Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all

We have been experiencing great plant and fish growth but the plants just don't seem to want to produce any veggies! Some plants (tomatoes especially) have been dying from the bottom up also (not all though).

So we bought a test kit. Here are the results:

Tank 1
HI Ph 7.4
Amm 0.25
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 80

Tank 2
HI Ph 7.4
Amm 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20

Tank 3
HI Ph 8.8
Amm 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 160

Comments and suggestions very welcome!! Oh, we had just dosed all tanks with Seasol about an hour before testing.

Any help would be appreciated. I think the Ph is high but not sure how to bring it down. What about the Nitrates? Any suggestions??

Thanks ppls.

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Only first thought... deficiencies ..
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I would search general plant deficiencies to see if any fit the picture ...

Clearly, the issue with using fish to feed plants is. Getting the supplements balance right..

You sometimes wonder if the fish are worth the effort, when you could achieve the same by peeing in a sump...
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I'd look at nutrient deficiencies too, although there can be other factors to plants not setting fruit; heat, pollination, humidity, etc.

Generally the way pH is brought down is to balance your top up water to a pH of 6 with hydrochloric acid (aka muriatic acid) a couple of days before adding to your system, and then gradually bringing it down over time so as to not stress the fish. I'd be inclined to leave the pH alone in the systems that are reading 7.4, and only adjust the pH of 8.8 down (but I'd retest just to be sure it wasn't reading incorrectly).

The nitrates are usually not an issue unless the reading is off the charts, so I'm not sure that would be the cause of your problems.


Experiencing both at the moment (fish and no fish in two separate systems) and for me having the fish feeding the plants is a whole lot easier to manage. A slight tweak to the nutrients has proven a lot easier than totally managing everything myself and hoping that I've got everything balanced.

I noticed a huge drop in growth whilst my system was re-cycling in comparison to when it was up and running. (My system is in public eye and got sabotaged with soap so had to start again).

Have just started feeding this week and noticed a pickup in growth already. Ammonia was present whole way thru, only difference is feed (good quality AQ feed), so I'm sold on AP!


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Post some pics of the plants,that way we are better to pin point the problem.

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And SALT.... have you salted the system..
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So I have done some research on deficiencies and believe that the overall problem maybe a lack of pollination. We have shade cloth covering our entire system to help protect against the extreme heat and frost we get here. We also have bee hives on our property but are starting to think that because of the shade cloth, the bees haven't been able to get in and work their magic, particularly for our eggplants, rock melons and tomatoes. Will do some alterations over the weekend and see if that helps. :p


The tomato plants are the only plants dying from the bottom up. I have come to believe that they may have a disease. I'm going to rip them out.



What will this do? Never salted before...

Also, what do I use to lower the pH?

Salt mitigates the effects of Nitrite poisoning,or Brown Blood disease caused by an increase in Methemgoblin,salting up to 3ppm will help to prevent this build up,it is also beneficial in the help against some diseases in your fish,your system has been running for three years so to use it is your choice,i don’t run any salt in mine at all but i have in the past when i had fish problems,this i should imagine has been out of my systems for a long time.
Lowering your PH is commonly done with Muratic acid,add this to top up water which is adjusted to PH 6 then add this to your system,when you lower it do so gradually other wise your fish will suffer from the sudden drop.
Please try to add some pics of your Toms,it will help in diagnosing the problem,it could help you and any other members with a similar problem.