Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Oh,
What is probably important is the water temperature. Too cold for Tilapia however at 13°C
The goldfish seem to be OK, but others have said that Goldfish are pretty tolerant of pH and water quality, so that is probably not a good indicator.

I have added the juice from 1/2 a lemon to each system and will analyse water samples tomorrow morning, to see if anything has changed.

Thanks for all of the input,

Tony

just a not, vinegar is prolly not a good option as the ph can rebound due to complex reactions (or so i've read)

Here the belated posting of yesterdays water tests:

pH 8.2
NH3 0.25
NO2 0
NO3 0
Temp 12.0°C
I added juice from 1 lemon in 2 parts 5 hours apart.

Today's test results:
pH 8.4
NH3 0 - 0.25
NO2 0
NO3 0
Temp 13.0°C


I have added some duckweed as suggested, but with low temperature, I doubt that it will do much in the short term.

I plan to do a 25% water change tomorrow.

Regards,
Tony

Tony I notice lots of "marble" rocks lining your pond and several "rocks" in your growbed. Are they "marble" as well....

Also the gravel in your growbeds and around your pond, is that also marble??

Rupe,
Sorry, no marble. They are just local rocks. Even the pea gravel is just plain gravel, too small to use as marbles even (Hydrotron is great but too light and get blown away by the glass or ball bearing marbles;)).

Today's numbers after a 60% water change (forgot the drain and luckily didn't have the end or the syphon too low in the pond, or there could have been some finny fatalities)

pH - 7.0
NH3 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0
Temp - 14.9°C

I will feed the fish up now and see what happens with the algae and the test result numbers.

Here are my readings for the past 2 days.
18/9/07 18:20
Temp 15.4°C
pH - 8.2 - Climbing!
NH3 - 1.0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0

19/09/07 17:40
Temp - 14.9°C
pH - 8.4 - Still climbing!
NH3 - 0
NO2 - 0.5
NO3 - 0

Looks like I need to add more lemons.

My GB is a laundry trough. It is on a timer 15:45 minutes set up to flood & drain. The plants are in the gravel (added some hydrotron today to ensure all water is covered by hydrotron).
I have been at this for 5 weeks now and I still can't get this system to cycle.
I have been very P and even used some P to add NH3, to no avail.
My pH climbs quickly even with pH 6.6 bore water added occasionally and lemons added to counteract the growth in pH.

What am I doing wrong?

The algae is a bad as ever.

:FRUSTRATED!!:

Tony

No offence meant Tony.... but somethings just not right here.....

A 60% water change two days ago and a pH then of 7.0 .... to pH 8.4...

In two days??????? How big is this pond again??

Those pH readings just don't make any sense.... do you have any/how many fish in this system?

Looking at your readings Tony.... ammonia has dropped rapidly to zero and your nitrites have suddenly risen..... green soup/algae....

All normally signs that you're getting close to cycled....

Nitrites should fall off and nitrates increase....

Your pH...... well it SHOULD head toward 6.5...... not the other way.

Those rocks in the growbed... you sure that they are not marble granite?

Hmmm, let's look for things that would raise pH. Concrete, limestone, rocks of unknown substance, alien spaceships....

Here's a fun experiment. Take a small sample of each type of suspect rock, and put it in a plastic container with straight bore water. Let the rocks soak for a day or two and then test the pH. If it creeps up, you know the source of your rising pH. Then perhaps you could remove it.

Oh, and if you have a spare barrel around, fill that with bore water, leave it for a day, and test that, too. Residue on the plastic barrel or even a substance that permeated the plastic could be causing the pH creep.

I will prepare some tests over the weekend
Tony

Tonights readings:
pH - 8.4 (30 min after a 1/2 lemon added)
NH3 - 0.25
NO2 - 0.25
NO3 - 0
Temp - 16.7°C
At last I have some NH3 & No2. Perhaps it is starting to cycle. I just need to get the pH down lower, and keep it there.
The fish pond is a polythene one about 1.5M long * 1.2M wide and around 450mm deep. I guess that it would hold about 300 Litres, given the contour of the bottom. There are 2 pots in the pond with Irises and rocks in them. This would take up NO3 from the pond and possibly harbour bacterium for anaerobic NH3 - N2 off gassing.

Busy this weekend so didn't get to post Friday's readings (didn't do them yesterday or today either)
So here they are:
pH - 8.4 (30 minutes after 1 lemon squeezed into pond).
NH3 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0
Temp 17.7 °C
I did another water change (~50%) and will take Nutrient readings tomorrow.
I am feeding the fish daily (8GF), but the total absence of any nutrients seems strange.

Janet,
I didn't get time to put water in one of my drums yet. I will try to do this tomorrow.

Thanks for your advice,
Tony

No time today either, but son's relationship is on track again and new cook-top is appreciated by my wife, so a good day all round.

Today's nutrient readings:
pH - 8.2
NH3 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0

Tonight I added some P, to see if the NH3 will rise.
Tomorrow will tell.
Why do I continue wasting the test reagents?
Perhaps I should wait until I have some NH3 before testing for NO2. When I have NO2, then test for NO3.
Photo of the readings -