Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

to kill fungus gnats and mosquito larva you want the Israelensis strain. the Kurstaki strain is for leaf eating caterpillars. My experience is that the Kurstaki doesn't have much if any effect at all on skeeters or fungus gnats. I use the Kurstaki strain very regularly since the caterpillars around here can be quite extreme.

So I looked everywhere for Mosquito Dunks, with the type "bacillus thuringiensis israelensis", only thing to find in Spain seems to be this one: "bacillus thuringiensis var. Kurstaki"

<- this is of course the main strain. Parent if you will of the israelensis. What I have been told in various grow shops that this only work on caterpillars, but it is supposed to kill larvae, so maybe I will give it a try. On the other hand, caterpillars and worms, pretty much the same thing, ye ?
Not a biggy, tho. Only sat me back 5€, will keep it for a rainy day.
I also ordered some predator Hypoaspis miles, should be arriving in a week. 36€, not that bad.
Anyone tested these before, how long can they live in the package, or for storing ?

from what i read, is you should moisten your media and release them when received..
with ladybugs, i've released them little by little, and stored them in the fridge

Yeah.. I think the smallest package there is, is about 10,000 units/eggs, that is enough to treat acres!
I've only got 4 pots.

Funny thing tho, they actually "produce" them in Barcelona and Valencia, but those two companies only sell to the other city. So you actually HAVE to use the expensive packaging. Silly corporations.

You may get a week out of the mites in the fridge. You can space out releasing by a few days but they have short life spans to begin with. Weeks if memory serves. No sense in wasting them in the fridge for TOO long. And as much as it sounds like, 10,000 aren't that many in the predatory insect world. That many wouldn't effectively treat half a greenhouse...

What I did with mine was top fill the pots and since I was using rose bush buckets with larger drainage holes dumped the rest of the mite bran on a plastic cover next to the holes. I believe that they're also partial to higher humidity and temps.

We used to use hypoaspis to control reptile mites when I was running a rescue...

Update time, with fresh photos!

The most of the plants are doing better. Starting to build a fine canopy!
Only set back is that the one in the back left corner shows some deficiencies, most likely Boron, as this table seem to indicate:
http://www.weedfarmer.com/cannabis/tables_guide.php

Here you guys can take a look on what I'm talking about:
http://imgur.com/a/Pe8LC#0


Is it possible that if a plant had a bad "child hood", it shows later in maturity ?
I think this one was on the brink of death when I picked it up as a clone, but I nurtured it back to life.


Seems like the one in the back right corner, the one with rust issues is starting to look better:
http://imgur.com/Ar7FlRY


pH: 5.9
Ammonia: too low to measure
Nitrite: too low to measure
Nitrate: too low to measure

Temp is steady with around 24 degrees celcius at top pot size during "day time", and 23 at "night time".
RH is around 60 during night and 50 during day.

Not much of the flying bastard around, but I do see some new ones under the cover of the pots. Can't wait to get the predator mites and give the the feast of their life!

I'm rounding this update up with a montage of the scrog!
http://imgur.com/a/qLSSH#0

Added some better pictures of the Boron issues.

This is two of the other plants that are not affected. The stem is almost all green:
http://imgur.com/a/U3SZq#0

And this is the one that is. Keep in mind that even tho the stem looks thinner than the ones that are not affected, it's just thinner all the way. Like I was saying, it had a bad childhood.
http://imgur.com/a/H5lVn#0

Also updated the close ups:
http://imgur.com/a/Pe8LC#0

I am havin' some major setbacks with my fish atm. As stated earlier I am struggling with a permanent pH crash. And the big swings to adjust it have probably made the situation worse.
Yesterday the pH was down to 5.2 and the fish do not eat, sits at the bottom, some of them even have "flashing", and itch.
Did a 70% water change, scuffed out all the solid stuff I could find in the tank.

Discovered two Anchor Worms in the water, so now I now that at least some of the fish have parasites as well.

Can I easily do a 100% water change, clean the tank, maybe even disinfect / sterilise the tank, not the GB without destroying the micro culture ?

Will take some pictures or even try to make a small movie clip of the issues when I get back from work.

Major water changes are not necessarily healthy for the fish.

Now I don't know anything about Anchor Worms so you might want to do some extra research about what might kill them.
However, Ich, can be treated using plain old salt. Salt the system (make sure you change the salt level by 3 ppt, so if you have a salt level of 1 ppt not, salt up to 4 ppt) and keep it there for a period of time that is related to temperature.

Some types of plants won't appreciate the salt but it will be better than doing constant water changes.

pH can be buffered (kept up) using calcium carbonate (lime, oyster shells) and potassium bicarbonate (often used in wine making) Now don't use too much but it would probably be good to make sure your pH stays relatively stable at whatever pH seems easy for you to keep stable. Most people try to stick to a pH between 6.5-7.0 just because they use the API test kit that won't measure below 6. Most plants would be very happy with a pH around 6 though as long as you can keep it quite stable. If the pH suddenly falls fast, it can crash your bacteria and you will see ammonia spikes. The bacteria works best at a higher pH but it DOES still work at low pH, it just takes longer to establish and if you have a system that cycled up at a higher pH and you suddenly let the pH drop drastically, the bacteria will be set back terribly by too fast a drop, sometimes to the point of crashing the bio-filter and making one have to cycle up again.
Most people use a stocking of chicken grit (limestone chips or crushed oyster shells) hanging in their system to provide buffering for the pH. If you need more than that to bring the pH up, you can also use small amounts of hydrated lime or potash lye to bring the pH up more quickly but they are very strong and it is not good to change the pH fast. You only want it to move about 0.1-0.2 per day.

Generally true.... but with your pH so low... and fish off the feed....

It's a sign that you have zero alkalinity in the system... and that your nitrifying bacteria have crashed...

(Did you see an "oily" sheen on the water... possibly also a bit of protein scum after feeding... an "earthy smell" to the water.... increased suspended matter...or all of the above... )

You need to get some alkalinity back into the system... and quickly.... (raising your pH)

Use the hydrated lime... and raise the pH back to 6.0 immediately..... test after about 4 hours... or overnight... to get a true reading....

Then repeat... to raise the pH to 6.4-6.6....


I can relate... had exactly the same situation in my trout tank yesterday... ended up putting 5 handfuls of hydrated lime in 6000L of water... ... and still not getting a pH test above 6.0....

But the trout were back on the feed today.... and I've added another handful of lime... and I'll retest the pH in the morning... picking it'll be back around 6.4-6.6...

How big is your tank??? ... hydrated lime is a strong base.... I wouldn't use more than about a tablespoon/1000L.... and then retest the next day....

Once the pH does get back to 6.0-6.2... to raise it further.... use less lime (incrementally)...

As once you get some alkalinity back into the system.. with pH being logarithmic... it can jump back up quickly...

In general it is best to listen to Rupe when it comes to chemistry!!!!

My experience is in a location where my well water is very hard so I rarely need to do more than top up with well water to keep my pH up. I only get to use hydrated lime, potassium hydroxide, calcium carbonate, or potasssium bicarbonate when I'm dealing with too much rain water which usually only lasts a few months of the year.

Better off using calcium carbonate if you want to raise your alkalinity.

(vs hydroxide)

are we talking alkalinity or hardness here Ryan?