Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Iron addition is required in ALL aquaponic systems as it is not formulated into feed. You dont want to exceed 4ppm but you need a test kit to measure as all systems will differ. There are plants that are big consumers of iron like spinach and kangkong. If you over do it the fish wont like it and will become stressed. Add in small doses over time.

What do you think of 1 teaspoon per week ?

There is a test kit ?

Yep... API have an Iron test kit... (and others)

Yeh, they do, but thier Aust supplier hasn't had any for months now. There is also another brand, one of the big aquarium industry brands, can't remember the name off the top of my head, Hagen maybe, but they haven't had any of them either.

Really... any idea what's going on???

Seems strange that neither product is available... or is their only one Australian distributor for both brands???

Edited: just checked one of my "API" suppliers... Calcium, Phosphate, Copper... hardness.. no probs... but no Iron...

Edited : ... Ahh.. but they do have the Iron test kit in both the "Seachem" & "Red Sea" brands...

Cheers... I'll hafta look into that.

So the plant growth over the past few months has been pretty rubbish. Nitrates are at around 5-10ppm, pH at 8. Regular seasol foliar spray too. One of the chilli plants is going ok, but the rest are next to dead. Even the pansies aren't taking off.

I'm thinking that the DO might be too low for the plants, given it is running constantly and there's no additional air. I've changed the pump to be 15/45 to help draw oxygen down to the roots. Fingers crossed.

Do you think I might have anaerobic zones in the GB too?

Ironically the pump died today too and my regular pond shop no longer stocks the low voltage Infiniti pump. So I've had to settle for a cheap brand. Hopefully it isn't nasty.

Finally getting some decent plant growth! I've had to add a splash of HCl every few weeks to keep the alkalinity down. I also replaced the noisy cheap pump with a decent quiet one.

Fantastic! I always love looking at pics of this system.

Here's another pic, just for you Ron

Have you thought about making a cover for the fish tank? I notice a lot of algae in that tank that could be causing difficulty with maintaining water quality?

This system is probably the nicest looking system I have seen. I wish I had wine barrels available here at a reasonable price. Only thing I can find here is whiskey barrels and the charring in those would be hell to overcome.

Water quality is actually pretty good. Apart from the algae on the sides and the SLO, the water is crystal clear - much clearer than my IBC system.

Yeah those barrels were a lucky find. I've been wanting to buy more for planters, but my friend can't even find another supplier.