Hey Forum Folks,
I am going to be stepping in to help my buddy manage a small aquaponic system which is currently using ~300 yellow perch and ~ 40 5 ft vertical towers growing lettuces, herbs, cucumber and tomatoes. The system is modeled after the Bright Agrotech system. Seen here
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Now I'm no aquaponic grower but I have done a little work with these systems and have been successfully been farming the past several years so I figure this should be a do-able winter project.
I just looked at the system this evening and we did some N testing. We read 6 ppm NH4, ~0 ppm NO2 and ~140 ppm NO3 at a pH of ~6. They have been draining off water and replacing it with off-gassed room temperature water ever several days.
The plants look real sad in the system but they have been keeping it in a state of dormancy for some time now. I suspect there is a whole host of deficiencies and I will add several photos to show some classic symptoms for anyone whose a good ID. And if you have any recommendations for boosting those nutrients on the cheap that'd be real rad.
Plants are also super leggy and seem to be weak, flavorless and pale. In terms of lighting they are using T8s on 18 hour on cycles. Seedlings are under 34W F40CW lights on 20 hour/day. Is there a need for fanning seedling to harden them during infancy? The plants in the towers seem to have a hard time fighting the gravity vector and water has been seen running down them.
Any suggestions are welcomed. Any additional information can be provided upon request. Thanks for making citizen innovation great and functional yall. -m
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