Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Dasboot nailed it, that is exactly! what they are. A friend in the plumbing trade got them cheaper than 'full retail' and they have the huge bonus of never leaking being high pressure rated and you can take them apart in the drop of a hat and reseal perfectly.

My fault, I should of said, the pictures are of last years 'crop' which didn't have a problem. This years crop has the deficiency, the light is higher this year to cover more of the beds. Last years crop was low demands, this year, tomatoes, peppers, french beans, beetroot, baby round carrots, LOTS of parsley are probably the cause of the problem. I need to go bigger, with more fish.

This system is just a 'learning the ropes system' get it wrong on a small scale!!
Martyn

My experience with excessive tomato plants was that everything else suffered - particularly capsicums.

Hi everyone, hope you were able to solve the iron and potassium deficiencies that you are experiencing, I have the same problem right now. I added FeEDDHA to the sump a week and a half ago and didn't get any results. How do I add apply it and potassium and in what ratios foliarly?

And I am afraid of adding potassium hydroxide of potassium carbonate because my pH is already too high, and I don't want to add potassium chloride because my salinity of my water is at 2.8 ppt.

Btw, don't have access to Maxicrop in my area?

Appreciate any suggestions.

Foliar the Potassium Chloride.

Could the issue be that the ph is too high? no matter what you add to the water, the plants cannot access the nutrients because of the ph and preventing them form getting to it?

This image may help explain:
Matyn

I totally think that the pH being high could be a problem. No matter what I do I can't get the pH to come down and stay down. I have added lots of vinegar, and now moved on to phosphoric and sulfuric acid to bring it down. But it eventually goes back up to 8.1.

I added some potassium sulfate to the sump and potassium chloride foliarly. I also added some iron to the sump. I hope I start to see some improvements over the next few weeks, otherwise, I will scrap the system, and start over.

If isn't read the whole thread, but if your pH is too high, adding nutrients to the water will do no good. Apply with a foliar spray so the plant can absorb the nutrient.

We have a little blue barrel system at home for the kids, it initially ran at 8.0+ for well over twelve months, and the growth we got from it was brilliant. Most nutrients are readily available to at least 8.5, with the exception of Iron and Zinc from memory. Chelated Iron will help with this.

We eventually got our system pH to start dropping by treating the top-up water to a pH of 6.0 with Hydrochloric acid the day before adding it to the system, to consume the carbonates. I would steer clear of using Phosphoric and Sulphuric acids. Hydrochloric acid (Muriatic acid) is very effective, cheap and simply disassociates into Hydrogen and Chloride.

If you aren't adding much top-up water then you could try a different method. Remove a portion (around 10%) of the water from your system every day into a separate tank/drum, treat it with HCl acid to a pH of 6.0, maintain it there for 24 hours, then add it back into the system in 3 or 4 stages over a couple of hours. Repeat everyday until your pH permanently comes down into the low 7's.

+1 - Excellent suggestion

Why let it sit for 24 hours after adding acid and bringing pH down? It's water from the system so chlorine isn't an issue. I would think a stir and then maybe let it sit for a few hours with an aerator to mix the water and you should be good. But, I have been curious about this for a while so please educate me.

Probably no reason to let it sit more than a few hours - doing this lets you see if the pH is going to drift back up (and adjust if desired). I wouldn't expect chloride from HCl to be a problem - http://www.fishmartinc.com/hc-osmoregulation.htm

... and chlorine won't be coming from the system water as you mentioned.

Cheers

I'm actually doing this at the moment with the kid's system Scotty. In the last week or so some of the plants had started showing classic iron deficiency symptoms, so I tested the pH and it had crept up from the mid 7's a couple of weeks ago when I last tested, to 8.0

I'm assuming this high pH is the cause of the Iron deficiency, rather than a lack of Iron in the system. So I'm bringing the pH down over the next few days.

The system had been sitting in the mid 7's for a while, but I think the recent frequent rains we've had here has washed the mineral salts from the surface of the expanded clay back down into the FT, causing the pH rise.

Pic of Iron deficiency: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =1&theater

It needs time for the acid to consume the carbonates within the water, which is the reason for undertaking this procedure.

As Scotty mentioned, if you drop it to 6.0 it usually creeps up a little as the acid dissipates, so in most cases it needs a little more acid after a few hours to bring it back down to 6.0

Doesn't look too bad on the Iron deficiency yet Mr Damage. Pretty sure you're right about the reason your getting the deficiency at this point.

Cheers