Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yes some.But you can have a lot of light & less heat or a lot of light & a lot of heat.
Lettuce will like 24 hours of light but not heat.

When I grew my basil under CFLs,it did good but when I put some seedlings in to the bed,I had to lower the lights (too close to the basil),that caused the basil to show what looks like a Magnesium deficiency (heat stress).Even though a basil plant likes heat,it can still have too much heat & when you're talking about indoor growing,RH plays a huge roll in nutrient uptake & stress in plants.


600w in the growth stage could power a good few plants but during the budding/flowering stage,I think you would need 600w of LED lights per plant to make it happen.It would be better to switch to HID HPS bulbs for the bud stage.

Try keeping the lights a rulers length away or a bit higher & running the lights on for 18 hours a day.

I think i am on the high light, low heat camp. I think that i need to look into the RH issue you mentioned. I just rechecked the humidity in the house through my thermostat's app and the house is at 51%. From the reading I have done thanks to your info, it seems like that is on the low end of what plants need.

I am going to be buying a hygrometer here shortly so i can get a more precise reading at the GB site. I have a feeling it will be low so...I will then need to figure out a way to create an enclosure for the plants to hopefully raise that number. It never stops does it? lol.


I am currently running the lights around 18 hours/day as you mentioned and they are also well above a ruler length above. More like 30-40 in above.

Thanks for your continued help with this!

How is everything getting on?.Any progress?

Thanks for checking back in. Since we last spoke, I had to completely pull the basil from the GB. It was not doing well at all and as soon as you clipped on leaf that was turning black, another one would do the same the next day.

Part of the reason i pulled it was to see if the roots were healthy and, to my novice eyes at least, they did seem to be healthy (images here if you're interested).

So, I have instead planted some chives, lettuce and arugula and those seem to be struggling as well. I noticed what looked like grey fuzzy mildew (downy mildew?) on one of the arugula leaves today so I have no confidence it will survive.

I think I have several issues taking place:

1) High temp, low humidity. My 600w LED lights are too intense. The temp on the surface of the GB is around 84F and the humidity is in the high 40's. Much too low from everything i have read. I am trying to figure out a way to raise the humidity but it is proving to be difficult since the system is indoors. I want to try and make a little greenhouse over the GB but i can't think of how. I also want to try and diffuse the light but again, stumped (Pics of setup for reference or any ideas you may have lol)

2) Possibly aphids? I have noticed small, as in tiny, little critters crawling on the leaves. The leaves don't seem to have any bite marks on them but, i think they may be affecting growth. Again, hard to treat since the plants are indoors and the most common aphid solution i can find is "insert natural predators". All good, but, i'll pass on ladybugs flying around the kitchen lol.

So, long story longer... I am an OK fish keeper and a trash gardener haha.

ok,lets start again.
There's several issues.That cut on the stem looks like a bacterial problem,could have been brought in by pests & attacked the plants while the plants were stressed.Or maybe a lack of oxygen somewhere.

In your 1st link,the last pic (the leaf with the black & a little white dot) is heat related.The white "scrape" is a burn,the burnt edges aswell.

Grey fuzzy stuff,like mold?.With very low RH how is that possible? maybe some air circulation is needed.
Try spraying it with 50% white vinegar & 50% water mix and see if that clears it up.

I can't remember if you put the details up but what sort of system are you running? flood & drain?

Lol, i appreciate the pat on the head!

Cut stem: I didn't fully catch that when i cut it but, looking back at the pic, definitely agree that it looks bacterial. I think it was definitely a pest thing as i do seem to have them in my GB.

Heat issue: At this point, i think that the only solution to that problem is getting a less potent grow light. The current one is 600w and i think it is simply too much. While the ambient temp in that part of the house is 80F, i think it is less about temperature and more about the amount of light it is getting (is that a thing?). The way i make sense of it is that it would be similar to putting a shade cloth over plants during the summer. The temperature will still be 80 but the amount of direct sunlight will be far less.

I took care of the gray fuzzy by.....Ripping out the whole plant haha. That said, i am putting your tip in my good to know archive should it happen again.

System:
- Flood and drain. Circulates the entire volume of water in the fish tank, multiple times an hour.
- Grow bed is a 27 gal. home depot tote https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-27-Gal-Tough-Storage-Bin-in-Black-HDX27GONLINE-5/205978361
- Fish tank is a 55 gal. curved aquarium tank
- Fishes - 4, 1.5-2 inch long goldfishes
- Grow light - 600w LED with a veg and a bloom option. Currently hanging about 30 in. above the grow bed

The entire system is located inside of my house. Temperature in that room is usually 75-80 degrees. That room is air conditioned so that may be part of the reason i am having such a low RH.

Thank you for your continued help.

Hello again,sorry for the late reply.
Since it's a flood and drain system & draining regularly,the bacterial situation probably isn't related to a lack of Oxygen in the root zone.

I'm sure your problem is down to those lights,too hot on the leaves causing them to stress,stress causes no end of problems.Even in animals & people.And you're right,600w is way too much for that small area.

https://gardenculturemagazine.com/magaz ... -issue-28/
Have a look at that & try to find 1 of the chapters called "light matters",I've tried looking for it and failed,the edition is from a few years back.It gives a lot of info on indoor lighting (LEDs too).