected by a 2" pipe. Using head pressure to equalize the two sumps. In the process I lowered my sump an addition 4 inches (10 total) into the ground to help a little bit with temperature fluctuations and piping of drains. Also, a huge water change occurred when I topped up the new sump.

1 dead fish in the changeover and water addition process.

Only adding RO water at this point. Our tap is just too hard and too high in pH.

Home RO - 7.4 (HRO)
Bought RO - 6.8 (BRO)

After finished
TT 77 degrees @ 8PM
OT - 85
pH - 8.1
Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrite - 5.0
Nitrate - 40

8/11/2014

Due to the drop and new plumbing arrangement I am having flow issues. I am thinking an 800 gph pump will fix that (almost double what I have now and an extra 1.5 feet of lift).

Caught a nasty cold. Not doing anything, but sleeping. No tests, no readings.

8/14/2014

Still sick. 800 gph pump came in the mail, added in place of 400 gph pump and still having flow issues. I will sleep and think about how to fix.

TT - 75 @ 7:00AM

You've had no test on that cold no reading?

Just a question regarding your BB beds - what type of screws did you use and how many to support them?
Do you notice any deformity or bowing with the heavy gravel you have used?

Also not sure if this has been addressed but your inlets are right next to your outlets in the picture on page 1. You should shorten the pipe for the inlets and have them on the opposite end of the growbed to allow water to pass through the rocks more evenly, gives you the option of going constant flood and not having 'dead spots' in the bed

nickjam,

How are you feeling? How's the fish?