Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Duckweed will take every scrap of ammonia first. Then nitrite. They will actually convert nitrate back to ammonia and feed on that - very inefficient. If the duckweed are stripping the ammonia it will slow the nitrite.

I reckon a water change but 50% is not necessary. Do 10% a day over 7 days no huge temp fluctuation and manageable water volume.

The pH swing was too big and you may have other stressed fish now.

I recommend once it's settled a bit using long term organic pH solutions. Shells for up and wood for down.

Morning and evening pH readings will give you a good estimate of the shift in pH due to CO2. At present it probably wont.

Phosphate deficiency... Fish food is loaded with it, and algae feed on it.

What will happen, and it takes patience, which is very hard when armed with multiple test kits and toys...

Nature will balance near everything out for you. For the rest. A check of your grid water supply content will soon tell you if you need any micros for your plants that aren't present in your fishes diet.

A good Aquaponic system may well bore you to death! There's very little to do it regulates itself so well.

I'd recommend one additive. Stresszyme.

And wait.

Thanks for the duckweed info AA!

I'm very familiar with a stable system and the aqua setup had become stable, that was what was concerning me.

You're preaching to the converted with the natural PH ups and downs just need to get the "larger" growbeds set up, but am eagerly waiting for some milder weather

Good idea about the 10% changes. I've also stopped feeding of commercial food, will put in all the duck weed i have, it can work for me while waiting to be eaten

Know what i mean about it having been cycled and stable AA? I only test intensivly at cycle start up if i have more fish than i would have like in there, so i can gauge when to do water changes, and then if i have fish deaths or obvious behavious changes. My tropical tank maybe gets a PH check every few months if its lucky, but even that i'm missing since having utilized limestone ornamental rocks ph stays around the 7.4 mark. all day every day. Remerber? i was the one preaching the benifits of seashells

BTW the fish food i am using states phosphorous content at 0.9%
Thanks for the reply, i need some re-assurance too sometimes

Oh dear.... No one likes a death... I had a goldfish death yesterday as well..

Sorry, don't really have anything to add to what yourself and AA have worked out already. Cut down your feeding levels, 2 handfulls is a fair bit for 35 smallish fish... This is one of the main methods I use when the water quality isn't looking or smelling so great. Says Joel who put almost 300 grams of feed into his tank yesterday, about 2 1/2 cups worth....

EB, I usually put one hand full in the morning and one in the afternoon. They eat it within 5 minutes. I figured feed them as much as thy will take, all the quicker to the barbie

Have reduced drastically while i'm having problems

Just checked water again:

Ammonia: 0.0

Nitrite: 0.5PPM

PH: 7.6

Pretty much back to normal

May have also been drop in nitrifying bac. efficiency due to low (6. ph.
(probably more likely than the phosphate lock)

Any way, i have a reasonable amount of carbonate harness in there now, so ph should be more stable.

BTW i have always checked ph at the same time of day, so day/night drifts wouldn't have shown up.

Oh they are feeding voraciously again, but i am still feeding at a reduced rate for now...........

Thanks for the input.

Steve

Nice one. Glad it's clearing up.

The simplest things huh. Water changes. Reduce feed or fish or add plants.

Yes the shells were a nice tip thank you. I went off and read up lots and now I know everything about them too! Bwa hahahahaaaaa!

Limestone rocks, tell me more on the composition please...

I assume they are lime stone rocks anyway.............

They are sold in some aquariums as "moon rocks" very white in colour and sold along with a warning "only for marine or african cichlid tanks"

I assume this is becasue if you go nuts with them in your tank they will buffer the water to between 8.0 and 8.2

The only thing you have to watch out for is your water changes, i missed a few and did some top ups, measured the KH last week and it was 250PPM.

I have three "hand" sized pieced in my 4 foot aquarium. I used to always have to dose the ph back up every couple of months, but never again since these rocks

I'm gettig a bit tired os having problems.....................

I thoguht i'd have a quick check of the system before i went to bed......so tired........

Went outside to find the system down about 200 Litres from 800 down to approx 600lt.

Pump still working, no apparent leaks or jets over the edge. no floating fish.

hooked the hose up and added 200 litres (fell asleep during this and slightly over filled)

Temp has now dropped from 19C to 12C.

I do tend to get som codensation dripping down the walls of the minigreen house and onto the ground (the green house slips over tha tank, so all evaporation and subsequent condensation gets lost, but i have had this set up like this for ages with out any problem!

I made sure that the valve was sealed and even siliconed the cap before i sunk it so i seriously doubt that this was the problem.

The only thing i can think of was that it has been REALLY foggy the last two mornings, to the point where you can see the water in the fog in the morning. Could this have made the evaopration so much worse considering the outside temp was below 5 and the tank temp was abut 20?

I am at a loss for ideas and am so so tired.

anyway, i'll check it again in the morning and again tomorrow arvo, any thoughts, theorys or what ever would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

200 litres says there is a leak and you missed it. No way you lost that in a fog.

Fog broadcasts sound and smell. Never heat to my knowledge. You'd need 2 big growbeds in full summer for a fortnight to lose close to that.

I think you have a water film, somewhere, draining your system. A piece of string or sacking.... The fog may have been catalyst to this, maybe not.

I had a mystery leak like this on one of my small systems, couldn't figure out what the hell was going on.. Finally found from careful observation that it was the water pumping through the irtrigation tube out the holes into the bed. One hole had something caught in itand the water was squirting out at a funny angle now and then, bouncing off a piece of gravel and going over the side of the grow bed.. The piece of whatever that was stuck in the hole was moving around, so it didn't just spray over the side all the time, it was intermitant, sometimes over the side, sometimes straight down into the gravel....

Had me going for about half an hour trying to figure it all out and the spray when it did squirt over the edge was very fine and barely visible..

Try watching it for a little while when you get home from work Steve..

I have had two leaks from that kind of tank, the first was early on and was from around the tap at the bottom. siliconed this and has been fine ever since. The second water loss was water flowing uphill from my return pipes and flowing over the edge of the tub. Pointed the return pipe down and bingo problem fixed.

I have done the forgetful water change and drained more than half of my guppy tank. this was done with a 6mm pipe.

Any update on the leaks Steve? How are the fish faring after your scare?

felt much better after a sleep. checked themin the morning. water level ok.

Checked again after work and reading some helpful posts, and in the light i can see one spray that may have intermittently sprayed over the edge, and it co-incides with some rather strange 'water errosion marks' in the dirt on the side. Thanks EB, i think you were on the money. I knew i was VERY thorough with the valve before i buried it, but your mind can be a nasty machine.

will do some more maintenance on it tomorrow.

On a positive, the suns angle is rising a bit, and the silverbeet are getting a bit of direct sun, and i can already see the growth.

Excellent

Ahhhh, the forum is working well......

Verry well indeed! This is what its all about.

I caught the rouge leak red (wet?) handed today! see below