A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners
High Nitrate level....
I have a 300 gallon tank with koi, goldfish and a few cat fish. at total of about 15 fish....just recently a few koi died. I tested the water and the the Nitrate was the only thing that was high(80ppm)....Is this too high of Nitrate level?? what can I do to lower the Nitrate if I have to?....My system is less than 2 years old....any advice, comments or tips would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Keith Rowan on
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the only thing i've found is that bluegill fry start to suffer if nitrates are at 400ppm or above.. i don't think nitrates were the cause..
were they larger koi? they'd be more susceptible to stressing from low oxygen.. do you have aeration? did your temps go up? - warmer water holds less DO than cold water
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Permalink Reply by KoiKush on
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ill have to check the temp to make sure....the Koi that died, 1 was 8"-10" and 2 were 5"-7".......What do you mean By " warmer water holds less DO than cold water"??
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and yes i do have aeration:)
KoiKush said:ill have to check the temp to make sure....the Koi that died, 1 was 8"-10" and 2 were 5"-7".......What do you mean By " warmer water holds less DO than cold water"??
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warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen than cool water
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Permalink Reply by Harold Sukhbir on
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Hi KoiKush,
Can you describe your system, a brief history, and your water and temp readings over the last month?
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I have a 300 gallon tank 6'x3'x30" and 2 grow beds that are 6'x2'x1'.....I started running my system spring of 2012 with about 15 goldfish and and 15 Koi added later.....The weather is perfect here in Oxnard Southern Cali (we're known for are strawberry fields here:) all levels were perfect when i first started and through the whole season. This is also the last records that i have.....I failed to keep any records and ignored checking water regularly....Im a "learn as you go" type of guy, and now that i have this problem I'll be happy to learn what to do to fix it....
What i started doing NOW (I know right) is taking down accurate notes on temps, levels and every thing else i that i will be doing to fix this problem........From asking around this is the conclusion that I came to. As soon as spring came around the weather got a little warmer I started feeding my fish 2-3x a day. Thus creating extra or too much waste(nitrate)?? Im just a beginner and this is just my guess. The solution to my guess is to start feeding the fish once a day and once every 2 weeks exchange 10 gallons of "fish water" with fresh water.....
What do you think Harold? Am I on the right track? What advice or recommendations do you have for me?
Harold Sukhbir said:Hi KoiKush,
Can you describe your system, a brief history, and your water and temp readings over the last month?
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Guess what I just bought today??.......A thermometer!
Keith Rowan said:warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen than cool water
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Hi KoiKush,
You seem to have good ratios for FT and GB's. But beyond that all I know are you Nitrate levels. To find a possible cause for your recent fish deaths before it happens again, you will need to post some water test readings, Ammonia,Nitrite, Temps etc. What is the GPH rating on you pump and how much of FT volume do you move per hour? What type of plants are you growing, and how are they doing? How much pounds of fish are in your AP? Nitrates of 80ppm are considered ideal for growing a wide range of crops in AP BTW. Exchanging water in AP simply throwing away a lot of hard earned nutrient, nutrient which your plants so desperately need!
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You have to forgive me but im not too familiar with the AP lingo
....FT? I dont know the GPH on the pump that I installed....but I can tell you this, It takes 10 mins to fill and 10 mins to empty the GBs....I have the pump go on for 30mins every hour....What I grow is Marijuana. Last year was my first year growing anything and I wanted it to be as organic as possible. So I chose APs! Last years crop was beautiful, and this years they seem just as good as lasts years crop...No type of deficiencies or discolorations....pounds of fish is hard to say.....ill say between 4-6 lbs.......The 10 gallons that I removed earlier i put in 2 5 gallon buckets and ran an air line with air stone into them.....I use this Nutrient rich fish water to water my "other" potted plants.....I try not to waste a thing!......I will also be posting my new results every other day.....but i dont have any notes or anything written down.
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Hi KoiKush,
Very interesting! your crop choice. I'm not familiar with their requirements for this typeof crop(Nitrate,PH etc), maybe you can teach me something about it? From your FT(Fish Tank) volume and your GB(Growbed) volumes, GB at 45 cu.ft. means a maximum of 45 lbs of fish for you system. So at 4-6 lbs of fish, which is very low, I guess you're supplementing minerals, or growing less plants. To lower Nitrates you need more plants in the system or you need to feed less. The more flowrate from the pump, the more robust your system will become. Anything you need to clarify, just let me know
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Permalink Reply by Rich File on
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Is there a forum on here for all of the abbreviations? If not we should start one. I'd be happy to moderate it.
KoiKush said:You have to forgive me but im not too familiar with the AP lingo
....FT? I dont know the GPH on the pump that I installed....but I can tell you this, It takes 10 mins to fill and 10 mins to empty the GBs....I have the pump go on for 30mins every hour....What I grow is Marijuana. Last year was my first year growing anything and I wanted it to be as organic as possible. So I chose APs! Last years crop was beautiful, and this years they seem just as good as lasts years crop...No type of deficiencies or discolorations....pounds of fish is hard to say.....ill say between 4-6 lbs.......The 10 gallons that I removed earlier i put in 2 5 gallon buckets and ran an air line with air stone into them.....I use this Nutrient rich fish water to water my "other" potted plants.....I try not to waste a thing!......I will also be posting my new results every other day.....but i dont have any notes or anything written down.
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Rich File said:Is there a forum on here for all of the abbreviations? If not we should start one. I'd be happy to moderate it. KoiKush, do you use AP for your flowering period? If so, do you find that the plants get enough nutes?
KoiKush said:You have to forgive me but im not too familiar with the AP lingo
....FT? I dont know the GPH on the pump that I installed....but I can tell you this, It takes 10 mins to fill and 10 mins to empty the GBs....I have the pump go on for 30mins every hour....What I grow is Marijuana. Last year was my first year growing anything and I wanted it to be as organic as possible. So I chose APs! Last years crop was beautiful, and this years they seem just as good as lasts years crop...No type of deficiencies or discolorations....pounds of fish is hard to say.....ill say between 4-6 lbs.......The 10 gallons that I removed earlier i put in 2 5 gallon buckets and ran an air line with air stone into them.....I use this Nutrient rich fish water to water my "other" potted plants.....I try not to waste a thing!......I will also be posting my new results every other day.....but i dont have any notes or anything written down.
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