Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Cool, Will try it out. Mine have just got through their second summer, so should be able to eat some greens.

Much easier than trying to manage duck weed I would think.

Been noticing that the lower leaves on the broccoli are dying off - new leaves are healthy and broccoli is flowering. Just wondering if this is some type of deficiency?



Also noticed some of my Peas are not happy, which I thought was down to not enough sun, though now suspect the neighbours ivy that is poking over the fence is upsetting them. Does anyone know if Ivy is antagonistic to peas?


Ivy is behind the stunted/dying plants on the left and NOT behind the large booming plants on the right

It's a deficiency of predatory insects.

The holes in the middle of the leaves look like caterpillar damage. The browning part looks like maybe aphids.

are there little webs around the dying leaves?

I just let my plants get obliterated and let nature catch up. Eventually the predators will find the smorgesborg and balance things out. I plant marigolds and assylum to try to attract good insects. I now have a hornet nest under one of my grow beds and no more damaged plants.



brian

It could also be deficiency or overabundance of something.
What is your pH? What do your other water tests say?

I'm not sure if ivy is antagonistic to peas, of course if IVY is doing well and shade loving, it might just be that there is too much shade for the peas to thrive in that side of the bed, I don't know.

the issue with the broccoli, yea the hole look like caterpillar or grasshopper damage but the yellowing, then browning/dieing edges and leaves looks to me like either a deficiency or possible imbalance (overabundance of something else locking out the deficient nutrient.) I had a system where I was certain it was experiencing signs of Magnesium deficiency so I gave it a spoon full of epsom salts. Then some of the older leaves of the eggplant started looking a bit like your worst broccoli leaves. So Now I'm waiting on a reference book to hopefully help me identify the deficiencies more accurately before I dose anything that I don't have a test kit for. I believe a calcium deficiency can also show up as tip burn or browning of leaves and calcium is something that most systems do need supplemented regularly (usually done while keeping the pH up.) My big systems have suddenly started to require pretty much daily doses of calcium since I started using rain water to top up instead of the hard well water.

Had my first HSM this morning Awoke to find 24 dead trout in the main tank.



Totally due to operator error When I fed last night I disconnected the pump to slow the water down in the Sp tank as otherwise the floating pellets get sucked into the SLO overflow before the SP can eat them. You can tell where this is going! Yes - I forgot to turn the pump back on

So the trout had 14 hours with no pumping. I had one airstone into each tank from the backup supply, the I think this was inadequate. When I tested the airstones they did not seem to be bubbling much - I think due to being clogged (operator error no.2!!).

So a sad day - the silver perch seem OK, I guess time will tell.... So time to get some more fish and revise my operating practices... The trout had grown well - one weighed 175g.

On the previous posts - I think calcium may be the issue TCL as I was having to buffer with calcium hydroxide every day to stop the ph falling below 6.2 due to same reasons as you - all top ups were due to rain.

Giddy Matt, they're certainly not forgiving creatures are they. Live and learn, I've got up in the night many times to check if I've plugged back in, all good so far. Thanks for making me more paranoid

Bugger!

If its one thing trout need... its lots of oxygen.

Oh well, your a true aquaponicist now. Get up, dust yourself off and go again.

TCLynx,

if it's calcium deficiency, wouldnt the deficiency show up more in the new growth and not just the old?

brian

Gutted, hate hearing about fish deaths.

Sounds like you need to raise your SLO vent so there's no need to turn pump off again.

So was that all of the Trout? If you wanted some more I've got heaps of spares

Cheers Muzza

That was all of them. You're right about the SLO Muzza - though unfortunately when I put it in I didn't allow enough free-board above the SLO so if I raise the vent the tank will overflow. I'll be taking that tank out of the system when I set up a new system in Summer.

I've sent you a PM Muzza.

Cheers
Matt

G'day Matt, I've sent you 2 PM's though there just sitting in my outbox going no where

Might be easier if you text or call me.

My Trout are 250-300 grams.

Cheers Muzza - 0448974519

Cheers Muzza - I'll give you a shout in a weeks time.

Sorry to hear about the HSM. Welcome to the club, you are in good company. Still sucks though.

As to the calcium deficiency, I'm still learning to recognize it so maybe people who know better can tell but I think I've been experiencing it in older leaves. My systems at the old house never experienced it since I made the mistake of using shells as about 40% of my media in the big system and in the 300 gallon system I almost always had to supplement with well water (didn't have enough rain water the year that system was running) enough to keep the calcium carbonate levels up.

In the new systems I think I've been suffering lack of many things including potassium, calcium, magnesium and possibly even phosphorus. At least I know how to dose and can test for the iron.

Plant growth seems to have slowed right down, other than the Silverbeet that is pumping out stupid amounts still. I'm guessing this is to be expected in the middle of a Perth Winter?

My nitrates are building - now at about 60ppm. Are there any other winter plants that can suck them up I wonder?

The brassicas (broccoli and kale) don't seem to be growing much which is a surprise with the high nitrates, though I'm wondering if they need a higher ph to thrive (mine is around 6.4).

Am having a small Amm/Nitrite spike at present due to too many fish in the system - have stopped feeding for a few days. Just waiting for the system out the back to cycle before I transfer some of the smaller SP to it. Might try and make a bottle trap to catch the tiddlers without overly stressing the big guys.

Sorry to hear about your loss matt

Could you get a timer that is always on and then just flick off a 15 min tab. At least if you forget to put it back on it is only 15 mins over 24 hours you loose.