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I have a 600-800 gallon tank with roughly 75 bluegill fingerlings.  I had my first three die yesterday.

My ammonia level is 0.00 and my PH is around 6.6.

I have not been putting oxygen into the water mechanically as I thought that all of the drain lines returning to the tank would take care of the oxygen.

The fish also appear to not be eating as usual.

I just ordered a EcoPlus Commerical 3 air pump along with two 8" air stone discs.

I guessing that the oxygen level was the problem and not the PH.

However, I'm thinking about increasing the PH by putting in some Ag lime.

My question is how much I should add per gallon to raise the PH back up to around 7.0?

Thanks.

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it could well be the aeration, do you have any algae playing tricks on you?  If there is much algae in the water it can easily use up the dissolved oxygen over night.

When the water temp warms up in summer it can't hold as much oxygen so it is used up more quickly.  The fish going off the feed can be a sign that the dissolved oxygen is not high enough.

No algae TC.  I have most of the tank covered either with growbeds or a 4X8 sheet of blueboard.

Hopefully, the air pump and stone discs will arrive tomorrow.

In the mean time, I've added a lot of fresh cistern water and they seem to be eating again and no floaters.

As for the PH and ag lime, any ideas on how much to add per gallon of water.

Thanks,

John

TCLynx said:

it could well be the aeration, do you have any algae playing tricks on you?  If there is much algae in the water it can easily use up the dissolved oxygen over night.

When the water temp warms up in summer it can't hold as much oxygen so it is used up more quickly.  The fish going off the feed can be a sign that the dissolved oxygen is not high enough.

No I'm not sure how much to add and using lime is a little tricky since it is kinda slow acting.  I normally don't need to use lime since my well water it sort of like liquid limestone.  If my pH is dropping and I've used potassium bicarbonate the last time I needed to buffer, I'll just top up with some well water instead of rain water to get the calcium carbonate.

Anyway, How to buffer using lime without using too much.  I would probably start out with several spoon fulls and check the pH tomorrow but I wouldn't add more right away since as I said it is slow acting.  Another option many people use would be chicken grit or limestone chips in a stocking or mesh bag hanging in the system so you can remove it once the pH gets high enough for you.

You are in Indiana with 104 degree temps 40c... seems like O2 would be the first correction to make

I have my ecoplus commercial 3 pump up and running with 2 8" air stone discs pumping out of lot of oxygen.

Jonathan Kadish said:

You are in Indiana with 104 degree temps 40c... seems like O2 would be the first correction to make

I hope you actually mean "pumping out a lot of air" since to pump oxygen with that pump you would have to place it in a sealed box with a pressurized oxygen feed which seems like a fire/explosion danger if the pump were to spark when you plug it in.



John Wilson said:

I have my ecoplus commercial 3 pump up and running with 2 8" air stone discs pumping out of lot of oxygen.

Yes, I spoke in error.  I meant to say pumping out a lot of air!

TCLynx said:

I hope you actually mean "pumping out a lot of air" since to pump oxygen with that pump you would have to place it in a sealed box with a pressurized oxygen feed which seems like a fire/explosion danger if the pump were to spark when you plug it in.



John Wilson said:

I have my ecoplus commercial 3 pump up and running with 2 8" air stone discs pumping out of lot of oxygen.

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