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Author:	Blake [ Jun 9th, '14, 00:45 ]
Post subject:	yellow dying plants
Hi, Most of my plants are turning yellow and some are dying I have been running a cheap and cheerful system for almost a month now. I salted the tank when i got my fish and i add a cap of seasol fortnightly. Not long after running the system the lettuce, rocket, spinach & herbs struggled. They are now either dead or not far off. the capsicum, brocolini and tomatos were going well untill recently their leaves started yellowing. The strawberry plant is flowering but the leaves have turned brown around the edges. The fish have only just become interested in feeding, so i have been putting a lot more food into the tanks as they seem to be eating it. Since the feedin has increased, the algae growth has accelerated and the water is starting to get murky. Current levels are at : Ammonia: .25 ph: 7.6 Nitrite: 5 Nitrate: 5 Do i need to add potassium or iron, or is this just all part of running a new system? Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Author:	mattyoga [ Jun 9th, '14, 10:53 ]
Post subject:	Re: yellow dying plants
how much salt did you add? Are your tanks covered ? Sounds like you may need to stop feeding/clean uneaten food from the bottom. photos and system details would be helpful.

Author:	Mr Damage [ Jun 9th, '14, 11:33 ]
Post subject:	Re: yellow dying plants
As Matty has eluded to, too much salt will affect the plants... anything over 1gm per litre has an effect on strawberries, anything over 3gm per litre will be affecting the lettuce, spinach, herbs etc. In addition to that... adding fruiting plants to a new system is not recommended, especially tomatoes and capsicum... not only that, it's the wrong time of year for those plants, even in established systems they won't do well over winter. If you salted to over 1gm per litre, then I would do some small partial water changes, about 10% every couple of days, until the salt level is reduced to 1gm per litre or lower. The water used for the top-ups should be aerated for 24hrs to remove chlorine, and being Perth water it could probably also do with being brought down to a pH of 6.0 with Hydrochloric acid and maintained there for the 24hrs prior to adding it to the system... to consume the carbonates and not raise the system pH any further. When adding it into the system do it in 3 or 4 stages over a couple of hours to avoid pH shock to the fish. For now I would remove any fruiting plants, they won't do anything over winter anyway and you can put more in at the start of spring when the weather is more suitable... and your system has had time to build up a nutrient bank, but in the meantime I'd just focus on leafy greens. In spring when you do plant more fruiting plants, don't go overboard, especially with the tomatoes. I don't know what size GB you have but I recommend 1x tomato plant per square metre of GB, otherwise they rob too much nutrient from the system and all the other plants suffer. This summer just gone I had a customer come in with plant issues, he had a Backyard AP grow bed, so about 2sqm, with 6x tomatoes in a line along the back of the bed, and a variety of other plants in the rest of the GB. None of the plants were doing well, not even the tom's, on my recommendation he pulled out four of the tom's, just leaving one at each end of the bed... within a fortnight all the plants in the system were flourishing. Tomatoes produce well in AP so you don't need lots of plants.

Author:

Blake [ Jun 10th, '14, 00:15 ]

Post subject:

Re: yellow dying plants

Thanks for the tips guys!

I added 1gram of salt per litre to the tank over a space of 3 days. I am running a 1000L ibc unit that has been cut to form a tank and grow bed.

The tank is covered by the GB and i have made a cover using shade cloth over the rest of it to keep the sun, birds and kids out. The water is below the gravel, so not sure why the sudden increase in algae.
I am running rainbow trout and marron & have been cleaning the excess food out every couple of days.

Since receiving your advice i have taken out the strwberry and some tomatos and capsicums. I have also reduced feeding. Hopefully this resolves the problem. Thanks for the advice I will keep you posted on any updates.

Any additional advice would be greatly appreciated!
cheers!

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Author:	wr4sse [ Jun 19th, '14, 15:03 ]
Post subject:	Re: yellow dying plants
Mr Damage wrote: If you salted to over 1gm per litre, then I would do some small partial water changes, about 10% every couple of days, until the salt level is reduced to 1gm per litre or lower. The water used for the top-ups should be aerated for 24hrs to remove chlorine, and being Perth water it could probably also do with being brought down to a pH of 6.0 with Hydrochloric acid and maintained there for the 24hrs prior to adding it to the system... to consume the carbonates and not raise the system pH any further. When adding it into the system do it in 3 or 4 stages over a couple of hours to avoid pH shock to the fish. Where can I get hold of some Hydrochloric Acid. My ph is 8 and my plants don't look healthy.

Author:	wr4sse [ Jun 19th, '14, 15:07 ]
Post subject:	Re: yellow dying plants
Is hydrochloric acid better for AP ive heard people use phosphoric acid? Any diff in affects and where can I get these things? I've also heard of Epsom Salts? What effect will this have on my plants and where can I get some in Perth?

Author:	earthbound [ Jun 19th, '14, 17:13 ]
Post subject:	Re: yellow dying plants
Take it easy wr4sse, Your system is still fairly new, soon you will be probably trying to bring your pH back up again. Add as little as possible to systems, one of the biggest killers of fish is people playing, adding supplements and trying to adjust pH.. Blake... Patience..... Go very easy on the feeding with high levels like that, it will come good, but in the cold weather bacteria takes a longer time to establish.

Author:	scotty435 [ Jun 20th, '14, 00:32 ]
Post subject:	Re: yellow dying plants
+1 I have occasionally suggested using HCl and still occasionally do but you should never adjust the pH of the system itself just the top up water so that the change is gradual. Systems run fine at the higher pH, mine ran between 7.8 and 8.2 for 2 years but finally the pH came down to 7.1. I didn't use any acid to bring the pH down. Your system pH, like for most, will probably drop in just a few weeks or months (it happens faster when it's warm and the fish are eating more). Epsom salts are for a Magnesium or Sulfur (Sulphur for everyone but the US apparently - we fixed a bunch of other words too ) deficiency which as near as I can tell your system doesn't have yet (and may never have). Many elements are taken up by the plants as ions and compete for uptake so when you increase one (like Magnesium) it affects how much of the others are taken up (you may create another deficiency by messing around). Should you actually need this, it can be picked up at any drug store, so really no need to stock up on it unless you actually need it. The other thing you should know is that if you spray your plants at the wrong time or with too high a concentration it can burn the plants. Most people at the stage you're at, might be adding Seasol and if they have new leaves that show yellowing between the veins (interveinal chlorosis), they'll use Chelated Iron (type of iron and pH dictate how this will be applied).

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