Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've had good luck with oyster shell to slowly raise pH over time. Only thing I recommend is to put it in a nylon stocking as opposed to a cotton sock. Cotton socks rot out after a few weeks. A pound +/- of shell grit from the local feed store should be enough to slowly raise things once you've got pH back within range.

Dump the grit into a nylon stocking, twist a few times, fold the stocking back over itself, repeat as possible until you've got a couple of layers of stocking wrapped for security. Dig out an impression under your GB in-flow for the sock and toss it in. If/when you start approaching the upper levels of pH comfort, you can just pull the shell grit ball out, dump it out of the stocking to dry so nothing molds and it's good to go if you need it again.

The feed was gathering in the corners and other places, kind of looked like either the fish was producing lots of slime, and the feed just started collecting it and making feed-slime-balls. Nasty stuff. The feed had a weird smell to it, not awful but more in the direction you were going with the earthy smell.

Not scum, perhaps just a tad oily if at all.

I was not able to find any of the things I have been recommended for boosting the pH at the fish shops around here. Going to a paint shop where they are supposed to have lime stone.

For now I just use a pH up fresh water aquarium booster, with daily dose.


I have a 90 liter tank.





Over to something else... Something not so cool. Obviously the neighbor have been kept awake by the ventilation and other stuff for several months now without even mention it when we have met in the hallway, and when our landlord came by to pick up the rent he told us about the situation. The land lord threaten to call the cops and stuff.

Even tho it is legal to grow for own use in Spain, I don't want the cops on my door. Especially when we are moving to big house in 10 days.

So tomorrow I will temporary move the aquaponic system to another flat for 10 day, quite a hussle, but seeing the buds starting to grow quite well, I do not have the heart to shut the system down.

Will hopefully get some pictures up and running after setting the system up at the temp. location.

When I am moving the system, how much water should I save from the fish tank and add to the tank after setting it back up ?
I recon as much as possible, but 30-50% would be ok ?

As much as possible will keep your system the most stable. Everything will already be stressed simply with the move so every little bit you can do to keep things as "same" as before will likely help.

How much to stress about moving the water will also depend some on what the replacement water is going to be like though. If it is treated and will require you doing something to neutralize the water treatment before putting the new water in the system, then I would say move as close to all the water you possibly can.

If the replacement water is not full of treatment chemicals but has some hardness in it, then that should help take care of your low pH issue and only moving 50% of your water is probably ok.

[url]http://www.amazon.com/Valent-Gnatrol-WDG-195-grams/dp/B003E77B80/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1378239961&sr=8-2&keywords=gnatrol
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Thanks for the info!

Im going to try a wardrobe AP system with goldfish as a proof of concept. (All year round tomatoes)
Think this will work?

http://www.newfrog.com/p/90w-led-grow-l ... 41351.html

To do indoor aquaponics in a wardrobe, cabinet, tent whatever. You have to have enough lighting for the plants you want to grow and you have to tackle ventilation as well.

Just about anything is possible but you have to be willing to spend the money needed to create a good environment for the plants you wish to grow.

@ vk3laj

1.) What TC said

2.) For $200 I was able to build a custom dimmable 2' light form Steve's LEDs. http://stevesleds.com/Home.php 2:1 Red/blue ratio. Total of (27) 3w LEDs wired in series. Basic soldering skills necessary.

Source the aluminum tube locally and it could be cheaper. For another $50 you can add a programmable controller to simulate sunrise/sunset so plants react better.

Rumor has it that they're going to be releasing some horticultural products in the next few weeks as well.

Long time since last update. Had some issues with a neighbor that was complaining about noise from the exhaust fans and a landlord not happy paying the electricity bills for our grow :pirat:


We put the grow in stealth mode, the temp have risen to 26-27 celcius in the canopy but this is only for 5 more days.
The water temp is also around 26-27, which I guess is not that good. Don't really matter at this moment, tho, because most of the fish have died because of the pH issues. Two comets are still barely swimming. Not eating, but the plants are loving it.

22 days into flower!
Pictures of flower scrog:
http://imgur.com/a/MsHc1#0

Close-ups:
http://imgur.com/a/8Mpe9#0



PPM is around 550
pH is crashing down to around 4.3 if we let it, but I try to bring it up from 5.8 to 6.5 every day. This is of course not good for the fish, but since it is only 20-25 days left of flower and the fish already are not eating, I am thinking more about the weed then the fish/system.


