Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So a follow up question if I may, I have my growbed planted out and the pump recirculating, I cheated and bought seedlings from bunnings,

Now in hydropnics I simply mix up some nutrients and add them to the water to a concentration of about 1.5 EC, however this is a 1000l water tank, Im using seasol as a foliage spray for the plants at the moment, does anyone know what concentration and how often I should spray the plants to get the system up and running, or is there an additive you can add to the water that will not hurt the fish when I introduce them

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Oh yeh a piccy to start with

Snow peas, cherry toms, capsicum, rhubarb, strawbs, and of course some lettuce

I think it is Seasol once a week, and only Seasol. Honestly you will not see real growth until the system is cycled. From my recent experience, I would not even put the seedlings in until I see some nitrates.

What did you use as your source of ammonia?

That would be humonia, will see what happens in the near future as it breaks down.

So seasol foliage spray, no problems

Ive done a search but cannot seem to find any info on what people are doing pump time wise, that is 15 on 45 off, 15 on 2hrs off, 15 on 5 hours off or whatever it might be,

I'm surprised that you can't find any info on pump cycles Simso...

It's probably the most often discussed topic.... 15/45 is a kind of "standard"... but members vary that to suit their system... or season...

Thanks, yes I saw the 15/45 but no one really explains why that sequence, it seems way too heavy for a hydroponics setup, but I have no idea with an aquaponics setup, eg fish requirements, bacteria growth, and so forth

The 15minutes is simply a typical minimum timer period and folks size their pumps to turn over the tank water in that time. Some folks with really powerful pumps have run them just a couple minutes to fill the bed and turn over tank volume.

The 45 minutes allows the growbed to fully drain.

That's it, as far as I know...