Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

np.. thats what we are here for... take care rrmving that root ball.. test for nitrite.. it usually spikes when removing such a large rooted plant

How soon can I expect the spike? Immiediatly?

I had a big basil tree that just died on me... but I still took branches from it and replanted it and now I got like 4 more trees..

big tree..



clippings after the caught..

yea its an immediate spike.. to test for it and don't feed fish if it starts to increase

And if it spikes? No feed.... Anything else? That basil looks nice!!

well according to how high it goes u can just de a one third water change out... but as I say test for it first... just to be sure..

Ok. Thanks again.

a little tip for suplementing.. do not dump in all at once.. not because u see a deficiency don't mean if u add the nutrients it will be absorbed by the plants... think about it as animals eating its so much it can eat at any particular time.. same for plants its only so much nutrients a plant can uptake at a time... suddenly raising any nutrients raises the conductivity of the water... increasing conductivity suddenly of the water leads to sudden decrease in water uptake of a plant. and if your water uptake decreases the amount of nutrients the plant can absorb.. so actually you can worsen the situation by adding too much at a time.. why does this happen is simple to explain...
when u plant a tree initially into a new system the tree internal concentration got to regulate firstly to cope with the new environment... so what the plant does is it starts to concentrate nutrients especially calcium and potassium at the roots to increase the concentration gradient across the roots.. this interns allow for water to move via osmosis from the soil thru the roots and into the plants.... so u can see if u suddenly increase the soil or in this case the Water conductivity by over fertilization the plants got to re regulate its internal concentration to allow for water movements...

Secondly increasing potassium can lead to magnesium lock out and also calcium lock out.. contrary to popular belief Calcium is needed more by plants then Potassium... not for only absorption but as a chemical pump around the root to increase the absorption of other minerals including potassium into the plants... but the difficulty in suplementing is the ratio in adding into the system and also the purity of the minerals added into the system... usually when we add magnesium we add it as Epson salt.. but for ever 1 gram of magnesium add 4grams of Sulphate is also added.. this also can lead to added problems because we are adding an excess nutrient that will not be absorbe fast enough by the plants... I can go on but my finger is hurting me..

Quick question can u come across Wood ashes where you live.. the ones that are left behind from buring wood.. and haven't been rained on or didn't contact water..

3% Mg is stuff all compared to the masses of Ca you have added. Very real chance that the Ca is blocking the uptake of other nutrients.

Here is the basil root ball. Good, bad?

it isn't bad but they do block off adequate water circulation within the growbed..

Gave it to the chickens. They didn't care for it or it was bed time cause they all went into the coop. Took a couple clippings and replanted.

Nitrites = 0 10 min after pulling it. I'll check again before bed.

yea just to be safe.