Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm sticking by the reasoning that Thrive was not recommended due to a big fish kill, that was caused by a huge overdosing of Thrive. A few people are using it in moderation quite successfully.

I stand corrected on the 'keep the bacteria going' comment given that thrive contains ammonia (and urea).

I have no idea how much thrive Murray put in his system, presumably much more than what you are, but can attest to the catastrophic consequences. Of course overdoing various safe substance (eg salt) would have similar results.

To each his own, but I still wouldn't be adding thrive to my system when there are alternatives that have none of the nasties in them. I'd not be inclined to add anything that acknowledges the possibility of having lead in it, even if only small amounts. Given that most of us run aquaponics as a closed loop, we simply don't know that this isn't all being stored by the fish, ready to enter our bodies when we eat them.

I'm not interested in entering into a debate on this, the intention of my original post was to point out what I have seen when somebody used thrive in their system assuming that it was just the same as using seasol. In fact, when we turned up at Murray's place he commented that he had just put seasol into the system (when in fact it was thrive).

I also don't have any seasol on hand, so for all I'd know, maybe it contains a statement regarding maximum lead and copper contents

Im putting thrive in instead of seasol mainly cause Im cheap and Ive got some here , and no seasol left

If seasols got lead and stuff in it ( mercury ? it IS from the sea .. ) , I'd be more worried about Duckponds health than my fish , as he eats seasol for breakfast with his weatbix

I'd be very careful about adding thrive to a system. It's not what they list, but what they don't list that is the worry. That list accounts for less than 50% of the contents, what's the other 50%....?

magic and rainbows ?

heheh

As long as your happy Boris, I still use not certified food safe plastics....but it tastes fine

So long as you are aware of the duty of care
some of us are trying to provide you with!

I think the most important thing... is just to make other people who may be just starting out.... aware, that there are issues and doubts with using it... from the experience of some anyway...

I agree with Rupe there - use Thrive at your own risk . dump ANYTHING into your food chain at your own risk

( its actually ground down bones of ancient demons , its pretty toxic stuff . also , dont eat the veggies that you put it on )

Im more concerned at whats in my tap water , toothpaste , bread , the rubbish in the air around here ...
pretty sure using yates soluble demon blood vegetable plant food is the least of my worries

Im using 3 grams of yates veggie food every week or two , or when I remember . compared to the amount of seasol that some people dump in their system Im not sure that its a big problem , but hey , who am I to do what I want with my fish

and now that Ive done my rant , heres the system update :

The big pump to the main ( new ) GB hasnt got a sponge in it anymore , filss the GB a few seconds quicker , but the waters cleared up a little

The aeration pump with the venturi , after 3 hours of having a sponge in it , is COMPLETELY clogged with algae . Cleaned it out, will do so again every few hours till I pass out

The slow pH rise during the day due to the algae photosynthesising may be the least of my problems -
the rapid drop once the sun goes down is crazy . it went down from 8.2 to 7.4 in 2 hours at the most today .
Aleast the swing is getting smaller slowly

Offloaeded another icecream container full of mint today , as I did last week , people seem so thankfull for me giving them soo much of this wonderfull fresh home grown herb ...
I dont tell them its a weed and it needs to be ripped out , I'd rather they went skipping home thinking everythings right with the world

I like the pictures of your system B, very stealthy AP system.

Boris - I think it is fair to say that, unlike when we first felt the need to mention the possible dangers of thrive, we now couldn't give a flying frack about what you do with your system .

So let's just leave it at that, with our recommendation to newbies to think carfully before adding chemical fertilisers to their systems .

I am wondering why you need to add anything.
I used seasol once!
I have tremendous growth without taking any risk.
Every time you fiddle the systems has to re-set.
That will be giving false readings on it's own IMHO.
and algal blooms

from memory Boris, didnt you calculate out how much thrive to add to get to the Nitrate, nitrite and ammonia levels you wanted?? Just out of curiosity how close to what you expected did you get after you added the first lot?


VB, what form is the nitrogen n Urea in? Nitrate, nitrite or ammonia? How much did your friend add to kill all the fish. I ask as i note on the MSDS that there does not appear to be a witholding period stated. This would indicate that there is nothing toxic per se, but perhaps if Boris is adding 3 grams per fortnight as opposed to 'a handfull or so' then it may be the quantity not the product

Duckpond - as indicated earlier, I sustpect that Murray added a significant amount more than Boris.

Urea is converted to ammonia by urease (which seems to be naturally occurring.

If you piss in a bottle and test it for ammonia, you will find that the reading will be substantially lower at that point than 24 hours later when the ureas present in your urine converts the urea to ammonia.

It may well be that Murray killed the fish through an ammonia spike - but we will never know.