Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10104868616834663.1073741829.3215338&type=1&l=3a69fd4c19

System started in July 2016.

Location of system only gets morning direct sun, till about noon.

4 growbeds, with floating raft below. 1 pump, everything else is gravity fed.

Each growbed has it's own bell siphon, siphon exits through a pipe with a small hold (venturi?) directly into the water below. Growbeds all have about 25-40 worms each, haven't seen them since they been introduced in Nov.

Concerned about leaf colors, black spots on some lettuce, pepper leaves look yellow.

Haven't bought a ph kit yet.

any/all advice welcome!

Click here to see my album!!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10104868616834663.1073741829.3215338&type=1&l=3a69fd4c19

Aren't turtles a salmonella risk?

It's always a risk... Some say don't let the water splash on the leaves, others say it's rare among adult turtles. There's been studied that it travels up the roots and into tomato's, while others strongly disagree. Not enough studies on this yet...

I use a gravel filter on my turtle pond, and grow plants in it, but not edibles

pictures??

I don't think I have any!

If I remember I'll grab some when I get home from work in a week or so

Hi All,

Everything sproutted well, but now as the plants age i'm seeing spots on the lettuce and leaves of the basil and peppers are starting to yellow. the peppers sprouted from seed quickly but have recently stopped growth all together. The temp around has dropped about 10 degrees F in the lats month, averages about 64 degrees.

I haven't purchased a pH kit yet, any recommendations?














CLICK HERE TO SEE MY ENTIRE ALBUM

Probably starting to get a little cold for the basil and peppers. I believe CA has similar winters to us.

Throw in some cool weather crops

After the first rain of the year, my DWC flooded, ended up having to drain a bunch of water out of it.

Does this dilute the water that was originally in there? is it bad?

I've got my house drain overflow going direct into my sump tank. Think of it as a free top up.

Wanted to do my first pH test after 6 months ..... where do I take the water from? Fishtank? Sump?

Either, they would be the same value if only slight differences.

Just finished my first pH test... my system has been running for at least 6 months now..

pH : 7.8
Ammonia : 0ppm
Nitrite : 0 ppm
Nitrate : 0 ppm

Is my pH high?? recommendations?

Your pH is a bit high but depending on the grow bed media and the top up water I would expect it to come down further than it is because of nitrification. Shoot to be somewhere between 6 to 7.2 for the pH. Once you hit 6 the API kit doesn't tell you if the pH is lower than 6 so you need to be aware of this and adjust if needed.

With your pH at 7.8 you'll probably need to either spray iron on the plants as needed or find a good iron chelate to add to the system water (do some research not all of them will work).