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  1. #31
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    Re: fish are dying....!

    7 days ago pH was 8.7, 4 days ago 7.5, yesterday 6.5 then 7.3 after I increased food rate and added 5 gal of RO'd water at 7.6 pH. That's right, RO system is up and running, churns out 5 gph removes tds but only slightly decreases pH. Power outage early this am for 3 hours due to storm, generator running, no casualties.
    "No man is poor if his word has value." - Dad

  2. #32
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    Re: fish are dying....!

    Those are some big swings I try to keep anything I'm changing to a .2 to .3 change a day. That being said sometimes things react differently then we expect and sh*t happens. Keep the ph as close to 7 as you can and the plants should spring back. The ro ph should be fine if your going to try to adjust it do so prior to adding it to the tank.

  3. #33
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    Re: fish are dying....!

    OK, Thanks topz! I will need to take it a bit easier. Hurrying the pH adjustment process has contributed to my problems then. It is hard to be patient enough to get the pH within tenths when my tanks are tanking. I really appreciate the help you folks in this forum provide
    "No man is poor if his word has value." - Dad

  4. #34
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    Re: fish are dying....!

    I'm pretty sure we have all done big changes before. I'm sure we've even killed a few fish in the process. One thing I've learned after doing so is patience is one of the biggest things you need to have in aquaponics.

  5. #35
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    Re: fish are dying....!

    semi you wrote, "My thought is that the pH spikes that killed the fish also blocked nutrient uptake".

    Check out this post "Deficiency In Essential Minerals", it has a lot of great pictures and information. I listed the two parts that I thought was the most important as far as our problem goes.

    1. PH level is very important, most all the elements have optimum PH level for absorption. The plant will not assimilate the nutrient if the PH level is too low or too high. Keep PH between 6.8 to 7.0 anything under 6.6 can kill off your BIO Filter. Anything over 7.8 your roots wouldn't be able to absorb any of the nutrients.

    2. Iron, manganese and zinc are three essential elements that become inaccessible when PH is above 7.8, Hence their may not be a deficiency of one of these minerals, if your PH levels are stopping your plants from using them.

  6. #36
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    Re: fish are dying....!

    Update. Fish seem to appreciate the stable pH and added volume. The plants are recovering but slowly. The dill is doing best followed by spinach, basil, cabbage, eucalyptus, gotu kola and parsley (all never really failed). The radishes didn't recover but swiss chard, collards and 2 types of kale look like they want to rebound. My water general hardness (GH) is off the scale high and the calcium hardness (KH) at near zero, all bad. I will look deeper into solutions for those issues soon. I did clean about 30% of the FT. I will leave the fish habitat alone for a week or so. Is dehumidifier water void of dissolved solids? I have corrected dehum water pH and added it back in along with ro water, approx 30:70 ratio in doubling tank volume. Nitrites are low, nitrates about 80, ammonia low and pH still a bit up at 7.6
    "No man is poor if his word has value." - Dad

  7. #37
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    Re: fish are dying....!

    7.6 isn't terrible. As far as the dehumidifier water if it isn't devoid of solids it has to be better then the tap. let the system relax so everything can stabilize. Your fish and plants will do much better.

  8. #38
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    Re: fish are dying....!

    Thanks to all...great advice, as usual.
    "No man is poor if his word has value." - Dad

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