Super excited in Colorado. - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-28T22:41:24Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/super-excited-in-colorado?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A323633&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI didn't let the tap water si…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-06-01:4778851:Comment:3440852012-06-01T00:16:03.788ZDaniel McElhattanhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/DanielMcElhattan
<p>I didn't let the tap water sit overnight. I will try that. My mistake earlier too, it's potassium bicarbonate.</p>
<p>I didn't let the tap water sit overnight. I will try that. My mistake earlier too, it's potassium bicarbonate.</p> Well, I was gonna blabla my …tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-31:4778851:Comment:3439392012-05-31T13:59:13.982ZVlad Jovanovichttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/VladJovanovic
<p>Well, I was gonna blabla my run -o- the mill answer until I read back a few pages...Holy crap! Are you really adding 4 spoonfuls of Potassium <em>Carbonate </em>(K2CO3) every couple of days, and STILL not getting a reading ABOVE 6.0? And you say that when you test your tap water it's pH 7.6 (I'm not even gonna ask if you let the tap water sit out over night before you test it...which would be a good idea, so's that you can get a more realistic reading)...Man, with with Poatassium Carbonate…</p>
<p>Well, I was gonna blabla my run -o- the mill answer until I read back a few pages...Holy crap! Are you really adding 4 spoonfuls of Potassium <em>Carbonate </em>(K2CO3) every couple of days, and STILL not getting a reading ABOVE 6.0? And you say that when you test your tap water it's pH 7.6 (I'm not even gonna ask if you let the tap water sit out over night before you test it...which would be a good idea, so's that you can get a more realistic reading)...Man, with with Poatassium Carbonate you should be able to get away with using about a 1/3 less (per dry weight basis) than with Potassium Bicarbonate (KHCO3) (which is what most people use...4 Tsp might not be much, but 16 or 24 or whatever you've added, might be...especially in a non-nitrifying just newly filled with system...filled with pH 7.6 tap water no less)...</p>
<p>I'm stumpified?...your not getting nitrites/nitrates, so there's no nitrification going on to lower the pH... you just started cycling (24 hours) when you noticed the pH at 6.0 (or below)...you've been adding a pretty strong-ish bufferevery other day or so...it's doing nothing...</p>
<p>WTF? Did you try lowering your pH with anything before you started cycling? Did your cat knock over the bottle of Muratic acid that sits on the shelf above the tank? Something <em>very</em> UN-run of the mill is going on...</p>
<p>It's prob not your test kit since your tap will read 7.6 right? and apparently you know how to use the kit...</p>
<p>Hey, tell me this...what happens when you add some of that K2CO3 to a 5 gallon bucket of tap water? Add an amount proportional to what you've been adding to the system.</p>
<p>Did you buy the K2CO3 from a store? Is it labelled? Or, did your neighbor's, friends' drunken Uncle who runs a meth lab give you a bag of pearly white powder and tell you he thinks it's Potassium Carbonate...?</p>
<p>Test your media pH with a jar of tap water and a handful of the hydroton you used...see what comes up?</p>
<p>IDK...</p> Vlad actually explains it rea…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-31:4778851:Comment:3439202012-05-31T12:57:49.870ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>Vlad actually explains it really well, so maybe he will pop in with a link to one of the places he has done that.</p>
<p></p>
<p>But anyway, the bacterial processes that convert the ammonia into nitrate actually use use up the buffering capacity of your water and the pH naturally drops over time. It is totally normal to need to add some buffer to your system. Many of us will alternate between a calcium buffer like calcium carbonate and a potassium buffer like potassium…</p>
<p>Vlad actually explains it really well, so maybe he will pop in with a link to one of the places he has done that.</p>
<p></p>
<p>But anyway, the bacterial processes that convert the ammonia into nitrate actually use use up the buffering capacity of your water and the pH naturally drops over time. It is totally normal to need to add some buffer to your system. Many of us will alternate between a calcium buffer like calcium carbonate and a potassium buffer like potassium bicarbonate.</p>
<p></p>
<p>There are faster acting/stronger pH elevating substances but you must be careful when handling them. They are calcium hydroxide (hydrated lime) and potassium hydroxide (old fashion potash lye.)</p>
<p></p>
<p>Most people will take action to buffer when their pH drops to below 6.5 and try not to buffer above about 7.0 and take a few days to do it since you don't want to raise or lower your pH much more than 0.2 per day since sudden pH shifts tend to be hard on plants, fish and bacteria.</p> Does anyone have any ideas as…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-31:4778851:Comment:3434952012-05-31T05:30:46.260ZDaniel McElhattanhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/DanielMcElhattan
<p>Does anyone have any ideas as to how my ph got so low in the first place, It comes out of the faucet at 7.6</p>
<p>Does anyone have any ideas as to how my ph got so low in the first place, It comes out of the faucet at 7.6</p> About your pH problems.
