Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Had my system going for a couple months now. Started seeds out in dirt and transplanted them to the grow beds. Since I am just starting out in the aquaponics realm, I have 3 large goldfish and about 24 small goldfish. Feeding them fish flakes from the pet storm. My plants are certainly getting nutrition from the fish, but not enough to grow. Should I feed my fish some kind of "Aquaponics System" food? Thanks to anyone who reads this. The top picture is Watercress that I bought at in the produce section. It now has small roots, but has not grown.

Hey Kamahido,

Was wondering how you go about doing the transplant? How do you know if the pant is ready for the grow bed and how clean the roots are suppose to be without contaminating your system?

Regards

I just pulled them up carefully as to not harm the roots, washed the dirt off with tap water, and dug a hole in the pebbles with my finger. They are about the same size now as they were when I transplanted them. As for how do I know if they are ready for the aquaponics system... I don't know...

I transplanted a few plants two weeks ago and haven’t notice much growth either. I pulled on of the plants up yesterday and notice a lot of root growth. I figured the plant was just focusing more energy in root production right now. A significant amount of the smaller roots broke off during transplant.

looks like your beds may be flooding all the way to the top? you don't want the surface to be wet.. water should come up to about an inch below the surface..
and yes, you want to use an aquaculture fish food that contains all of the nutrients your fish need (and in the end, the nutrients your plants need) - goldfish are ok with lower protein food (as opposed to high protein game fish food)

Could be the food, cold water temps, or light.

1. Get a better feed (you need this anyway).

2. The temperature where growth slows is different for different plants (I have don't know what the critical temp is for watercress). Figure if the temp is above 60 you should probably be seeing some growth with most plants (except possibly some tropicals and warm weather veggies).

3. Increase the light? Low light levels might be partially responsible but I can't tell from your photos and usually the plants will get leggy with low light.

4. If you haven't already, you might try planting some lettuce which likes cooler temps and lower light.

Hope these suggestions help.

Cheers

It may just be the picture, but it looks like you're light is a little on the red side. Check the bulb spectrum and you may find that it's somewhere in the 3000K range. If so, you may want to hang onto the bulb for when plants start budding and swap to something in the 6400K range for growth.

You may also want to add a heater to your FT if you don't already have one. I've got two Eheim 300w units in my 150g tank. Due to the fact that I'm turning my tank over roughly 4x/hour they're barely able to keep the tank at 75*. They handle heating the tank to 88*+ no problem when standing. A different spectrum bulb and/or a heater could be a cheap $40+/- fix for you. At minimum, I'd check the light spectrum.

Over the grow beds I have a 4 bulb 48" fixture with 32 Watt Grow Lights. It gives off a purple light. Is that what they call "red" lights? Never grown anything indoors, so this is all new to me. Over my seedling pan I have 2X 32 Watt Full Spectrum lights. Seems to get the seeds growing fairly well.

What brand/kind of fish food would be recommended for an aquaponics system? I have goldfish only.

I'm not sure what to recommend. You can use a lower protein fish food as Keith mentioned (this means around 32% protein instead of 40%). The lower protein foods are usually less expensive. Since your fish are small you'll want a small pellet or ones that you can break up before feeding. I'd avoid the flake food. I've used Purina in the past for what it's worth.

Thank you for the advice all. If anyone else has any suggestions to make on anything for someone new to aquaponics I would appreciate the advice.

Just ordered some fish pellets from Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251093012504?ss ... 1497.l2649

If my fish like them, I found another ad for 51 lbs for $68 USD.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/51-lb-BULK-FLOA ... 35c5b97a06

Look around at your local farm and feed supply stores, I think you can do better on the price than the second ebay link you listed. You can plug your zip in the the Purina dealer locator here http://aquamax.purinamills.com/ and then call some of the locations that come up (some that are listed won't carry fish food just chow for cattle and such).

and many of the purina dealers will order a bag for you with their regular delivery

I just received the fish food that was suggested. The pellets are too large for my smaller goldfish. I broke them up using pliers into dust, but the dust just sinks to the bottom. The large fish grabbed a large pellet, but then spit it out. Any advice?