Water Quality for Fish?

[BlueWolf]

Hi again
My system has now been circulating for about 3 weeks and at the upcoming Tocal Fielddays I will be able to buy silver perch fingerlings.
My concern is that the water in my system is still really brown. Will this be harmful for the fish? Does the water have to be clear before I can put fish in there?

Any help would be appreciated

Wolf

[tilapia]

Brown algae can be a problem and is mostly a sign of elevated nitrate (above 80ppm) and decreased pH. One way to overcome brown algae is to increase the pH of your system by using a buffer. Increased pH decreases CO2, and decreased CO2 than decreases algae growth.
I grow out Tilapia which like the thier pH around 8.2 and I have no problem with brown alage until my pH gets lower than 8.0.
Hope this helps!
Don
tilapiahybridpair.com

[aussieap]

Hi.
Why is your water brown?
What filter media are you using? This could affect water quality. If you are using the clay pebbles, did you wash them first?
Silver perch are bottom feeders and quite tolerant of poor water quality. Just make sure you have plenty of air in your system. Oxygenation covers a lot of faults.
Do you have a water test kit? What are your readings?

The only other thing is we are coming into winter. Are you going to be able to keep your water warm enough to get these warm water fish to grow in the cooler months? If the water is not around 18C they won't feed much and you won't get much plant growth.

[BlueWolf]

Hi again
Thanks for your responses. I think the brown is mud from the gravel in the grow media since it was pretty muddy when I loaded it and I didn't wash it first. Thanks for the tip of testing the water I will do that and post results here to see what you think about it.

Wolf

[BlueWolf]

Using a test kit I bought from Murray I came up with these results when testing my water:
PH 8.0
Ammonia and Nitrate 0
Water temp 18 degrees
I have now added and will do so until I have fish, 3 table spoons of Yates Thrive, which is 27% nitrates and then mostly minerals as far as I understand it

Wolf

[Outbackozzie]

Take it easy on the Thrive, and there is no point getting silvers until spring. They will not grow at all during winter, and you will loose some or lots of them.

I would empty your tank, clean it, and refill with water. Aerate the water overnight to remove chlorine, then restart the pumps. This wont slow the cycling down too much. You dont want to be putting fish into a new system with discoloured water, because if any die, you wont know until too late, and you'll probably loose the lot.

[Murray]

I would not recommend Thrive....had a big fish loss on using that many moons ago.
Tried and tested by hundreds is Seasol seaweed extract. Any system will cycle on Seasol very well....and it is safe.
Use Seasol as a tonic in your system throughout the life of your system. Wonderful product....and it is safe.

[BlueWolf]

Pitty so I can't have fish for another 3 months or so and thanks for mentioning that I can't see what the fish are up to if the water is browm, I hadn't thought of that.

Murray thanks for the advice on Thrive.
How do you add the Seasol? A certain amount into the fish tank while circulating?

Wolf

[Murray]

I just add it to one of the grow beds at the water inlet. It will find its way around the system.
New system...half a cup to start, then one cap full a day until the system has cycled.
Then about a quarter of a cup per month.
Some members use bigger doses that that. It is pretty good stuff.

Even though there is not much nitrogen in Seasol, it still cycles a system very well.

[Castaway]

Agree 100% with Murray. Exactly how we ran my system. Slow and steady wins the race. Don't overdo it. Let Nature run it's course and all win work out in the end.