New to aquaponics

[Steve Armeros]

Hello All..  Brand new to this kind of gardening.  Been at it for 3 weeks and added fish and plants a week ago.  I am concerned my nitrites are in the deep purple for several days with the nitrates beginning to show.

Should I be concerned because the nitrites are so high?  Ammonia is abt .25 and the water is becoming very clear with some slime on the sides of the IBC Tote.  I am using 2 grow beds with the clay pebbles at aprox 30 sq. ft of space. I currently have aprox 80 feeder goldfish in the tank.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Steve

[Jess G]

Hey Steve,

I am also a complete newbie to this kind of growing and went through the same thing you are right now, I was in a total panic that my fish would die from crazy high Nitrites. I kept doing water changes, little to no feeding and sure enough everything has leveled out and doing great now. Its been about 3 weeks now. My system is much smaller than yours by a factor of about 10, but I think if you just ride it out and keep up on the water changes it will clear up in no time. I did however notice you said you had cleaned out your filter. . . I would not recommend this as you would be washing away all your bacteria which you need to get the chemistry on track.

Good luck,

Jess

 

[Steve Armeros]

Thank You Jessica for your response. 

The mistake I made was to put river rock on the bottom of the ICB Tote. After talking all the rock out, vacuuming the bottom, cleaning the filter and the holding tank, and refilling with clean well water, all the readings stabilized and after 3 days now all is well.

I  believe I made 3 mistakes.   River rock on the bottom,   too many fish,  and too much food. It's been a learning process and I am glad there were folks there to help. 

Steve

jessica Greenhow said:

Hey Steve,

I am also a complete newbie to this kind of growing and went through the same thing you are right now, I was in a total panic that my fish would die from crazy high Nitrites. I kept doing water changes, little to no feeding and sure enough everything has leveled out and doing great now. Its been about 3 weeks now. My system is much smaller than yours by a factor of about 10, but I think if you just ride it out and keep up on the water changes it will clear up in no time. I did however notice you said you had cleaned out your filter. . . I would not recommend this as you would be washing away all your bacteria which you need to get the chemistry on track.

Good luck,

Jess