Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Seasol seems to be an important additive to an AP system. But with the idea of becoming more self reliant can something be made at home that does the same job. Weed or manure tea might be an option. How is Seasol made and is there something in seaweed that is better than other plants.

Moringa tea perhaps Duff
Havn't heard from Chappo for a while.

I believe seasol and maxicrop are mostly seaweed or kelp. Stuff from the sea often has lots of micro nutrients that are harder to find here on land but the primary benefit is the potassium.

So how to get the potassium without seasol or maxicrop? Well, if you have easy access to the beach, perhaps you could collect seaweed. As to getting potassium into the system without purchasing ingredients? Well, do you burn wood? Wood ash is commonly used in dirt gardening to increase pH and provide potassium. Make sure the ash is from natural wood and not charcoal treated with stuff to make it light easier. With wood ash one needs to be careful as it can be rather caustic (too high a pH) so go slowly to make sure you don't spike or bounce your pH and be very careful when mixing ashes with water so as not to splash it on yourself or in your eyes (think old time soap making.)

As to plants providing potassium, those plants have to get the potassium from somewhere. Some plants are good at sending down deep roots and mining for nutrients deeper down than other plants usually do. Stuff like Comfrey are known for this (perhaps moringa too but the main things I think it is mentioned for is protein and Iron.) Provided there is ample potassium to be found in the soil, using plants to mine for it could help supplement the AP system but at some point potassium will probably need to be brought in to supplement those plants.

Murate of Potash (potassium chloride) is pretty cheap and a little goes a fairly long way. It might not be organic but it seems most the seaweed fertilizer comes from so far away that using it isn't very sustainable either.

Yeah I think TCL is right. Seaweed and kelp have high levels of minerals. I think weed tea is the same idea but you get a much lower concentration of micro nutes.

I tried making weed tea from the tips and tricks thread here in the forum. Man it was way too stink to use. My dog kept trying to eat it. I'll just buy maxicrop for 25 bucks a gallon.

maybe I'll try making tea again and experiment with it to see if it actually works.

I toyed with the idea of putting cutting into a drum with a tap at the bottom. But these could also just go into the worm bin. But the cutting from the dirt garden is another thing because of the amount, way too much for the worms to handle. I don't think we could completely replace adding something to the system. Just trying to minimize it would be a good.

what do people think about the sulphate of potash additives that you can get, I understand that it might not be organic and does not have the added benefit that come with the the seasol, but apart from that is it likely to be beneficial or negative and to what degree.

I have heard peter cundell say that he is not adverse to using the sulphate of potash(potassium) in his gardens and I think it would only make sense if we are defficient in it. It does however make me think that we are starting to go back to hydroponics and how will this affect the fish.

I know in humans that to much potassium given IV affects the heart and stuff but how do people think it will affect fish.

I don't know much about sulfate of potash or potassium sulfate.

I have used potassium chloride. Yes the same stuff that is used in lethal injection but it should be noted that table salt at the same dose would be just as lethal. Potassium chloride is often used as a salt substitute for people on low sodium diets.

The chloride in potassium chloride could have the same effect as using salt to minimize nitrite stress on fish.

As to the sulfate. Before I was able to get my hands on some chleated iron, I used iron sulfate to battle iron deficiency in my system. The fish survived that. A certain amount of sulfate is needed by plants but I don't know what amounts might hurt fish or imbalance pH in a detrimental way.

For a longer term, slow release method of providing iron and potassium to my system, I would love to use some green sand but so far, I've not been able to get any. Yet again, a product only available from a few places and requires shipping.

I've heard of yellow snow, what is green sand.

green sand, I believe are marine deposits from ancient oceans. They are usually high in iron, potassium and micronutrients. Usually sold as a soil amendment for dirt gardening. I believe it would count as an organic supplement. I think it is also supposed to help improve clay soil.

nick, I tried a potash product that had high iron and potassium content. It made the water dirty and cloudy and never cleared up. It also made the water smell bad and I had to do water changes. I dunno if it was that product or the brand but I threw it out.

well that sounds bad to me cause I just added some to my system. The stuff I have is sulphate of potash which is made up of potassium sulphate. So we will see what happens. I have added it to the rear system but not the front so I have some back up.

My water does not seem to be affected in the short term, but tommorrow may be a different scenario.

Will give my results in a few weeks,

TC +1 for the potassium chloride (and calcium chloride) for nitrite.
Nick
Sometimes organic gardners talk a heap of shit (potassium nitrate) , its a naturally occuring mineral. Only thing you have to worry about is what else is in it and how much do you need.
http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Potassium_sulphate and
http://www.william-sinclair.co.uk/files ... Potash.pdf (See 12)

manganesse green sand is used for removal of Iron in water as well as hydrogen sulphite ( rotten egg smell )

helps getrid of the brown stain from bore water in perth but not used too much ( as in ive never seen it only heard bout it )

more info here
http://www.wwdmag.com/Greensand-Process-Removes-Iron-Manganese-Arsenic-from-Groundwater-article3846

Cheers
pete

Thanks for the link. I'm for any thing that gets Arsenic out of my drink. And against anything that puts it in.

I sourced some potassium chloride, but didn't end up buying because it wasn't much cheaper than what I am using at the moment (shop bought cream of tartar). Of course I never did get around to doing a comparison of the amount of potassium in each of the 2 products. The point is, with the amount of money that I've plowed into my AP over time, the cost of some cream of tartar is nothing. A tin lasts me a couple of months at least with the size system i have at the moment. Might have to look into a bulk source again when I upsize.

Reason I like using the cream of tartar is that if it goes into cooking - it can't be doing me any harm going into the system.