Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

sea shells, egg shells, shell grit form a agri store,

Egg shells and sea shells I have .

Sodium bicarbonate would also raise pH, but we haven't decided if the sodium would be bad for the plants. You probably have some in the kitchen, though.

Not in my kitchen

not into baking one would think.

Heh, I may actually have some in a cabinet somewhere now that I think about it. But back to the macho posturing...

just on the bi-carb.

i was one of the first people to say it wouldn't be good for the plants due to the sodium. However most of us have atleast 1ppt salt in their systems, so i think i may have been hasty

Be aware that with the bi-carb it will buffer to the mid 8's, so you can over do it. Not so with the shell grit (Jannet is an exception )

Shell grit, egg shells, coral....you can get it in a powdered form as well which would react more quickly


.....and then there was page 8

Egg shells added.

pH 6.5
NH4 8+
NO2 4
NO3 80

Nitrites have picked up, I guess I'm seeing more conversion there. Might add some sodium bicarb powder to speed up pH raising.

yeh, chill with the ammonia additions, you have enough in there to see it through and there is such a thing as too high ammonia, it will actually inhibit the bacteria

lol, everyone thinks I'm just peeing away in the FT.

Hi tamo42,

Some info on the bi-carb. I was told 1 flat teaspoon per 50L, however when I dosed my goldfish the PH shot up much further than I expected.

I'd been away on holidays and came home to find the PH between 6.3 & 6.0. After I dosed them at the recommended rate I checked the PH and it had shot up to between 7.5 & 7.8! HSM! Thank god they are goldies! I had expected it to rise to just under PH 7.0 hadn't wanted to shock them with a water change!

I suggest a dose rate of no more than 1 level teaspoon per 100L. You can always add more if you need it. You don't want your PH bouncing like mine did.

Oh, and plants don't seem to care about a little bi-carb, they don't like crazy PH swings though.

I'm using 2 teaspoons of potassium bicarbonate per day in about 500 liters. That holds my pH at 7.0 given my current fishload. I started off at 3 tablespoons per day, and as the system seemed to build up some buffering capacity, I was able to cut back. Potassium bicarb is very similar to sodium bicarb in pH and behavior.

and better for fruiting