Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

For this weeks update:

The plants new growth is all pretty a yellow green due to not getting the nutrients needed, probably due to ph lockout. I've been working on remedying this issue with adding roughly about 1 capful of muriatic acid to 1-2 gallons of top off water. So now the ph is down from 8.5 to about 7.6, hopefully I'll be able to maintain that ph well enough for the plants to recover. My plan at the moment is to add in 2 gallons of water one time, then the next time 2 gallons with a cap of acid. And I'm hoping that by doing that, the ph will be maintained where it needs to be. But as with everything, this will take some experimenting to figure out exactly what I want to do.

I also discovered that one of my original tomato plants survived! So now if all my other seedlings will hurry up and sprout, I'll have tons of Roma tomato plants, cherry tomatoes, peppers, lettuce (butter crunch, red romaine), pumpkins, and cantaloupe.

Anyway, that's enough chatter. Here's a few pics for the week:



And the tomato:



And that's all I have for the week. Thanks for reading!


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Great to see the pH under control, onwards and upwards!

*update*

So this past week was rather uneventful for my system; the plants grew, the Bok choy bolted big time, the potato plant has all but taken over the system on the one side, the peas have returned to their proper green color, and 5 more goldfish died (likely due to me forgetting to feed for 4 days). The ph has stayed under control, though it has risen by .2-.5, so that will need to be remedied when I top off.

As for my new seedlings that will be going into the system here in two or three weeks, the different varieties of lettuce have absolutely take off! And the tomato experiment I've got going is wildly successful! From one Roma tomato, I've managed to propagate 30-50 new plants! So this weekend will be a big one for the system, as I will be adding on to it.

As for changes in life: I've got a new job working as a door builder! It's a heck of a lot better than doing what I was before: not working, and only studying. So I'm super happy with that. I'll be able to get my last year of school payed off (so I'll be 100% debt free), and I'll be able to save up a good sized down payment for a new motorcycle to replace my old one (the electrical starting system has gone out, the shop thinks it's the stator, ignition coil, and spark plug cap; all of which would cost over $500 usd to replace).

And that's all I've got for today.

Cheers!


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This weeks update is a rather big one, but full of good stuff!

Today I finally added the two new grow beds to the system!!! The process went as follows:

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had acquired 2 new blue barrels in anticipation for this expansion, and cut one of them in half and saved the other as a second stock tank (I still need to figure out how I'm going to connect the two barrels together without losing too much water, and too many fish). So once I got that taken care of, the project was put on hold for a few weeks due to finals. Once finals were finished I needed a job, so I started looking which postponed the project even more. I recently got a job, and started working it last week (I build barn styled doors), and now because of this job, I can do a few things; one of which includes this expansion. And so today I started the add on by building the frames for the barrel halves, and here are the pics:









The lengths for the wood that I cut are: 4 sides at 35 1/2 inches, 4 sides at 25 3/4, all of them are 5 3/16 inches wide. And by the way, it's always a good idea to check and make sure that your chop saw, or table saw are plugged in. It kinda helps in cutting!

Anyway, once I got the wood cut and framed up, I nailed and screwed the barrel halves into the frame using galvanized nails, and long Sheetrock screws. And this time when I framed the wood, I used my dads nail gun. It was like driving a luxury car compared to driving a model-t! It made the whole process go so much faster. And speaking of that, it's also a good idea to make sure the nails are oriented correctly when reloading....

Anyway, after I got the beds framed and nailed in place, I proceeded to move them into the greenhouse where I planned to attach the legs. The legs by the was are 40 inches long. This was the fun part (I didn't get any photos of this process, sorry), especially when it came time to set the beds upright where they are going to be living. But I managed to get them both finished and set up inside the greenhouse with no problem! Though I do have to say, I wish I had more working room inside the greenhouse, it's kind of cramped..... But it looks good!







