Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yeah I was thinking about that. I also wanted to make an overflow drain but I hate to drill into the pond I have. Plus I'm lazy so maybe I'll just keep siphoning. Hehe.

HN

Ok one more questions folks. I did ammonia and nitrate tests today and got the following results.

Ammonia: 0-10ppm
Nitrates: 50-100 ppm.

Are the nitrates too high? The water is crystal clear and the fish are looking pretty healthy. Should I worry?

Thanks folks.

HN

Plant more plants HN, particularly heavy feeders like tomatoes, strawberries, chives .... high nitrates aren't an immediate threat to your fish.....

Fact that you're registering some ammonia and such high nitrates.... suggests you could probably cut back on the feed a bit

Thank rupert, I have a ton of seedlings of lettuce, toms, cucumbers, and parsley growing so soon I should have enough plants. My fish are always to damn hungry and its so hard not to feed them when they some up and say hi.

I read somewhere that high nitrates might inhibit plant growth but it said "aquatic plants" so I don't know if this related to AP. I guess we'll see. my plants seem to be growing well regardless.

Thanks again.

How about a couple of pics to show progress HN?

Hey Rupert good idea. Havent done that for a while.

Any idea what might be causing my 2 week old seedlings to be weak and limp? The leaves look OK by they are soft and wilty. Kinda like they need viagra. Any ideas?

Thanks!!

How high and how often are you flooding your growbeds???

Rupert you got me thining....I think the problem is that I dropped seeds right onto the gravel so the roots aren't deep enough. If I stick in seedlings into the gravel then they don't wilt as much...I think. I'll have to see.

Until they get low enough it may help to water them with fish water when you feed the fish.

I agree with DD... especially in your temperatures HN...

For the first week or so... to make sure germination occurs and the seedlings have a chance..... many people either water the top of their gravel by hand or adjust their in flow so that the flood level is higher than normal

Generally they'll flood right to the top.... when germinated they drop the flood level back to an inch below the gravel.....

Watering from the top of the growbed will also flush the seeds down into the gravel a bit.... probably down to the normal flood level anyway.

Suppose another adjustment that might help is to perhaps quicken your flood and drain times...so the gravel and seedlings don't have as much time to dry out.....

Experiment and let us know the results.... just remember like all experimentation.... alter one thing at a time

Hey do you guys think I need more aeration in my fish tank? I have a small pump pumping water from the bottom to the top and then falling about 5 inches into the water. Also the draining of the GB causes aeration. Other then that I don't have other type of aeration. So you think I need to add more?

I was going to post pictures of progress and then we got a pretty good storm that beat up my veggies. So it don't looks so good. Hopefully in a week or 2 it'll look better.

I still have trouble growing lettuce. Grrrrrr!

I also got about 10 more baby koi for the tank. They look good, I am even considering trying to breed them. But hat might be biting off more than I can chew....

Thanks all, this is such an awesome friggin forum...

If nitrates are high already, it is not an overly good idea to add more fish. You might want to sort out your plant problems and get more plants in the system before you consider adding too many more fish.

Hey dthawk thanks. I should have mentioned that the nitrates are OK now. A bit high still but safe. My tomato and cucumber plants went crazy and I think are sucking up all the nutes now.

The fish will tell you if you need more aeration by gulping at the surface at dawn. That's the danger zone.