Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

OK you got me.... this'll teach me to read what I have written before I submit. Before the post nazi's catch me....

man, we are just the foot soldiers! Jaymies the post commander

vwe haff vways...

hi again guys,
we now have a new problem, by the way thanks with the saving of our yabbies i am proud to announce we have only lost one since our last post which is great, but now ray is concerned as our rockmelon and tomato plant have both yellowed over time and are just getting worst. we used to have lots of flowers now there is none. is it an iron defficiency and if so what is the best method of fixing it? could it be that we are using rain water and only feed our yabbies plant matter? should we add more types of food to increase the minerals?

have a look at the back of the leaves for tiny mites. Sounds a bit like spider mite infestation. There may be a very fine webbing over the leaves too.

they are AP plants, yes?

might be iron deficiency.

Has the yellowing only occured since you raised the PH? what have you raised the PH to?

the ph is at 6.6 at the moment as we are raising the levels slowly. there is no webbing at all. the yellowing was only slightly noticable before the ph was risen but we are leaning towards an iron problem. what do you suggest we do to fix the problem. we run a constant flow system with scoria. i hope this is enough information.

probably iron then, and will probably become more noticable as ph rises to 7.2.

i've not needed to add iron yet, but a few have, so i'll let them advise. only minimal qty's should be needed and i think its important not to over do it with the yabbies.

Think Joel has recently added some chelated iron. He has a system that incorporates yabbies... maybe PM him

Les (Ellkaybee) also adds chelated iron when necessary

Edited:
Some discussion here in Steves System LOL...

about trace elements, chelated iron, seaweed extract, greensand ect

Yep Ray, I add chelated iron about once a month, the box comes with a plastic spoon - I put in one spoonful for 1,000litres.

Either Dr Rakocy or Wilson posted a magical formula of 2grams/1,000litres added every 3 weeks, so not much is required.

Another alternative that vb and Murray are trialling is adding rock dust which has all the trace elements that may be missing from the system.
Some info about the way down this page Min Plus

Yes i add a spoonfull of cleater iron and 2 cap fulls of seasol every 3 weeks in 3000 litres

I've been adding 3 tablespoons of greensand each month to about 500liters.

sent hubby out this morning to buy some min plus so i will let you know how we get on. by the way has anyone ever noticed that yabbies sometimes sleep on their backs. no joke here we have caught a couple of them doing it now and thought they were dead but when we go to touch them they just roll over and run.

how bizarre

never heard of it, though most of the yabbies i have ever encountered were in muddy old dams so you cant really get a good look