Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I think bottle says to do it 7 days running. So not suprising it hasn't helped yet.

See how you go after the 7 days VB, I was concerned with the same sort of symptoms, so i doesed quite heaviliy with salt. It was the only treatment i used, cleared up almost completely. Salt is one of thaose things that has a very black and white following, either you rave about it or you dismiss it cmpletely. Trick with using salt, is to make a very large (relatively speaking) step change. Fish can compensate for the change in osmotic pressure as long as its within their tolerance range. most bacterial fungus and parasites, due to their very simple cell structure don't have the compensating mechanisms, so the cells either burst or shrivel (depending on which way you swing the salinity), white spot especially (ich).

To give you an example when i dosed my 200 lt aquarium i used 25% rock salt and 75% calcium chloride, I filled up about 3/4 of a coffee mug of the dry salt, then mixed up boiling water with it to dissolve it. seems like a lot, doesn't it? but its all realtive, the 200 ltr aquarium would need about 6kg of salt to bring it to marine levels. So in the scheme of things 250 odd grams isn't excessive.

Does salt harm the bacteria?

apparently not. i've never read or personally noticed a bac. colony crashing due to salt addition.

Tested the PH in my systems today. The aquarium is fien at about 7, but the pond is a concern as it woud appear ot be about 8-8.5. Any suggestions as to what would be making my ph go up.

The water here is about 7, so I can do a water change to bring it down some, but I did a 30% change just yesterday and am not keen to have to repeat this 2 days running.

What can I put in it to bring it down. The only things I have handy are pool acid (would be foolish to use this, it is just identified as mineral acid) and lemon juice (I imagine I would need heaps of this to make the change in 700 litres), so I guess a water change is the only solution.

You out there Steve - advice please.

Thanks.

PS the pond gets quite a bit of sun and is starting to get a bit green. I am not particularly worried about this as I know this is all part of the cycling, but does any of this affect the PH. I know this has probably been said before .

VB, soory can you give me some info that you probably have already before.

What time of day did you measure the PH?

how long have the fish AND gravel been in there?

have you measured any thing else? Ammonia / nitrites (not telling you to, just asking)

Measured ph in the middle of the day today. Probably about 12noon.

Perch have only been in there for a week (11 averaging about 20cm).

I also have about 15 golfish in there that have been there for about a month. The gravel has been there for 2 or 3 months, but with no fish until the goldies went in.

I did a 30% water change yesterday. Have not measured amonia or nitrates as I do not have the facilities to do this.

It is about 5.30pm now, so maybe I should measure the PH again now.

I have been considerring blocking the hose that goes between the 2 ponds and mixing the juice of a couple of lemons into the pond with no fish. I can then measure the PH of this pond to get an idea of what effect the lemons have had. Just have no idea how much juice would make a difference. I assume vinegar is not an acid suitable for use for this purpose.

I am keen not to have to change the water again until tomorrow night if I can manage it.

Good idea with the dosing of one of the ponds.

measure the ph first thing in the morning just to make sure that its not huge swings due to the photosynthesis by the algae. If it is it will be lowest just before sunrise and highest in the late afternoon.

you can use vinegar, but i have heard that it can for acetate compounds that might make the ph change not as stable.

best check the ph bright and early to see how far it has come down.

Don't forget, SMALL changes. definatly not more than 0.5 pH per day.

if you are doing one pond then you could make that 1.0 ph as it will go back up when it mixes with the other pond. make sure you mix the lemon pond well before taking your measurement.

If i could be sure that your ammonia levels were VERY low then i'd say don't worry too much as long as it doesn't go above 8.5, as it will naturally start to drop when cycling is complete and the backteria are punching out nitrates.

keep me posted.

Thanks Steve. Just checked the PH again and it now measures somewhere between 7.5 & 8. Will check again in morning. My friggin test kit cost me $15 and only does 50 tests. Already hace probably done 15-20 tests. Rip off I reckon. Will have to get one off the net next time.

AM just bought a digital one for $25

yeh, seems like ph shift due to algae photo synthesis.

you could probably cover one of your ponds (light proof) to stop this swing for now. algae will reduce when system is cycled and so will this problem. See the importance of testing? you could have dosed right down to 7 and then had it swing lower of a night time. Good job asking the questions.

PS i can explain the thoery in another thread if you (or anyone else) likes

if you can't test for ammonia then cut WAY back on the feeding for atleat two weeks.

they'll be a little hungry but ok. besides, it will make feeding time look so much more spectacular

Anoher good thing about the digital ones is that they are full range. you usually need two types of test kits to cover the full range. one of mine maxes out at 7.8, so if i get a 7.8 reading i need to test again with the high range one to make sure its not in the 8's.

gotta get me another digital one. had one a few years ago, but i mistreated the electrode.

Thanks Steve. I held off on the feeding for a few days, supplying the fish with duckweed only (though this is feeding I guess ). Last couple of days I have been giving them some pellet feed as I am worried that by not feeding them enough it may be more difficult for them to get over the fungal problem????

BTW re: water changes, Brisbane water does contain chloramine. Here is a useful exert from a council website:

"Water for home aquariums
Brisbane Water uses chloramine to disinfect water for drinking purposes. This is toxic to aquatic life.

You need to remove all traces of chloramine when using tap water in your aquarium. You can do this by:

boiling the water for 10 minutes and letting it cool to room temperature, or
ageing and exposing water to sunlight for at least two days, or
buying de-chlorination agents from aquarium shops"

For now I am using the de-chlorination agents, but in time will use the aging in sunlight technique (until I get my rainwater tanks ).

I set up one of my 160l removable lid green barrels near my aquarium today to prepare water in for water changes to the aquarium. I did put about 70% of the normal quantity of de-chlorination agent int, but have also got air running in it. I reckon this should fix up the chlorimine by tomorrow night when I want to do the next aquarium water change. It also means I can mix the de-chlorination stuff in properly and I can also look at heating the water to the same temp as the aquarium.

Dosage for chloramine is 2x