The Hypoaspis mites are doing one heck of a job!
The gnats are loosing this battle for sure!
I think I may have gone a little over the top with the mites, tho. They are being flushed out in the system and there are hundreds in the water surface. If the fish would have eaten I am sure they would have loved it!

http://imgur.com/a/Zyz92#0

If you look closely in this vid you will see the larvae swimming around:

Quick update on the grow!

The move to the new house was not without issues, but I think it went quite well, all consider.
The power adapter for the HPS went AWOL during the move, still looking for it, in the meantime we've plugged in the O'trusty LED

I was in a rush this morning, so the pics are with LED light on.
Here some ultra violet pics!

Purple HAZE!
http://imgur.com/a/RTYIn#0

Overview:
http://imgur.com/XnOL5iw

Update time!
43 days into flower, the end is near!

The previous updates have been quite short so will take some time to add more details in this one.


With all the rackus with the neighbor, cops, moving, cleaning old apartment etc, sadly to say the grow has been somewhat neglected.
It is still running of course, but with a slight limp.
The grow has had 3 different homes in the last three weeks, and that is of course far from optimal.

As of right now we do not have any fish, these will be bought today tho.

We have added some MaxiCrop Seaweed Extract, so there should at least be some nutrients in the water, and also the natural nitrates that comes from the seaweed ext.

Since the fish are no more, the pH is not syncing. This is what I was expecting during the last wiggle-days of the fish.
If anyone out there who have been running AP without adding something to stabilize the pH, please let me know. Because what I have been reading up on is that the ammonia - nitrates process, "nitrification", destroys alkalinity and produces acid which in turn lowers the pH.

This is where the Calcium and Potassium Hydroxide comes in to play, they will raise the pH and also add calcium and potassium that usually are two of the 3 trace elements that lacks in AP, third being iron(could add chelated iron).

After the seaweed extract and some RO water the pH crept up to 7.5.
PPM around 550.

http://imgur.com/v13ybRi


It looks like there are some Potassium deficiency also, should be fixed with the hydroxide mix.

Overview of the SCROG:
https://imgur.com/a/KLhhk#0


Close-Up's!
https://imgur.com/a/tk0jc#0


I took some pictures of the new garage as well.
Will be setting up two or three rooms here,
thinking of three because then we can have one mother / clone / seedling room, one flower and one nursery, any inputs ?
https://imgur.com/a/QkM7K#0

The seaweed extract actually adds potassium and some other trace elements, there is generally very little in the way of Nitrogen in the Maxicrop seaweed extract. There are other kelp products that will provide more in the way of nitrogen but if you have been running very long without fish or fish feed, you are likely running a bit low on Nitrogen and Phosphorus. I know people who have used fish emulsion plus seaweed products when running without fish and that sort of thing may provide the ammonia to keep the bacteria going and keep your pH lower so that you can use some of the calcium and potassium buffers to keep the pH from dropping too low. Just beware some fish emulsion products are quit oily and some of them add more stuff to try to mask the odor which can make it even more oily which might be dangerous to the fish later when you get them again.

Of course with all the disruption it may not really be worth while to put too much stress, money, or effort into this current crop, perhaps better to focus on setting up a more stable well designed situation for future use.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing.
With 7 days to harvest I don't think I am going to do much with this system, just keep adding some seaweed, calcium and potassium, and just using pH down to stabilize (you think that would be ok?).

We are already pondering out the next system, that would be with at least a couple of thousands liter res.

Iiiish, have some spider mites crawling around.
On the positive side of things, this grow have been a perfect stepping stone for me, experience and learning curve.

Already made a mixture of garlic and chili that I have smeared on the underside of the leafs.
Bumped the temperature down to 21-22 degrees celcius to halt the production of new mites.

The harvest is only a week away, luckily.

More spider mites is a tad surprising after the hypoaspis. When I first tore my grow bed down, I noticed a colony of what I'm at least hoping was hypoaspis living on the walls of the GB right at the water line in all of the corners. Hang tight for the week and get through it. Maybe add some ladybugs next round just to be safe....