I ans…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-31:4778851:Comment:3436242012-05-31T02:32:40.945ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>About your pH problems.</p>
<p>I answered with this the other day....</p>
<blockquote><p>I would probably add some calcium carbonate and/or potassium bicarbonate to buffer your pH up into a readable range, like 6.5 just so you know it isn't way low, either that or get a pH test that will tell you what the pH really is when it's below 6.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Calcium carbonate (lime, shells, limestone or marble chips, chicken grit) Put some in a bag and place it under the water flow or in the…</p>
<p>About your pH problems.</p>
<p>I answered with this the other day....</p>
<blockquote><p>I would probably add some calcium carbonate and/or potassium bicarbonate to buffer your pH up into a readable range, like 6.5 just so you know it isn't way low, either that or get a pH test that will tell you what the pH really is when it's below 6.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Calcium carbonate (lime, shells, limestone or marble chips, chicken grit) Put some in a bag and place it under the water flow or in the fish tank for a slow acting buffer.</p>
<p>Potassium bicarbonate (find it at brew and wine making supply shops or online) is a bit faster acting and a source of potassium.</p>
<p></p>
<p>In a pinch you can even use baking soda (be careful here it is fast acting and you don't want to use it except in emergency since it will add sodium to your system which the plants don't really want that much of.</p>
<p></p>
<p>You only want to move your pH a little bit per day but since we are seeing ammonia, I'm worried that your pH may already be too low. If you have hard tap water or well water, then simply topping up the system with the hard water may help bring your pH up.</p>
<p><br/> <br/> <cite>Daniel McElhattan said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/super-excited-in-colorado?id=4778851%3ATopic%3A323626&page=2#4778851Comment332558"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Siphon has been running stably for over 24 hours. Did my first water test PH is reading bottomed out at 6.0. Should I be raising this somehow? I am cycling with 15 small goldfish. Ammonia read .25 ppm. I'll be adding a few plants tomorrow most likely. The goldfish have been in since Friday night. I didn't test nitrates tonight. When Do you think I should start testing for nitrates. I am cycling from scratch. I have been feeding every few days so far a little bit cause I don't want the ammonia to get out of control.</p>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote> I'll leave others with Tilapi…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-30:4778851:Comment:3430962012-05-30T08:15:27.569ZRupertofOZhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/RupertofOZ
<p>I'll leave others with Tilapia experience to answer your first question David.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With regards to pumps, indeed you should be looking for a pump that can (typically) pass 5mm solids.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Often they're referred to as "dirty water" pumps.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The "head" of a pump... is determined by measuring from the top level of the water in your tank.. to the height of the outlet in your grow bed...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The "head" also includes the restrictive forces related…</p>
<p>I'll leave others with Tilapia experience to answer your first question David.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With regards to pumps, indeed you should be looking for a pump that can (typically) pass 5mm solids.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Often they're referred to as "dirty water" pumps.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The "head" of a pump... is determined by measuring from the top level of the water in your tank.. to the height of the outlet in your grow bed...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The "head" also includes the restrictive forces related to the length of any plumbing, and fittings... these can be hard to determine, but information on how to calculate these factors... are often provided on good plumbing sites...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In simple systems, this "head" will generally not be significant, and can be essentially ignored.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You need to select a pump that can effectively turn over the volume of your fish tank once per hour.. as a minimum...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And I would suggest that you actually source a pump with at least twice that capacity.. to allow for expansion if nothing else.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If the pump you source has too much, or excess flow... you can always tee off and redirect some of the flow (use a ball valve)... back directly to the fish tank... via a spray bar... for extra oxygenation...</p> So, I have some eggshells in…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-28:4778851:Comment:3424832012-05-28T17:51:06.276ZDaniel McElhattanhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/DanielMcElhattan
