Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

OK,
I have only 200 litres of water in the system ATM, so I juiced a 1/2 lemon and will re-test pH tomorrow AM to see if more is needed.

I am working on sprouting some seeds to plant into the GB, but may decide to transplant some dirt garden veggies for now.

Perhaps some more of Steve's favourite parsley

Thanks Rupe.

Tony

If your readings are still pretty much the same tomorrow Tony, you could always do a 10-20% water change to dilute your ammonia and nitrite levels.... would adjust your pH a little as well....

Then retest.... if ph still high then add more lemon.

Post your results tomorrow, hard to know if 1/2 a lemon will alter your pH much

Rupe,
I didn't want to add too much, as it would be a shock for me and the fish if it swung too far.

I will test nad advise.
Heavy rain today has caused the sump to overflow so I am probably getting a 10% water change tonight.

Rain will probably cause pH to drop, too.

Further test results for today:
pH 8.0~8.2
NH3 0
NO2 0.25
NO3 5
Temp 14.6°C
I have planted several cuttings from Tomato, capsicum and chilli. Seeds for sweetcorn (old seeds from 2 years ago - Kangaroos took last summers crop) and broad beans also went into the GB. (will see how they germinate there). Also transplanted the small silver-beet from my floating bed on the fish pond (see My first system.)
Not feeding the fish at this stage until I can drop the Nitrates a bit.

Johnnie7au gave me some duckweed and a couple of other aquatic plants to try to establish a supply for the Tilapia when I get some.

Regards,
Tony

Ok, you're ammonia has dropped to zero and you nitrites are showing....

pH is still somewhat surprising but at the temp it will be forgiving of any ammonia generation..... the duckweed will help suck up ammonia anyway

Still think the pH will be slowing bacteria growth, slowing the cycling... You could always dump another lemon in there I reckon.

I'm suprised your pH is where it is.... can't be from the hydroton... must be the startup water....

Where did the seed water for the system come from Tony and can you test the water source itself?

Actually, the bacteria will like that pH. It's low pH that would slow it down.

Rupe,
I shall test our bore water pH and advise. (no town water here just rainwater and bore water - excellent drinking water from the bore or the rainwater tanks)

Tony

What's the bet it's drawn from limestone aquifers, or from dolimite layers.... pH 8.... high carbonate and probably high magnesium levels.... can you test the hardness of the water as well Tony... i.e GH

Sorry,
I only have the Masters Freshwater test kit, so can't do hardness, carbonates or Mg. I will test and post the bore water pH tomorrow.
Tony

No problems Tony.... pH will give an indication....

A simple test for water hardness (high carbonates/magnesium) is to see if soap (or toothpaste) "lathers" froths up in it....

Soft water will froth soap up easily, hard water wont.

Rupe,
The water must be soft because when we got here, the Previous Owner (PO) had filled the rainwater tank with bore water and it lathered up easily.
I found out why the tank wasn't being filled by rain and fixed the broken pipe. I drained tank in May and it was full again by July 1 (with rain water).

OK, pH of bore water 6.6

today's readings @ 11:00 am:
pH 7.8
NH3 1.0 - 2.0
NO2 2.0
NO3 5.0
Temp 17.2°C

I have transplanted a mature Silverbeet plant to help with the NO3. It was underneath the new 3 drum GB (as shown in photo below) which I put in place and washed the hydrotron today.
Here are the photos of my new 3 drum GB. I used the ends of old trampoline for the sides of my frame, cut the side pipes of the tramp for the cross members and leg extensions. "Hoop Iron" was added to prevent another HSM like last time. A couple of diagonal braces were added for rigidity. The whole lot is Tek screwed together, but could be welded if I can get my skill levels up on the arc welder.

Tony

good stuff tony.
Best thing I have seen done with one of those back breakers!

At a loss there Tony.... don't understand how you can start out with water at 6.6 pH and end up two weeks later with it being pH 8.2 in a recirculating system with pH neutral (supposedly) hydroton clay??

OK, Readings from past 2 days:
18/9/07 18:20
Temp 17.1°C
pH - 7.8 (added extra 70 litre capacity to sump, to minimise impact of pump on fish.)
NH3 - 0
NO2 - 2.0
NO3 - 10

19/09/07 17:40
Temp - 17.7
pH - 8.2 - Still climbing!
NH3 - 0.22
NO2 - 2.0
NO3 - 5.0 - Coming down a little due to plants in GB?

When I added the extra drum ( bottom 1/2 of blue 200 litre poly drum) for the sump, I used a 19mm polythene pipe as a syphon to transfer water between the added sump and the one with the pump in it. Today I have 2 fish in that side and 3 in the other. They obviously swam thru the 19mm pipe to the other drum! Adventurous goldies.

I will add a lemon tomorrow evening.

Any other suggestions?
I cannot connect the new GB as I don't have enough water in my sumps to cover it plus keep the fish happy. Still waiting for my 5KL fish tank.