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Trace element deficiency
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Author:  LFTal_81 [ Nov 24th, '15, 19:12 ]
Post subject:  Trace element deficiency
Hey guys.

I am quite new to the whole aquaponic system thing.
I started my system about 3 months ago and learned quite a lot of lessons.
I lost most of my fish due to a sudden temperature drop we had in September.
Currently i am running on 4 Tilapia and 1 Trout.

My fish tank is about 2500l and my grow beds are roughly 60l (adding another 30l the weekend)
My beds are all continuos drainage beds ( considering a bell syphon for the new "pod")

At the moment i have a strawberry (which does very well) some swiss chard (does okay but the tips of the leafs are dying off...) and some tomatoes (which again are doing moderately well accept for some leaf miners)

It looks like the swiss chard might be suffering from sun burn altho i have everything set up under 40% shade cloth so highly unlikely. I am leaning more to trace elements deficiency.... Something like potassium

How can i add trace elements in my system.

Also my tank turned grass green. I did a 75%water change and covered the tank for 3 weeks with black plastic. But to no avail. Any help.

Below are some images... Everything is still very crude (I still need to convince the wife it is worth spending some money on)

ImageImageImage


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Author:  BuiDoi [ Nov 25th, '15, 04:15 ]
Post subject:  Re: Trace element deficiency
..
Welcome.aboard the AP train..

Once the bride gets to pick and eat, she will be most impressed ..

Its a bit hard to see the defficiency issue..
You can try spraying the plants.with selected nutrients..
I would start with Epsom salts for the magnesium

For the algae... an obvious fix could be a UV steraliser, but they cost...
I added a simple filter to my clay bed.. essentially it is an open tube with the water running in like from a tap..
In the tube, I stuff a wad of polyester roof insulation bat..
You can drill many holes around the bottom of the tube, for drainage.to the clay bed ..
When the. Tube overflows, you know the filter has clogged, and can be replaced....
Yes, it will remove fish wastes, but at this time you likely have more than enough..
.
.
Author:  scotty435 [ Nov 25th, '15, 05:35 ]
Post subject:  Re: Trace element deficiency
Bui Doi and I are going to disagree on this although it is tough to see the deficiency. Looks like the lower leaves are getting lighter in color and the edges on some of the leaves show tip burn. This looks more like a potassium deficiency than magnesium. Potassium deficiency is pretty common early on. Magnesium and potassium compete for uptake by plants so increasing the magnesium will likely reduce the potassium taken up and will also make things worse. The deficiencies look very similar and it looks to be very early on.

I would suggest spraying with Seasol or Maxicrop following the directions on the bottle. You may need to do this occasionally as you see a potassium deficiency start.

You could also go with a shotgun approach using compost tea or blood and bone added to the system water or sprayed on the plants. These would provide other nutrients as well as potassium.
Author:  BuiDoi [ Nov 25th, '15, 20:20 ]
Post subject:  Re: Trace element deficiency
scotty435 wrote:
Bui Doi and I are going to disagree on this although it is tough to see the deficiency. .

No way do we disagree.. more to the point, it was.just a first guess on my part and I am one of the worst for rotten defficiencies..
I look at the photos and half look the same..

Thanks Scotty, for your thoughts
..
.
Author:  dlf_perth [ Nov 25th, '15, 22:08 ]
Post subject:  Re: Trace element deficiency
I have had my spinach like that. Easiest (as long as your nitrates are low) is just to hit is with a multi-mineral soluble feed.
my preferred is via watering can over plants (so foliar) or else a foliar spray.
Not sure of your South Africa brands but something like Miracle-Gro.

Don't go overboard though. *IF* AP nitrates are OK / low I would go with some blood&bone+potash or pulverised dynamic lifter. These add a bit of solid into the grow bed media that you get over time in a more mature system.
then just use a watering can every now and again on the GB.

But may be with trout and tilapia you have enough Nitrogen - so may have to focus on low Nitrogen inputs.

If nitrates are up a bit you will need to stay away from most fertilisers, and just focus on potash in some form (potassium) and regular Seasol equivalent (seaweed extract which has a bit of potassium in it).

Be careful with dosages though as often very small amounts in 10 litres water - particularly for trace elements.
And best to apply with a watering can direct to the GB.

[edit] you could try one of the mutli-mineral soluble trace element products - we have couple here in Aust, and guess you have something similar. They target the odd things like Mn, B, Mo, Mg, Fe etc etc without
Nitrogen/Phosphorous.

[edit] re: algae - that is a hard one. It usually indicates excess ammonia and nitrates as these need to be present to bloom to pea soup level. So be careful with what you add as it may simply add to issue. Really only constant pump aeration/circulation and lots of filtration (maybe need a bit more media volume).
Author:  scotty435 [ Nov 26th, '15, 03:21 ]
Post subject:  Re: Trace element deficiency
dlf_perth wrote:
[edit] re: algae - that is a hard one. It usually indicates excess ammonia and nitrates as these need to be present to bloom to pea soup level. So be careful with what you add as it may simply add to issue. Really only constant pump aeration/circulation and lots of filtration (maybe need a bit more media volume).


Also high phosphates sometimes contribute to an algae bloom occurring.

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Better guess than a lot of people Bui Doi (you may wind up being right, it was hard to tell) :thumbright:
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