Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My name is Paul I have a small scale set-up for now but am having slow growth. My system is 3 months old and my numbers are all over. Anything to help would be appreciated.

pH 6.2 Good
Ammonia 8.0
Nitrite 5.0 ppm
Nitrate 80 ppm

Thanks

Welcome to the forum Paul,

I'm hoping you don't have fish in your system with the ammonia and nitrite reading you have. A few questions for you -

1. What's the water temperature? If it's really cold that's probably good with those numbers you posted.
2. If you do have fish how many, what type and how big is the system (water volume, filtration volume)?
3. What type of plants are you trying to grow?

Cheers

@MNRookieAquaponics - Hi and welcome Paul, please also provide a summary on how your system is set up as well as where it is located. For example, is it in your basement or in your yard under some shade. Pictures will definitely help.

Regards

Pictures are also quite handy.

Thanks.

My system is 40 gallons with about 25 goldfish in it. It is inside on our main level I have it under a window and also have a grow light above it. I am growing lettuce and tomatoes. Everything was doing great and then stopped growing and lost 3/4 of my plants. I have not lost any fish they seem happy. I have not fed them for 72 hours and did two partial water changes. I will re test the water tonight.

The soon to be new set up!!!! Got my tanks and will start set up this weekend!

Looks like it's going to be a really neat setup

It's good that you are not feeding them, I think you are right on the verge of having a fish kill. I guesstimated that your temp would be about 68 F which is 20 degrees C. With a pH of 6.8 and reading from the ammonia chart here - http://ibcofaquaponics.com/information/tables-and-charts/ - a reading of 8 is where you start getting into troubles. When you do the water changes do not raise the temperature or the pH of the water or this could have fatal consequences for your fish.

Hopefully you've already salted for the nitrites, if not you need to add salt to make a final concentration of 1 ppt.

Nitrite issues - 1ppt = 1KG per 1000L or 1gm per L

I have not salted. Is there and equation for that and what kind of salt?? Thanks

There is, but it's usually safe to just figure the volume of water in the system and add based on the amounts in my last post. The salt should be regular sodium chloride (NaCl) but without any iodine or anti-caking agents. Pool salt usually fits the bill (make sure it's NaCl - 1 bag will last a long time), sometimes you can find sea salt in the bulk bins at the grocery store that doesn't have iodine or caking agents so that's another possibility.

so for example - your system is 40 gallons and there are roughly 3.8 Liters per gallon so this comes to 152 liters. To get the right amount you need 1 gm of salt per Liter (from my last post) or 152 gms of salt, which is .335 lbs or roughly 1/3rd pound of salt. Dissolve this in water first and then add slowly to give it a chance to mix well rather than flowing through as a slug of high saline water.

Cheers

Things are dropping... Why have I never seen good fast growth in my system? I want to work out the kinks before going bigger.

Ive never seen an indoor system flourish.

Just to add on that, it's usually from the lighting. Productive plants need lots of light. Have a look through some of the hydroponic waccy baccy forums, they have a wealth of information on what sort of indoor lighting works.

Today's readings after salting and 4 days of 1/3 water changes and no feed.


60 degrees Fahrenheit
pH 6.4
Ammonia 6.0 ppm
Nitrite 0.25 ppm
Nitrate 5.0 ppm

Should I try and let it mellow out for a few days or?

I'd let it mellow another day or two although you are pretty safe with that temp and pH right now. If the temp goes up or the pH then you might have to rethink feeding but otherwise start feeding again in a day or two and watch the ammonia and nitrite.

Headed the right way!!!



pH 6.0
Ammonia 2.0
Nitrite 0.0 ppm
Nitrate 40 ppm