Dying fish and Yellow vegies

[mbrown]

Quick update, I am up to 16 fish (300 gal tank, 51 sq ft of media grow bed and about 10 cubic ft of lettuce continuous flow beds) they seem to be doing well. The only chelated iron that my hydroponics store had was liquid seaweed with iron, is that ok to use? I haven't done anything with the pH it is running at 8.0, ammonia is 0.25, nitrite 0, nitrate 0. How long does it take for the nitrates and nitrites to show? What should the levels be?

[rfeiller]

It just doesn't appear that nitrification is taking place or you would be seeing a nitrite spike.not just ammonia and no Nitrates.

[keith_r]

my first "cycle" it looked to me that the nitrite bacteria take a little longer to "get up to speed" than the ammonia bacteria..

is the liquid seaweed called maxicrop with chelated iron? i've been using it for about a year now (sparingly) -the may help with your high ph, not to bring it down, but to provide some nutrients that may be "locked out" due to the high ph..
i wouldn't add anything to change your ph, it will come down (unless your media is a limestone???) from the nitrification process

if you do decide to "take matters into your own hands" research any product you think you want to add, look up the msds sheet.. aquarium products aren't usually meant for fish/plants that you plan on eating.. and make any changes slowly, a fast/large change can stress or even kill your fish

[Oliver]

You may want to soup up the bacteria process by adding some to your system. We use NitroMax and it seems to work well.

And, yes, Maxicrop plus Iron is one brand of seaweed that we use also.

Oliver

[Oliver]

Ammonia at 0.25 ppm is not very high. Considering the large number of gallons of water and the few fish you have, the whole system will take some time to cycle.

I would expect with your low fish to gallons of water ratio that once it has cycled, the Ammonia and Nitrite levels will be so low as to indicate near zero; and it will take some time for your Nitrates levels to come up to planting levels.

As to your question on another post this morning, you may not have enough bio-filter to support a larger amount of fish.

I wouldn't worry about the pH, for it is in a good range for the bacteria to multiply and the nitrification process will slowly bring it down. Please stop trying to control everything in your system, let nature take its course. Once you have it properly set up, you only need to feed it with some starter bacteria, fish and fish food, and perhaps some MaxiCrop plus iron later on for the plants. Start out with green leafy veggies (no flowering plants until later) and watch your chemistry.

As to plants, it is too early for there to be any plants in your grow beds, for there are not enough nutrients to support them. Wait until your Nitrates are around 10 to 20 ppm before planting, otherwise, you will experience what you have experienced.

Make sure the water you put in your system is chlorine free. Yes, I know it will evaporate and is only a small amount, but it will interfere with what you are trying to do in this early stage of system cycling.

You must have patience for nature is on its own time schedule.

Oliver

[rfeiller]

Remember chloramines will not evaporate. Check to see which one you have. Chlorine is easy to get rid of chlorimines are not. They will eventually break down but in the mean time. You can get a API kit to test for if you are concerned.

[bcotton]

Chloramines are pretty easy to deal with. There another thread about using ascorbic acid (vitamin c) removing chlorine from tap water with Vitamin C?

If it's been 24 hours and the fish arent dead, it's probably not the chloramines. Unless i missed it, the OP still hasnt told us what type of fish he is using and there's been no mention of dying fish other than the subject. It would help to if we had more specific information.

p.s. OP, update your location


brian

[Madmax478]

Grats on even having a Aquaponics system
Trying to fix multiply problems at one time is a recipe for disaster.
There are good people on this form that will answer you questions.
Slow down take a deep breath and ask questions before you try to
change 2 or 3 things at one time.
If you have two or three problems... Ask which one should be take care of first.
Actual the hardest thing about Aquaponics is the patience to let things sort
thems selfs out.
You think your raising fish and plants but actual you have a massive bacteria farm.
Something you can't even see. But without these little guys nothing works.
My best advice is one thing at a time go real slow and watch how it effects everything else.

I get my chelate iron mail order
Liquid Iron for Plants, Fertilizers, Tree & Vine Care - GEMPLER'S
http://www.gemplers.com/product/156302/ ... ron-Plants

[rfeiller]

Welcome madmax478 to our forum
When you have a chance go to a place to say hello and introduce yourself and your location.

[mbrown]

chloramines are pretty easy to deal with. There another thread about using ascorbic acid (vitamin c) removing chlorine from tap water with Vitamin C?

If it's been 24 hours and the fish arent dead, it's probably not the chloramines. Unless i missed it, the OP still hasnt told us what type of fish he is using and there's been no mention of dying fish other than the subject. It would help to if we had more specific information.

p.s. OP, update your location


brian

I have mentioned before that I am using Commit Goldfish, the pond I set up is so my kids can see whats happening. They like the Goldfish. Anyway, I have been adding the Maxicrop with Chelated Iron and everything seems to be doing well.