And that's all I have for an update on the greenhouse and growbed situation. As for a plant update; the Kholrabi is doing fantastically amazing, and will taste just as good (my dad wants the leaves for a cabbage stir-fry when I harvest it)!



The peas have started putting flowers out, and the cabbage is progressing nicely



The Bok-choy has gone to seed, the potato has taken over its corner (amazingly though the tomato in that corner is doing semi-well):





And as for the strawberries, they seem to be showing a major potassium deficiency. Is there something I can do to help that without killing my fish?



And the mint is flourishing well (my dad wants to tear it out at the end of the year, dry the mint that grows this year, and let the root system stay and continue to grow in its corner of the system)



And as for my fish, I have been finding at least 1-3 dead goldfish a day every time I go out to visit. It's rather concerning. I was going some reading up on the Internet, and apparently they have been dying from a white fungus type thing, as well as some other stuff that is supposed to be killed off by salting the system (a 3% solution is what the website recommended be used). This is the site I went to for the info: http://www.puregoldfish.com/17-diseases-and-treatments/ if anyone has any suggestions, I'm open.

And that's all for this weeks update, I know it's a long winded read, and I hope it was worth it, but that's what I've got for ya.

Have a good weekend!


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looks like fun. Yes, I love my nail guns too. I've read here somewhere that strawberries don't like salty water much.

Yeah, that's what I keep seeing. The thread that comes to my mind is Donone's thread. But to keep my fish alive, I'm willing to try it.

Can you take the berries offline while battling fungi? Maybe hand feed the berries until you fix the fish problem and can change out the salt water? Or perhaps it's a good time to splurge for a hospital tank to treat fish offline?

--
Sam

Bless your heart if you think it will stay in the corner. Might take over the whole barrel by the end of the season. I don't consider this a bad thing becasue, well, mint is awesome, but it does reduce growing space for other stuff.

Salt to 1 part per thousand. Strawberries can take it and it will kill ich. I did this and I have strawberries.

You need to keep the water salted for a life cycle of the parasite, which can range from a couple days to weeks depending on your water temperature.

Sounds good. I'm not sure what my temperature is, I think it's at 65??? Somewhere in there. I'll have to see where I can find a salt testing kit for a decent price. What's a good amount of salt per gallon I can do to get that 1:1000? I'm thinking 1 table spoon per hundred gallons, or would that be too much?

With regard to the hospital tank I think that's a great idea, but it may take some convincing of my wife. Especially with one semester of school left to save for, and a motorcycle to buy at the end of the summer (my current one is not starting). She just doesn't see things like that as a priority, especially where we can buy 30 fish for just under $5.

And as for the mint taking over the barrel, I was planning on that the day my dad stuck the cutting in the system last year. As it is, the mint on the north side of my parents hose has all but taken over that patch of ground (if it weren't for all the foot traffic, it would rule supreme). So I'm happy for the mint (my family likes mint tea:) )


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For salt at 1ppt, should be 1 kg per 1000 liters. So a bit less than a pound per 100 gallons. Use non iodised salt. You can buy a refractometer on eBay fairly cheaply. Others use them but I find it difficult to read the difference between the various readings given the low concentrations we're using.

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Great expansion. I see everyone has already chipped in about the mint, fish and strawberries.

No great need to measure salt levels. Once the salt is there, it stays until you change water.

To make sure there isn't a buildup of stuff over time, I use a tds probe to measure dissolved solids.
[url]http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001RK38LU/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1463961572&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=tds+meter+4tm&dpPl=1&dpID=41GrngIJGcL&ref=plSrch[/url

Tds is "total dissolved solids" but the probe just measures the conductivity and uses some standard factor to convert to ppm.

That probe linked above also has a thermometer integral. I would recommend a cheap floating thermometer too. Temperature is important and cheap and easy to check.

Also, 100 gal of water weighs 800lb. 1 ppt would be 0.8 lb of salt, or about 1.66 cups of table salt (uniodized).

This exercise should make you realize why metric is better for science/engineering (1 ppt = 1 g per L)