Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

It's right in the bottom, I had it right on the bare earth. I thought it'd be deep enough not to have to worry about the barrier.

I could probably kill off the grape vine (hoping it's not the massive gum tree next door, I can't kill that one off). Although, I kind of like the grape vine.

I'm thinking if one root has made it in, then more would get through over time. I thought the plastic would be tougher.

Yeah I would have thought the plastic would have been able to withstand roots like that, they look the sort to make their way under the plastic, not through it. Unless there was a small leak and they made their way in that way, I'd imagine the roots would be attracted to a source of water underground like that created by a tiny leak in a pond.

Hmm.

Damn! That's some bad luck.

i'd agree with Azira, same thing came to my mind, a physical barrier or the grape vine has got to go. If it got in this time it's sure to break through again, I had tree roots in my old house that used to break into the concrete underground tank!

I'd say seal up the hole nice and tight, make sure you get all instances of it, and then remove any large plants within a ten foot radius of the system as well as install a physical barrier all the way around it, PVC pipe should serve well for this.

Good luck!

I've sealed up the hole, but I'm not sure how long it'll take for it to come through again. I'm hoping *fingers crossed*, that the roots followed through the the pin hole that was already there, so now it's sealed up, it's fixed it. I also found another few small leaks, so fingers crossed.

I've gone up in the amount of water, but it's been raining like crazy.

And I really need a rain water tank. And to clean out my gutters:



I've got my first ripe tomatoes. They taste fantastic!


And my first yellow tomato.






And my first cucumber flower. Hopefully they'll start coming fast!


And my bok choy:


And my still slow growth on the DWC:



And the other growbed:


And my passionfruit, it seems to be putting growth on.



And I bought myself some tiny red cherry shrimp to put in the DWC. I read that they'll eat the poop, and clean the roots for me. They are quite small. I'm hoping to just ignore them, and let them breed. I don't know if I'll be able to seem them in there again. They are quite small.

Nic update Col and great pics.

Lovely growth. Are they tomatoes struggling in the DWC? I remember reading somewhere where leafy greens respond best in the DWC and the plants with heavier nutrient requirements do better in the grow beds.

Regards, Martin.

Same growth with the lettuce I planted. Well slightly worse, they grow for a bit, then die on me.

I changed the plant medium, see how it does.

I think I'm also lacking in fish waste, fish are still too small.

Could be. How old is the system? It can take a while to build up a really good nutrient bank. Some people say that it takes a full year before the system is running at full capacity.

The gravel GB has been going for two and a half months, the dwc a month and a half.

So probably not cranking yet.

I'm just impatient.

Fair enough.

You can add some seasol to boost the nutrients that go to the plants. It might make it tough to know when to back off on the seasol when the system is producing enough nutrients though. I think patience is underrated.

Plenty of seasol & powerfeed in there. Things start to yellow off a little and I add the powerfeed, seems to correct it in a few days. It's still missing something though. PH is still in high 7's, I'm thinking that might not be helping. I was thinking about adding something, but I'm hoping the bacteria will kick in and lower it naturally.

Cool. Good luck and keep us updated.

Regards, Martin.

Growth looking really good buddy, keep adding the seasol to keep the flowers and fruit coming.

System's do take a while to mature, a year is what is said it takes it to reach full maturity. It should/will get better and stronger as it gets older, long as the water doesn't get too hard in one mineral or the pH goes off.

Long as it's well balanced and the GB can handle/mineralize all the fish waste everything should be hunky dory and like a fine wine it will mature with age.

How do you add so many pictures to one post?! It will only let me attach 3 :<

Is it that you've uploaded them elsewhere and are putting in the image links?

I really should do a PH test of my tap water. I'm guessing it's high though. It's just disappointing comparing the gravel to the dwc. I've got more planned dwc beds. Which is why I want to iron out the kinks.

Photo's are easy:
http://photobucket.com/

I know a few on here grumble about photobucket, but I quite like it. I can take photos with my mobile, upload it using the android app, then on the PC, there is a code you can copy and paste onto here. I also have control over all my photos still. Just don't delete the album, otherwise it's all going to mess up the forum.

That's a lot of work for a lazy man like me :/ prefer to take video.

I got an electronic pH tester, after years of trying. Even got it calibrated. But never used it on the system. Got to get more motivated.