<p>So, I have some eggshells in there and Ive been adding 4 TSP of potassium every couple days and I still haven't been able to budge my ph. Every time I've ever tested I get 6.0 ph .25 ppm ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate. I left like 3 dead goldfish in their to hopefully make ammonia. But so far nothing I've ever done has affected anything. If anybody has any ideas please let me know. I'm thinking I'm probably gonna have to do a fairly massive water change. But I'm stuck making no progress…</p>
<p>So, I have some eggshells in there and Ive been adding 4 TSP of potassium every couple days and I still haven't been able to budge my ph. Every time I've ever tested I get 6.0 ph .25 ppm ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate. I left like 3 dead goldfish in their to hopefully make ammonia. But so far nothing I've ever done has affected anything. If anybody has any ideas please let me know. I'm thinking I'm probably gonna have to do a fairly massive water change. But I'm stuck making no progress and my plants are starting to yellow from lack of nitrates I would guess. Sigh.</p> So, My PH is still bottomed o…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-18:4778851:Comment:3371762012-05-18T23:41:09.304ZDaniel McElhattanhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/DanielMcElhattan
<p>So, My PH is still bottomed out on my tank, reading 6.0. I just tested my tap water cause I was curious as to what I started with. It read at the very top, 7.6. So I'm wondering if anyone has any idea how it got so low. I'm using PLANT!T clay media. It says it PH stable. The only other stuff in there is fish, plants, my pump w/some flexible black tubing. Anyone have any ideas? I have some egg shells in there And I'm starting to add potassium carbonate 3 TSP's at a time.</p>
<p>So, My PH is still bottomed out on my tank, reading 6.0. I just tested my tap water cause I was curious as to what I started with. It read at the very top, 7.6. So I'm wondering if anyone has any idea how it got so low. I'm using PLANT!T clay media. It says it PH stable. The only other stuff in there is fish, plants, my pump w/some flexible black tubing. Anyone have any ideas? I have some egg shells in there And I'm starting to add potassium carbonate 3 TSP's at a time.</p> I just added more media last…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-10:4778851:Comment:3330812012-05-10T18:14:59.986ZDaniel McElhattanhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/DanielMcElhattan
<p>I just added more media last night, it is starting to dry now. I didn't have enough before. In addition, the pump water was splattering all over the top but that's under control now too. Good eye though.</p>
<p>I just added more media last night, it is starting to dry now. I didn't have enough before. In addition, the pump water was splattering all over the top but that's under control now too. Good eye though.</p> Is it just me or is the surfa…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-05-10:4778851:Comment:3333072012-05-10T17:11:49.889ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>Is it just me or is the surface of the media getting wet during your normal water cycle? Now if it's just because those were pictures taken with brand new wet washed media, the ok. but if the surface of the media is staying wet all the time or getting wet during the flood cycle, you either a-need more media so the top inch or so is above the high water level so the top surface stays dry or b-you need to lower your flood height so the top inch or so stays above the flood height so the top…</p>
<p>Is it just me or is the surface of the media getting wet during your normal water cycle? Now if it's just because those were pictures taken with brand new wet washed media, the ok. but if the surface of the media is staying wet all the time or getting wet during the flood cycle, you either a-need more media so the top inch or so is above the high water level so the top surface stays dry or b-you need to lower your flood height so the top inch or so stays above the flood height so the top surface stays dry.</p>