Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hello, just an update on how the aquaponics is going. the plants are growing, have had catapillers and aphids. The leaves are going yellowy but the plants are still getting big and the fish seem happy.

What's your pH nomzy... you might need to add some chelated iron.... and a foliar feed of seasol once every couple of weeks....

how much chelated iron do you recon? the instructions on the box are for soil gardens. I have not been checking pH, just letting nature do its thing.

rule of thumb is one of the spoons included in the box of chelated iron to 1000L water.
Hope that helps... looks great Nomzy!

Oops looks like i got it wrong

hello, hmmm a problem!!! I had a fish die on saturday and 2 more this morning!! the plants look fabulous, I added chelated iron last weekend and seasol as suggested. would have thought it would have cycled by now not that I am checking levels etc. I have been putting in a handful of crushed limestone that the man I got the fish from gave me.

Nomzy.... the limestone will push your pH higher... and lead to further problems with trace element lockout... especially Iron...

New system you really need to be checking ammonia at least.

It might be temperature swings however. I suspect the pool would change temps pretty quickly.

just checked stuff ammonia and nitrite is 0.25 pH is 8

Remove the limestone Nomzy...

Nomzy, yes remove the limestone or stop adding them. The guy you got the fish from always tells people to add lime to the tank as silvers apparently like higher ph, but the problem is that in aquaponics, the system should be at almost neutral pH or slighty lower for plants to grow well.

The research that showed that pH as "optimal for growth"... was based on algael bloom pond based management.... which found that pH range to be optimal for both algael conditions, management, and oxygen generation....and the generation of the microcosim of natural feed organisms...

Hence the "optimal growth"...

Thanks, learnt something today...

Stop adding stuff Nomzy. These systems will do well all by themselves. Don't be taking too much advice from aquarium shops, pond places or anyone else that does not do aquaponics, you are dealing with a different system here. Fish require good water quality, not lots of stuff that make sudden changes to their environment. Test your water and it will tell you what the Ph is, ammonia and nitirite at least. For fish health you can add salt, but one thing at a time. Get on to it straight away and let us know so that any further potential problems can be nipped in the bud.

How much salt? is a cup of dissolved table salt enough? don't have pool salt and not really keen on going out with the child today he is bouncing off the walls at the moment!!! I lowered the pH to 7.5 yesterday with citric acid will lower another 0.5 later on today. harvested some lettuce today. the plants are growing really well.