Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

here's a question - when you are planting things how are you treating the root system? the roots don't like too much handling.

in response to your question about a plant that will 100% work in AP - mint is the answer. another is kang kong, which you can just buy at an asian grocer and plant a stem in the GB.

RE the long off time - is the GB full off water the whole time it's off? A bed full of still water will choke roots, you might need a drain hole in your siphon so it empties no matter what.

We tried both, we completely rinsed roots and left them completely alone. Both died.

I totally forgot about mint. That's going to be our plant!

GB is Flood and drain. Timer is now on 30 minutes on 30 minutes off. Takes about 15-20 minutes to drain.

very unusual, could it be high temperature? I notice your growing media is black, in the 30min of pump off time the media temperature may be getting high enough to damage the plant

Maybe try switching to constant flood to see if it makes a difference

Could be herbicide I'd it was sprayed

Sorry just read the whole thread and see that this has been suggested before

What is your pH by the way?

We've been flushing the system with water. About 50-100 gallons a day for the last 2 days.

all numbers are great
ammo 0
rites 0
rates 40
pH 6.8

Would temps be an issue for the rafts?

Just went back through the thread. The leaves in some of the pics look like maybe a potassium deficiency. I add potassium chloride (you can get a bag of it for water softeners as an alternative to sodium chloride) to provide salt and potassium in one go.

Here is a site with a bunch of pics of nutrient deficiencies. Look through them and see if you can find something that looks similar.

http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/min-def/list.htm

The pictures of the plants don't really look like an herbicide. Find out what kind they used. Round up won't hurt the plants unless directly sprayed on them. There are others that will though.

it's odd that the fish aren't dieing, i'd have thought if it was a spray the fish would go first.
I take it the plants in the rafts are dieing in the same way?

what i'd do is flush the whole system, add clean water that isn't chlorinated or from a bore source. then just do nothing but feed the fish, don't add anything at all. after a week survey the plants you have in there and see if they are picking up.

turn it into a science experiment for the kids, have them take readings on tempature etc and make observations. control the variables and find the problem.

That's a good idea to find out what herbicide they used.

Got some mint and basil today. Going to plant them. The mint will be our test. If it dies, then we KNOW some thing is going on.

Thanks all for the help!!

In reading through the previous posts I didn't notice anyone ask where you got your substrate material from. Could it the source of your problem? I would take some of it out, rinse it thoroughly and put it into a bucket or shallow pan. Take some of the mint you have and plant in the same container and add enough water to keep the roots wet, keep it in bright indirect light for a few days. If it dies then your gravel is the problem. I hope it's not. Good luck!

HI All, just an update. We flushed our systems, 4-5 times of about 50-80 gallons each time over the past few weeks. Continues heavy feeding since out ammo and rites allowed it.

Added more shade cloth to the whole area.

Plants are doing better. We had a wind storm which set back some plants but overall we have growth going. We seem to be past the "everything dies" problem.

I think it was 2 things compounding each other. Too much sun, and like Rupe said the gravel was getting too hot.

Keep you guys updated.

... glad to hear it's coming together...