Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I wouldn't consider 6.8 high. Nothing wrong with that. If you want you could add some shell grit to the beds and/or tank to bring it up where it will stop breaking down at 7.4 or thereabouts.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

Oops ignore me I didn't read it properly. Red face

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

Shell grit is still a good idea though

And Adelaide water comes out of the tap at low pH then climbs to pH 8+ over the next day or so.

7.4 is a good ph, the bacteria are happy there. Perhaps a few more fish are in order.

Hello! Appologies for the extended absence, the weeks leading up to Christmas are pretty crazy for me!

So, updates, and pictures!

Started using fish emultion stuff every other day, can't remember if i mentioned that, and added a little iron, and everything went nuts on it.

My spinach went to seed, so I pulled it all out, and rescued what hadn't been eated by the bugs. Also harvested all the lettuce. The parsleys got so big they started pushing everything else out the way, so I pulled one of them out too, delicious:



The eggplant is doing really well, I've had 3 good sized eggplants off of there already:







And I have three more growing:



And here's everything else. The Chilli is also doing really well, the chives and oregago are going *off* and I've planted some spring onions, a tomato, and some basil:







*However* I'm still relying on seasol and Charlie Carp... I've just tested my water again this morning, and I'm still not getting any readings for ammonia, nitrite or nitrate.... I ran out of charlie carp over christmas, and all my promising-looking eggplant blossoms shriveled up and died, and my basil went all yellow. Why aren't my bacteria colonising? my PH is steady now at about 7.4...

Yellow basil is probably lack of nutrient, but I think the eggplant flowers might not have been pollinated. You might have just had the first flowers for the season in your neighbourhood. I keep a cotton on a stick thing in a jar, and use it to pollinate some stuff by hand if the flowers do that. I keep the same cotton bud for ever and use it on all the different plants every now and then, so if ever something gives me some problems, I have some pollen handy. All my cucumbers have been doing that.

Also, my system never shows ammonia or nitrates, and only ever occasionally shows any nitrates, and even when it does show nitrates, it's only a trace.

If you saw .25 ammonia, and now you see none, that means it's being processed. which means you have all the right bacteria.

The dropping of your pH also indicates that you are cycled.

Next time you put your Charlie carp and seasol in, do a test every 4 hours or something, and you might see first the ammonia spike, then the nitrite spike, then maybe a little nitrate before the plants gobble it all up.

The last time my system saw nitrites, they were gone within a few hours.

If you've been putting Charlie carp in, and you have Ammonia reading of zero, you are either doing the test wrong or you have the bacteria.

I put a Splosh of Charlie carp in a system that had not had fish in it for about a month, and it sent the ammonia reading through the roof.

it's worth planting new seedlings after nightfall, so the plants get to ease into the next day without the transplant shock.

The flowers shriveled up after I already had some fruit on the plant..... but I know nothing about pollination......

I just put some CC in this morning, I'll go check it again now...

'Kay, 0.25 ammonia, nothing else. Will check again in a few hours.