Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

june 21 readings:

6.0 !!, 0.25, 0, 0

So again, 4 days to process 50 mL humonia. I may have a minimum processing time simply due to the time require to break down the humonia into NH3.

pH still seems to be falling, and I don't have a low-range pH test. Ordered 1 kg KCO3 from Amazon, and it should be here Wednesday.

I dosed 50 mL this morning, and then it rained a fair bit.

Readings after all is said and done: 6.6, 2.0, 1.5, 15

June 23 readings:

6.8, 8, 5, 40

The beans are starting to set fruit finally, so I think the seaweed was the missing ingredient. I'm still going to add some potassium carbonate when it comes in to buffer the pH. It's a good thing this is a peeponic system so far. I think fish would be long dead. Even so, I don't particularly like subjecting the plants to all the pH swings.

June 24 readings: 6.4, 2, 2, 20

I went away for a long weekend, and on my way out I threw in 2 tablespoons of the KCO3 I got in the mail. I get back, everything is still alive (which is good), and do some tests.

June 29 readings: 8.4 , 0, 0, 0

So I did a 50% water change, dosed 50 mL of humonia, and a half-cap full of maxicrop.

Fish have been added due to having no other place to put them. So the comets that were in my closetponics are now in my outdoor system. They're pretty tough little guys, so I imagine they'll be OK.

July 1 results, 24 hours after addition of fish

8.2, 2, 2, 10

July 2 readings: 8.0, 1, 0, 5

July 3, 4, and 5 are all the same: 8.0, 0, 0, 0

I added a half-capful of maxicrop on July 5.

So after two weeks, pH has dropped to 7.2, and other readings are all 0. I've been feeding two pinches of food per day, but I'll up it to 3 per day this week.

A couple tomato flowers are starting to come out, which is pretty exciting for my 2 hours of light system.

Was out looking at the tomato plants today, and I noticed a random green frog hanging out (about 3", 8 cm)! Surprised the crap out of me for a second, actually. It's so surprising because in the 10 years I've lived in this city, I've never seen a frog of any kind. I'm more than happy to let him earn rent by eating bugs though. I took a pic on my cell phone, but I'm not sure how to transfer that to my computer yet. Will post if I figure it out.

On tomatoes, I know the standard practice is to prune non-fruiting leaves. My tomatoes have just started to produce flowers, so should I wait for more to appear before I prune, or start pruning now?

I email the pictures as a message from my phone to my work email address. Can you try that?

I would wait to prune until some fruit is there, but I'm no expert.

If your phone and computer have bluetooth, you can transfer the files directly using that...

You will find an option on the phone (mine is under options, and then send, and you can select "via Bluetooth"), and typically it will ask you to enter a code in the phone, just enter any code, and then enter the same code in the computer, and then the transfer should happen.

At some point it will search for Bluetooth devices, and when you find your computer, and select it, you may get a message on the computer saying that your phone is trying to connect, just say ok.

You will need to make sure the bluetooth function on the computer is switched on, and the phones settings say it can be seen (bluetooth settings).

Otherwise email, as DD outlined.

Once you have the Bluetooth figured out, it's much quicker and easier for multiple photos.

Yep, ait until the fruit has set.. and has some size.. before removing the leaves below the truss...

In terms of transferring photos... buy a digital camera... and just plug the darn card into the computer card reader... if you have any trouble doing that... use your mobile phone... to phone me...

I have a digital camera and a digital video camera . They just weren't available to me at the time.

The frog is gone now, but I googled and found it was a green tree frog. I'm a little north of their usual habitats.

Had a jumper today. Fortunately my gf was out getting some basil and noticed it. We were able to save him, but I'm not at all sure how he got out. The pump was on, so the water was at low tide, and the lid has only a few spaces that he could possibly have fit through.

Oh well, just lucky we caught him.