Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

yeah just regular egg shells are good - you can put them under flowing water or in a container - wash them a bit if you want.

Don't bury and lose them in the growbed, as in... you want to be able to remove them incase PH gets too high.

They will also add calcium.

You can also use garden lime and dolomite lime - read up the quantities

thanks very much for all your help best get eating lots of omlettes ha ha


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so found a couple of little critters today can anyone tell me if i should be worried or is this just the norm??

other than that got a load of organic seeds and 2 new lights today fish are happy well eating everytime i pop my head near tank to have a look they ***** themselves which my mum found hilarious to say keep doing it give you more fertilizer [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH AND COLD SWEAT] and all the startup plants seem to be doing great might even have my first taste of aquaponic veges within a week or so happy days


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Bugs are inevitable. Looking good!

yeah thats what i thought might be the answer and thanks everythings going pretty much to the plan now thanks for your help might not have gone so well otherwise lol


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The bugs look like winged adult aphids to me (They're bad guys). They come in all different colors - https://www.google.com/search?q=winged+adult+aphids&client=firefox-a&hs=tuz&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=GjSTU_GRG4_eoAS4_oLwCg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=957&dpr=1

You can use Ladybugs to control them. You can also make chili garlic spray and treat with this to control them. I've pasted a couple of versions of the spray below -

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Treatments for Insects
Aphids - chili garlic spray -
From tnowacoski -

1 Gal Water
2 Onions
1 full bulb of Garlic
1 tbs cheyenne pepper
1 tbs chili powder
1 tbs black pepper

Mash everything together (I used a blender), boil for about 20 minutes, strain, cool, and spray on leaves. I have only tried this once but after the second application, it looks like the Aphids are gone. So far a do not see any ill affects to the plants.

Novaris version - 1 clove of garlic and a teaspoon of dried chili powder in a cup of boiling water let it cool, strain then spray.

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Looks like you have the beginnings of an Iron deficiency (visible on the 4th picture from the bottom of your post). If you want to add a supplement to your water, what you use will depend on the pH. You can spray on without worrying about this as much, try a search on Iron and you'll find application instructions.

Cheers

cheers yeah they look like what i squished not really seen anything in there until now have seen a few ladybugs tho so maybe theyl keep em under control for me thanks for the spray recipe if i see anymore il blast em and yes think you advised me on another thread about my deficiencys before i had fish got some maxicrop plus iron been putting a few capfuls in every 5 days or so and a quick spray aswel toms and peppers were going a bit purple aswel (potassium??) now fish are in and maxicrop all seems to be clearing up thanks for the advice


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I can vouch for the chilli garlic spray on aphids - two applications and they were gone


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should i just spray them or should i wait to see if any more damage is done or see any more off the little guys??


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If your as anal as I am the 'thumb and forefinger' approach works also.

You'll notice a spread - if the plants start to look sad and bugs are on them and there is black 'soot' from aphid bites.

thats been my current method ha ha only really seen 3/4 il keep my eye on them gives me an excuse to spend a bit more time in there thanks for the tips hopefully wont be to much of a problem


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quick update for anyone thats interested everythings going very well had a few harvests of lettuce not much else got a few toms coming along quite suprised considering im growing under artificial light! adding a few fish every couple of weeks got 8 koi and 3 goldfish up to now started to notice a bit of fish poo settling on the bottom is this ok? shouldnt the pump be sucking it all up? just like to say thankyou to all that helped with my little project and helping me get addicted to ap ha ha
cheers mike


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