Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Probably some are accumulating but a lot of the others are going into plant growth the only way to really know is to have it tested.

I was given a handheld ph tester so i spent my $70 on a carbon filter and a lovely bit of garden hose.

This ph tester is really not that great. It's slow, not that accurate, and it seems to need to be calibrated every time it turns on. It is used though and i suspect not stored correctly so maybe it just needs a new sensor. In any case i'd be looking to return it if it hadnt been so free.

The carbon filter looks cool and i guess it's probably filtering the chlorine. I was shopping camping gear at an rv store and they called my name.

I've resumed feeding after losing 4 fish last week, i think to ammonia (.5), ph (8.6) temperature (est 75f, 24c) combo. I've slowly gotten my system ph down to 8.1 or so with hcl treated top up water. If the temp outside touches a hundred f again i'll probably reduce or stop feeding for a bit just to be safe. Lesson learned.

Lost 2 more fish this morning. Here are a bunch of pictures showing whats been going on.

Testing nitrates consistently zero. Ammonia ranges 0-.5. Temperatures have been quite hot in the 100's.


Ph i have been slowly adding hcl treated top up water (treated to 6-7) and system ph is down to 8 as of this morning.

Plants look great, but i am really concerned about whats killing the fish. I watched one die the day before yesterday and he was gasping for air, but ammonia was testing zero at that time. I have 2 airstones and my pump should be doing about 500 gph.

I did do some work cleaning out a gravel guard that day because the tomato roots were clogging up the works.

I also invested in a water filter last weekend for top ups. The packaging said it removed chlorine.

I bought some chlorine test strips to see if my dechlorination process is working and i get no reading from the tap nor from the system, nor from the post treated top up water for chlorine.

Where'd you find the green things? Right now I'm thinking they are caterpillar poop but could be eggs. Look above where you found them and you may find the caterpillar.

The green things are in the gravel media bed only. They crumble apart easily and have consistent texture like play-doe. They turn grey and black slowly over time. I'll keep my eyes open for a caterpillar with a star shaped anus.

Maybe a tomato hornworm - http://www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/12652/

Probably not one of these but kind of similar - http://onenezz.blogspot.com/2011/10/oleander-hawk-moth-caterpillar.html

Thanks for identifying the hornworm poop. I knew we had them in our dirt garden but they havent nibbled the aq toms, plus the poop didnt look at all like poop to me so i didnt believe it. The link is obviously what i have though. Here's a pic from what we pulled out the dirt garden from a bit ago.

I am back around to thinking the water is just getting hot so the fish are dying from ammonia so i will stop feeding during heat waves. Hopefully doesnt last too long. It makes sense though because the fish death is correlated to 2-3 days in a row of 95+ temps.

I thought you might have reservations but I can understand why. It's pretty hard to conceive of any creature able to do that

I haven't looked back through at your system so just take what you can use from this - Shading the tank might help and you may want to add some aeration as well since water holds less oxygen when it's warm.. If you have a lot of algae, it can take in oxygen at night and cause problems as well. If you have to get rid of some, do it gradually because killing it all at once can cause an ammonia spike. Partially shading the tank usually works for this.

It's been a frustrating couple of months but maybe things are okay now. I did harvest about 15-20 pounds of tomatos and the plants are well.

I lost all of the goldfish. Meanwhile mosquitofish went ahead and bred somehow, also one of them evidentally swam through the gravel beds and is now living in the sump.

I was using a galvanized stock tank to aerate and treat top up water so i after research around the forum here, perhaps i introduced zinc or some other toxic mineral which killed off the remaining goldfish.

So about a month ago i did about a 50% water change shortly followed by a 20% water change. I let it run empty for about a week.

I then added 2 goldfish and 2 channel catfish. They all seem fine. Maybe the catfish are eating the mosquitofish fry. That's fine with me.

I am looking for opinions on whether i can now add more fish back into the system or wait.

Yeah, I would definitely not use the galvanized tank anymore but unless you really made the water acidic I suspect you didn't add too much zinc. Just throw a food/fish safe liner in the tank and then you can continue to safely use the tank.

When you posted about 100+ temps, was that air temp or your system water temp?

Also due to your high pH, you will have to very careful when it comes to ammonia. Use this chart to see the affect (note the temps are in Celsius): http://www.ecofilms.com.au/wp-content/u ... -Small.jpg

Air temps were 100+. I didnt have a thermometer in the tank on any 100+ days but there is one in there now and i havent seen it over 80, even when it was 95 out.

I would recommend slowly bringing your pH down as you were doing before and make sure there is plenty of aeration for the fish. Once the pH is lower, you will have a bit more leeway if your ammonia spikes...