Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I researched the AP forum for this info and found that so long as the levels are at or above 20 mg/L the plants are able to grab what they need to survive.

My nitrate ATM is 10 but I've only had my fish in for one week so was sort of what I expected.

The thing is, tho on the hydroponics websites they recommend for lettuce 500 - 800 and double that for spinach. This seems way more than my system will ever make without there being problems.

What's everyone else's thoughts on this?

They would be expressing PPM.... so that could be EC x700.... or CF x 500....

Either way... I wouldn't be too concerned... especially trying to relate EC to aquaponics....

All my system have/were/are... running at ammonia/nitrite/nitrate values... of 0,0,0....

I also did a yahoo search and they say that ppm equates to mg/L

How do your plants grow with 0 nitrate? Are you eating enough salad with your fish?

Yep.... as a scientific definition....

But while EC & CF are the same measure... expressed by a different scale....the definition of ppm varies...

EC is primarily an American standard and CF is a European standard....

While it is easy to convert EC to CF and vice-versa, it isn’t as easy to convert the CF parts per million to the EC parts per million....

For example, 2.0 EC is 1000 PPM... 2.0 EC equals 20 CF...

But the European standard of PPM isn’t 1000 PPM.... it's 1400 PPM...

Clear as mud....


Consistently well....

The nitrates are zero... because the abundant plant growth... is using them all up...

Clear as the water in my red scoria fish tank

In a balanced mature system you would only see nitrates showing up in tests rarely. The plants use them as soon as they get run through the growbeds and this is good.
If you are throwing pellets in and the fish are eating them, then nitrates will be created

I like to think along the lines of , what fish will eat at this time of year , and they will keep my plants growing.

Just like the other guys, my systems run at 0 Nitrates according to the test's. They always have since cycling.

I grow plenty of vegies and use some of my system water to water wicking beds, so I'm regularly diluting my nutrients when I top back up.

If your woried about your nutrient levels add a cup of SeaSol.

Thanks everyone very comforting to hear.

I have had nitrates constantly sitting on between 40 and 80 ppm for the past two weeks.

Ammonia and nitrite are on ZERO.

I added more veg and now have a pretty full GB. (1 IBC GB with 500L FT. 13 Silver Perch and 5 gf)

I have also cut back on the feed. When they do get fed though they smash it really hard.

Should I be worried about these high nitrate levels? What do I need to do??

Thanks.

I, and plenty of others on here have had much higher Nitrates that that for various periods, with no apparent problems that I recall reading about. More plants is the best things to do, can you add another GB?

Just relax, mine have been over 200 with no issues. If they continue to climb, then either more plants, or less food. You need to watch the nutrient profile if using heavy feeders like tomato to use up nitrates as they can easily cause potassium deficiency.

Don't have much space to play with. Would love to add another GB though.