Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

MF We are in the tropics. No problem with ambient temp. We are well into the 90 degree range now probably averages 86 year round.

I decided to post a few pics of what I have.
You can see the male breeder I have. He is about 14 inches so he dwarfs the rest. I figure I have about 175 lbs of fish in 634 gallons of water and 340 gallons of GB.

All in all, The fish are doing well and I am happy with that part of the system. Wish I could say the same about the plants.

You can see some of the problems I am having with the plants.

A few more pics of death. Most people kill a lot of Fish (I have done that as well) but I kill more plants it seems. AAARRRGH

DT, I actually think I'm seeing iron deficiency in your bean leaves. Do I see correctly that the veins are green, but between the veins is yellowing? Younger leaves will be worse. And btw, high pH, warm temperatures and bright light will make it worse.

Add some chelated iron.

Extra sunshine would help, too. I find that my growth rate is picking up as the days get longer.

Dwarfs the rest, no kidding!

hmmmm chelated iron? I think I would have to import that. Wondering where to find a source of that... Another challenge I guess.

DT any chance you could set up a small grow bed, plastic container with some gravel just to test if its your medium?

How old is the 14 inch tilapia David. I know he is a breeder, but how big would you normally grow them before eating and how long would that take?

Papaya (we call the Paw Paws here) do seem to work well in AP. Mine has been in for about 10 weeks now. I put it in as a seedling about 6 inches high. Have a look at it now HERE. It is now 160cm tall and still growing of course. I never intended to leave it in this bed - was going to put it in a lower lying satelite container. Too late now

BTW - are there any stores there that sell hydroponic stuff. They will normally have a liquid chelated iron. Here is sold in powderred form at nurseries and some hardware shops also.

Thanks.... Any chance I could throw a bucket full of steel wool in or steel shavings from a machine shop?

I have hundreds of Papayas in my compost heap. That is our breakfast every morning. I pulled up 10 and put them in my GB. They are doing well but as I said I will pull them out soon.

That's probably not a good idea,both steelwool and shavings will have residual cutting fluid.

-Stevo

Pretty sure that won't produce usable iron for the fish.