Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

potassium bicarb has less extreme of an effect on the pH, and would give you the potassium without going banananananassss. Check your local wine hobby store.

I do also use a bit of phosphate and chelated iron. Depends on what the peace lily is asking for. It hasn't asked for much recently, but I keep up with the potassium bicarb to hold the pH steady.

hello

janet thanks for stating that again for me, i still haven't got to the potash bicarb, cos my ph just doesn't drift so much anymore so instead i used my "seasol" version, and things went bloomy again
how do you supplement phosphates janet?

i think i was right with the theory that my chilli plant used up most of the PK with her flowers, and once i added the algea extract things got better, i saw an immediate growth change, first on the aquarium plants then on the basils and chili and rosemarin got crazy too!

let's have a look

You can actually buy a triple phosphate if you need it. Use just a little.

triple phosphate is what I used to seal the limestone in my hydroponic gravel beds.

hello!
janet and DAN, are you talking about ATP, adenzine triple phosphate?have no idea where to get it, maybe i should look within

something like...
http://www.espoma.com/content.aspx?type ... tegoryID=3

have no idea where to get it at our place...hmm
do you have some photos of phosphorus deficiencies on AP plants?
dan what did you mean by "seal the limestone" ?

can you tell me the chemical formula of the triple phosphate u'r using?

thank you!

i've rushed back to my folks today and knocked my back a little again, but at least i've done something
digging a hole not for me, for the FT

i gotta close that hole on the bottom of the FT but don't have a plug, gonna have to search for it, if i had that plug i'd fill that FT today and let the water cycle for a few weeks before i put the fish in...well first it's the plug, that little darn thingy

well i hope you'r enjoing this at least a bit as i do --->although my back begs the differ

Very creative Molj, will certainly be worth the effort.

thanks faye, always good to have some more positive vibes

can you drop a piece of tin or something down between the tank and the soil? just in case the rain slumps the soil onto the tank.

hey jaymie, nice off you to stop by again

no worries about that, there's a brick wall behind the FT, and i was thinking on removing the wooden supports and just place it right on the floor and burry it with soil --> to get some heat in/out via conduction
i don't mind if the FT is half burried and overgrown with some plants, i want to blend it in as much as possible

have a lovely day girls

p.s.

any thought on where could i get that triple phosphates mentioned above? i added acid H2PO4, but it has a strong pH effect so i'm looking for something else, can anyone give out the formula?

hello all!

i've been quite busy these days and this is what i've done so far

inside look

FT with the pump, still not connected with the GBs


i'm buying 10 gold fish on friday, so i'll put them in a 200L blue barrel(in the basement under the greenhouse) to start with some nitrogen after i finish "cycling" the big FT

another one, showing a little more of what i did yesterday, feed line plumbing


oh and, my family rocks, they helped me a lot with the greenhouse and everything, we would pay 600EUR just for setting up the greenhouse, this way we all worked togheter and we did a nice job for our first greenhouse(i was working on a 6 m ladder, but it was awsome despite all the hard work and risks)....anyway just wanted to say i'm really thankfull to my folks

good day to all, will come back with more

You have been busy molj.... hope you've calculated the total weight of the growbed media and water for all those growbeds....

Looks like an RSJ beam across the middle and blocked at the back.... is there a beam across the front....

I'm not an engineer, but I'd want to know for sure that the garage roof could support a fully laden system.....

Don't want our first AP fatality

hey ruperto
i've been calculating some more
1600 L of GB

that means if i'm correct
60:40 stone/water
stone 2,5 kg/l
water 1 kg/l

stone 960 L × 2,5kg/l = 2400kg
water 640 L × 1kg/l = 640kg

total: 3040kg

that could raise my eyebrow too, but i've been thinking on then
that platform is ~50m2 in total, so if i put those 3,04 tons in people weight(60 kg each), i would get 51 people standing there, having 0,99m2 of place each

concrete holds 10N/mm2 = 10 000 000 N/m2
there are 3 main supports in front and 3 walls behind it

one support (0,3*0,3m= 0,09m2) holds: 0,09m2×10 000 000 N/m2 = 900000 N = 90 tons

so the platform itself is 20 cm thick 50m2 flat, thats 0,2m×50m2= 10m3
10m3× 2,5kg/dm3 = 25 000 kg = 25 tons

so if i'm correct with those 90 tons of weight capacity, then i'm left with 65 tons on one support, i need 1000 kg on one support so the only question left is, will the platform hold the weight in the middle, where there are no supports....i think that without the calculation i can say that it will hold, since the majority of the GBs stand in the corner having a wall + 2supports + platform for it's carrier

it's all steel armored and so, i don't know i think it should be ok?

will dig some more on this, thanks for poking me again ruperto, always good to check things twice or more

Wow Molj, you have as many barrels as I do nearly

My eyes went all square from the maths - I am sure you know what you are doing...just stand back during the first fill