Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi mate.

Hmmm Im no guru on the plants sorry. Your Nirtate and seasol should be feeding the plants well so Im unsure why they are darkening up so much, I wouldnt think low iron would kill them to that degree either.

Ill prob head your way before Christmas and Ill bring you some fish so Ill give you the heads up when I get a plan. By that time I would suspect your nitrites be close to zero as they look to be heading down.

Anyone know what might be the issue here?

I'm no expert either, but from my knowledge I would suspect nutrient lockout from the ph (assuming it is 8.2-8.4 as it appears to be in the photo's).

There was a chart around the forum here somewhere that showed what effect ph had on different minerals and trace elements. I'll see if I can find it.

Edit: Found it here

When you test your tap waters pH it is a good idea to bubble air through it for an hour. CO2 can change you reading quite a bit.

Also it might be worth testing the nitrates on your tap water. It seems odd to me that you had such high nitrates, then they disappeared. You topped up with tap water after your spill and now they are high again...

Again it seems that the largest part of your nitrate drop is due to being watered down from a water change.

Hang in there mate, it will come together eventually.

As rsevs3 mentioned, I had wondered about the source of the nitrites and nitrates considering I had lost a fair chunk of my water.

I performed another test on the system yesterday with the following results:



If I am reading this right, it appears as my system has cycled as the nitrites are now at zero.

If that is the case, while I am waiting for fish do I need to find sources of ammonia to keep the system going and/or continuing to build up my colony?

The other thing I have noticed happening over the last week is that I am now getting a small amount of algae build up. I have a shade cloth cover so I am hoping that this will keep it to a minimum as it is not too bad at the moment.

Unfortunately, there is still not much happening with the plant growth and I can only guess this is a result that my ph is still too high. Still contemplating whether to try and lower this myself or just let it happen on its own. I feel that if it does not lower any time soon I will attempt to lower it so that it to a level that won't cause any problems for the fish or with ammonia spikes once the fish are in place during the upcoming warmer weather.

How long before you get your fish?

About 2-3 weeks.

Top up with fish emulsion at present you are just do hydroponics, have not read how much water you have but believe 60 ml per 1000 litre should be ok. That is what I have been doing anyway.

Fish emulsion being charlie carp?

If so, can I get that at B?

Yes or Seales Organic Fish

So would that be instead or as well as seasol?

How often?

I would still use seasol once every couple of weeks until you get your fish and then monthly after. Seasol does not provide tour ammonia so you need the fish emulsion until you get the fish, just need to keep thecsystem ticking over.

Sorry to hear the plant growth is disheartening.

I was looking at the picture of the basil and am wondering if the water level is too high, as the base of the plant looks wet (or is it just the photo?)

Just another thought...

I think its worth attacking your PH issue over the next couple of weeks before the fish arrive. A high PH is actually good during the cycling process as bacteria prefer this but now you are on the back end of that I think its worth giving the PH a nudge.

Get some hydrochloric acid from B while your picking up some charlie carp. Use the acid to drop your PH by a few points each day, try avoid a big drop because this may effect your bacteria and plants. Im assuming your source water is very hard and full of carbonates so it might be worth working out some rain storage for top ups (considering it rains in esperance every second day), but for the mean time you can treat your top ups and the acid can consume the carbonates giving you a better chance of bringing your PH to a more desirable level and as you add fish and the nitrification process (being acidic) will then take over in the fight against high PH. A good stock density of fish will assist this.

Use the CC to feed the system slightly until fish arrive. Monitor your Amm and Nitri to asist you with this.

It is quite possible that the base of the basil looks wet as they were planted as quite small seedlings and I had to plant them is a small recess in the media. The other seedlings were more advanced and were planted normally.

The blackened leaves is happening on more than just the basil but that is where it is most prominent

Charlie, any suggestions on amount of hcl to use per dosing?