Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Aghhh I can't wait to grow these! They look so cool!!!


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So I've been playing around with the NFT idea but I'm not entirely sure of the specifics yet. I think I could have two pipes for each system on the fence behind without having to do much work.









Hopefully they taste good too! I can't get over how purple some of them are, more colourful than I was expecting.

Those designs look outstanding.

Are you looking foward to the pipes? They are really nice and easy to harvest plants. Make sure you get the cups first before your holes so you get the right size straight up.

Your design is beautiful, not just semi presentable.......

Looks fabulous, but is there enough space to walk back there and get to the plants?

I'm really itching to expand, a couple of extra GB's and the pipes, I just wish I had the energy to get it done!

We have a lot of salads so having a bunch of lettuce at different stages growing in the pipes should be fantastic. Thanks for putting the idea in my head.


The design may be nice, but the reality isn't quite there yet, lol. My current setup is currently surrounded by piles of wood and copious amounts of Oxalis and Capeweed. But the vision is nice and tidy at least!


The mock-ups aren't really precise so there is space behind the GB's, enough for me to get in there. It'll be a bit more awkward with the pipes in place as they'll most likely be at my shoulder/face height or there abouts, but nothing too bad. If it's too squishy I can move the GB's forward a bit, although that won't be much fun, lol.


Thanks for all the positive feedback, hopefully I will eventually make it look good!

Part of tonights dinner, and it was delicious! So much cleaner tasting than store-bought silverbeet, and with no bitter after taste. We had it nice and simply; steamed and dressed with balsamic & olive oil, salt & pepper.

I thought I had maybe picked too much but the girls scoffed it!

Argh, I should have left well enough alone, but I fiddled and now I think I've messed things up!

I thought I'd add a bit of Powerfeed along with the Seasol just to give things a boost now the broccoli, brussel sprouts and so on are starting to grow. But I think it screwed with things, either that or something else is wrong.

The pH seems to have taken a nose dive since I tested last, Tank 1 is 6.0 or possibly lower but I won't know until I get a different test, Tank 2 is sitting around 6.4. That's a big drop from the 7.2-7.4 from when I tested a few weeks ago or so.

I'm also seeing a small amount of Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates too. The latter I was expecting to see as I've been harvesting so there are fewer plants feeding, but the Ammonia and Nitrites I don't like seeing. Nothing over 0.25 for both in both tanks, but I don't want it to be a precursor to them climbing more.

But what is making me most worried is the plants are actually showing signs of suffering. The lower leaves on the broccoli and random leaves all over the pea plants are getting dead spots all over them.

I don't want to panic but I don't want it to cascade into more problems. Poopenberries!

I had the same with my broccoli - I put it down to salt.

I changed a 1/3 of the water (cleaning the sumps and refilling) and also added some clean woodash - significant difference changing PH with ash and less salt.

I decided to cycle a bit of the water out of the tanks to see if that helps. I was going to any way next week as I added a bit more EDDHA and it reduced the visibility in the tanks too much, so I'll test again tomorrow and see where the levels are sitting. The water going in has a pH of 8 so it might bring it up slightly.

I didn't add any more salt when I added the Powerfeed and Seasol and iron, so I was thinking maybe it was nutrient burn or something.

Interesting about the wood ash, I hadn't thought of that. I sure do have plenty of it around at the moment, I've been using it to fill the muddy holes in the driveway and putting in on the ground around the tanks to keep the weeds down.

Look at Cookie's thread for woodash.

Powerfeed has other stuff in it yeah? might be nutrient burn but more likely nutrient lockout because of PH being low

Yeah Powerfeed has an N-P-K of 12-1.4-7. Don't know why I put some in as everything was doing well. Lol, I'm not making the best decisions of late, particularly after the seed fiasco.

It's okay - should sort its self out - just adjust PH slowly.
What seed fiasco?

Ahh, just me being a doofus late at night the other week and tipping a whole bunch of tomato seeds into a bowl together... I ended up doing as Colum suggested and bought more seeds so I can tell them apart, lol.

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Looks like I was worried for nothing, I tested yesterday and the Ammonia & Nitrites are back to zero. Cycling a bit of the water out hasn't done much for the pH, Tank 1 is maybe 6.2 now, Tank 2 still seems to be around 6.4. I'll test again today and see where they are at, then think about increasing it slightly.

In other news, we have a new addition to our family!





She is only 8 weeks old but has lots of personality, a Mini Foxie we picked up on Monday. Our almost 15 year old Mini Foxie x Jack Russell wasn't sure what to make of her at first but he's slowly getting used to her. It's been a while since he had a companion but he let her snuggle up to him last night so that's a good sign.