Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi,

My name is Stacy and I'm writing from Southern Arizona. I have been gardening for about 10 years and decided to move from soil to soiless. It just seemed like the most logistic move to make since water is scarce here in the desert. I have always been successful at tending to plants but aquaponics has proven to be much more technical than gardening in soil ever was for me. I fully intend to ride this out and be a success but have stumbled on this amazing site as I seek answers and advice. I can't wait to meet some of you on the discussion boards and thank you for being a part of a community that supports such a great hobby and way of living!

Catch ya later,

Stacy the newbie

Welcome to the forum! Got a system? We LOVE pics! Post'em!

Thank you for the welcoming comment! I do have a system in place. I started small so troubleshooting wouldn't be so hard, but at the current moment the Ph is kicking my butt at like 8.4! My fish are doing wonderful, but my plants not so much. I can post pics later for sure. I just fear that I rushed my system and will have to start over again. But these are all reasons I joined the group so I will welcome any advice you all have to give.

Welcome Stacy.

As long as you haven't used something like limestone your pH should come down over time but it can take a long time.

Welcome Stacy. Many of us are new here. This is a great place to learn. People here are always willing to lend an hand.

Good luck, can't wait to see the pics.

Hi Stacy.

Welcome to the forum!

Once the fish start pooping more, the PH will come down naturally.

If it doesn't, there are easy ways to bring it down, let it happen naturally first.

Hello and Welcome, fellow Arizona newb! Where exactly are you? I'm in Phoenix

Hey DD,
I'm in Tucson. Super humid right now due to the monsoons but all the plants are loving it of course! I guess I need to start with figuring out what type of rock I have been using as my growing media. Then go from there. I also am using a 250 gal fish tank that we got free so my tank is really green with the fish in it. I know I need to really cover it up, but my husband is kinda fighting me on this. He wants to see the fish, but I told him they need to have a darker environment. Could this be the reason my Ph is outta control? I've had it up and going since around March of this year so it's still pretty new

I did the vinager test and the problem is my media!!! Bubbled away haha.. Total bummer, but so good to know why my Ph is soooo high. Thanks to this forum I was able to learn about the vinager test. So looks like some more manual labor, but it will be worth it. I really think that all my stuff will thrive to its fullest now.

I wonder though....do I have to enclose my system??? It's very doable, but is it absolutely necessary?

Also.....having a tough time uploading pics of my system

Use any basic graphic editor to resize the photos to NO-MORE-THAN 900 pixels wide and 900 pixel high.

Many programs keep a check box "checked" to maintain the aspect ratio of the photo, so all you should have to do when "resizing image" is to change the larger of the two numbers, meaning if height is larger then width, then you only need to change the height of of photo to 900 pixel or less. With the aspect ratio box checked, the program (whatever one you're using) will keep the aspect and automagically change the width of the picture.

Did I explain that well, I hope so.

mspaint on Windoze does this, and so does Mac OS X's built-in image editor. They all do this, weather that be gimp, Pixelmator, Photoshop, etc etc.

Hope this helps.

Oh, also use the site's "Full Editor" button to post pics when submitting a reply or new topic.

That's a shame about your media...have fun with the labor that comes with that.

About algae and enclosing the system... You really want to keep algae to a minimum as it can consume DO and also lock up nutrients your plants would otherwise take up. Your husband wants to see the fish, and you want healthy a healthy system. Compromise! IceManDude's parents system is a perfect example. They enclosed the fish tank in wood planks, but added a viewing window! It's probably my favorite looking system on this forum.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=13291&hilit=icemans+parents&start=60

My media still bubbles a little but the pH has started to come down.

Mine is blue stone but if yours is lime stone or similar then you will be in trouble.

That is a really cool system with the window! I made a cover to go around the tank of outdoor fabric. It was a very inexpensive quick fix and looks pretty too. Now I'm on the hunt for a replacement media. I'm assuming some pea gravel will do the trick. I don't want to spend a lot of cash on it.
Thank you all for posting and giving great advice! I really appreciate it as aquaponics isn't very well understood in my geographical location yet. But the local hydroponics store is learning quite a bit as I have tested their knowledge as of late lol! So its been fun learning together.