Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Rupert,
won't that much salt affect the growth of my plants?
I already have a TDS of appx 1.4 ppt.

My tilapia seem to be enduring the high ammonia and nitrites levels. Not sure for how long though.

Mohammed welcome to the madhouse

with your nitrates that hi you should get some good plant growth very shortly and then your system should settle and you will hopefully have no ammonia or nitrite readings or very small

and good work so far looks like your well on your way to having a cycled system

Nope ... 1ppt want affect your plants.... >3ppt and beyond begins to do so....

But 1ppt will greatly ease the affect of the nitrites on your fish.... even something as forgiving as Tilapia....

Mal, thanks for the welcome.

I will try that Rupert.
You guys are very helpful, thank you!

Oh, and FYI the TDS meter readings and AP systems don't really compare very closely with Hydroponics. When I salt my system up to 3 ppt, my TDS meter reads off the scale but the plants are surviving anyway while if you were to mix hydroponic nutrient way off the scale and stick plants in it, they would have fertilizer burn for sure. Just keep the hydroponic nutrient away from your fish system

Good Luck!

I had some interest in hydroponics a couple of years ago, read some books, had a look at small setups in Singapore. Never really got any hands on experience.

We have 5 acres of farmland by the coast back in Oman.
No more farmland. When the oil money arrived, everyone bought a mega water pump and started wasting water. Our well water reads 18 ppt now.

I am hoping after a few years of experimenting, I can start something bigger. Maybe a few greenhouse each year, although I have my doubts about the commercial viability.

Well commercial viability might be pretty low right now but being able to grow food will likely become more and more important as time goes on and good clean water becomes more scarce.

Keep up the good work!