Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have had those bugs before. I think they are some sort of water flea or sewer fly but I'm not exactly sure. They would just hang out on the top layer of the media and you can't see them unless you look really close and/or move the media around, then they start jumping around. I didn't notice any damage from them, but if you could get a closer pic of the bug or what they look like under the leaves (assuming they are the culprits to the holes in the leaves) then we might be able to I.D. them and help you further.

nice system btw

Things seem to be settling down a bit now. A few black spots on the basil but nothing to serious.

Put a dozen Silver Perch, 5 Yabbies in there own sump, 5 fresh water muscles in yesterday and separated the goldfish into there own sump. Is there any issues with putting fresh water muscles in an AP system?

Quick question about the SLO. Using 40mm pvc with a T at the top. Is this to small?

That depends on your flow.

If the pump is on all the time 40mm will be fine but on a timed system it depends on how long the pump is on for.

Lower leaf damage could be baby slugs - check at night (a few hours after dark) for 1/8th to 1/4 inch long slugs in the grow beds and on the plants.

What's your water temperature. Basil likes temps warmer -
grows slowly below 70 F
No growth and dies below 60 F
Larger established plants will go down into the 50's before they die.

If it's not a temperature thing then it could be a nutrient issue. The top leaves appear darker on your Basil and that could mean a niitrogen deficiency. Additional pics might help.

The bugs could be springtails or possibly thrips. Springtails are usually harmless, thrips, not so much

Cheers

It's 40 on hour off. It fills pretty easily in that time. Estimated it with a bucket at about 2kL/h at the pump outlet. It sits a few cm off the bottom with some netting to stop the fish getting swallowed

Thanks for that I didn't realise it grew slowly at those kind of temps. It is currently sitting on 65f. I have been finding the odd small slug in the media and giving it to the fish. Those small bug were what I thought the Were killing the chilli bushes but that may have just been a batch of seedlings that didn't take as there seems to be no ill effect on the tomatoes in the same bed.