Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

How come I cant see a profile in deuem s posts

I'm not too sure

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He quit the forum and asked for his account to be deleted. His posts are still here but his profile is gone.

Thanks for that

If I have algae growing in a couple spots should I take those pebbles out and clean the or can I just cover it up with more media ? It's not a lot of algae

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My ph is down to 6.0 as of today the switch to clay really helped out and only using purified water the tap was raising the pH so much. Now I actually need to raise my ph so on to the next battle.

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>> algae

it is normal to have a bit of algae and even some permanent green tinge on the sides/pump etc. Mostly filtering and fish will keep it under control. Only really becomes an issue if it blooms (green soup) or becomes excessive (lot of strands and especially big blobs). A bloom is only likely if you have excessive nutrients (ammonia and nitrates required) and too much light.

>> pH

don't get caught up too much about pH - every treatment simply adds something else into the system.
And too much of anything creates an imbalance somewhere else.

pH does/can tend to move around quite a bit anyway particularly in a newer system.
My system ranges from 6 to 7.5 over the year, and that is common for other AP'ers here as well.

If your purified/tap water was raising pH (and you have no other reason not to use) then simply top up with that water.

I remember seeing a chart somewhere on this forum that showed desired KH levels for a given pH range, but I can't find it again. It was something like:

KH pH
1-3 6.5 - 7.0
4-6 7.0 - 7.5
7-9 7.5 - 8.0

But I just made up those numbers. The higher the KH the more resistant to change, but it also affects the stable pH range. I try to maintain my kH around 4-6. I have a few tanks that crash well below 6.0 when the KH is 0, and I raise the pH and KH by adding Potassium Bicarbonate. Then when they are both near the desired range I can just use a mesh bag with shell grit as needed to keep the pH from dropping too much. Right now I'm nudging a high pH system with KH 6 and pH 7.6+ down to a better range for nutrient availability, like 7.2 or lower. It's a mature system (12 months +) but my hardness has concentrated to very high levels (GH 750). That's a separate thread.