Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Oh man, so sorry DD i only saw your earlier posts about ph now! Der!

If its 6.5 i'll hold of running around screaming. 6.0 now thats a different story!

You system seems to be cycled by your test kits results, so i can only assume that its the natural downward shift due to nitrification. If is was an very very very new system i'd agree with AA. What i'd do is incorporate a small quantity (handfull?) of shells into your grow bed. adding some water to bring it back up was better than starting to dose.

Steve

DD......I couldn't determine what your water source was but you did mention mains water and rainwater in one post. If you're using rainwater, that would explain your very low pH.

I tested our rainwater today and it read 6.5.....and (apparently) that's quite high for most rainwater is around the 5.6 mark and (depending on where you live) it can go much lower than that - due to the effects of acid rain.

By contrast, our mains water is 7.5 - 7.8. Until my system begins to cycle properly, I intend to use half and half. I'll half fill the drum with mains water and dose that to get rid of the chloramine and then I'll top it up with rainwater. Hopefully, the final result will be about 7.0 - 7.2.

Ah, so that's why my pond dropped 0.2 on same time reading, wee bit of rain. No roof yet.

I wasn't advising speeding water up to fix a low pH Steve, just that it slows algae of undesirable nature/proportion.

The drawback is of course the power required to pump. That's why I love the idea of auto siphoning beds with cheap continuous pumps. My 20W pump kicks butt for up to a 400 litre system. Pretty cheap when you consider this is the circulation required 'in system' not 'in your tank'.

Oops, sorry bout the sidetrack Dave.

Bought crushed oystre shells today to help low pH. Rectangular grow bed has been overflowing due to clogging of standpipe drain holes (slits). I added a small tube to help with this this morning. Pictures:

Rect grow bed

All plants shown here are from seed sown directly in the gravel, except for the strawberry vine from the side yard!

...

Those sure are some nice looking plants Dave. I remember the cellar we had in Ohio was really damp and cold year round, but my father added a wood buning stove that not only warmed the basement but helped in keeping the rest of the house warm. Is there a possibility of doing this at your home.

Hi Joyce,
Same with my parents in Ohio, small world. Our basement is block walls, and unheated. In the Winter the unfinished part may get a bit chilly, but not damp (unless I put like 200 gallons of water down there haha). I am expecting to be able to keep things warm enough through the lights, and a regular heater (for the tilapia if I can get on that), and insulating the containers.
I am supposed to be finishing the basement at the moment. I don't know when it will be done... The part where the fish will go will remain unfinished; the sump pump is right there which is convenient in case of a mishap.

Hot tip for your basement. Get your airflow coming in high and leaving low, preferably above your tank, help keep the humidity away from plants as much as possible.

If you have strains of plants that get mildew easy just get another strain. Too hard to spend every day over issues easily corrected with good ventilation and genetics.

My basement was unfixable, but you know, a wood burning stove might have done it!

Also very important if you use any type of combustion stove. And even more importantly make sure you always have a POSITIVE pressure in there EG: more fans blowing into the room than out.

In victoria at least it is now illegal to have any ducted heater or gas hot water service inside the house. It becasue extraction fans became very popular in bathrooms and kitchens and the result was a nett negative pressure inside the house, as a result flue gasses did not vent correctly and instead the flue worked in REVERSE. Nasty sort of stuff like people not waking up. EVER. if you catch my drift

Great pics DD, srpecially good to be seeing produce n a bowl ready to be eaten....

Dave, looks great. How many fish are you keeping now?

About two dozen goldfish, and an algae eater. The goldfish are mixed sizes, the few largest are probably about 3".

Looks good DD. What is the vine like plant growing over the sides.

Hi VB:
That's a transplanted strawberry plant from the side yard. I saw a strawberry in the grass while trimming the side of the house. It took awhile to find the end of the vine, and it looked really bad when it was in the grow bed initially, but it has some nice looking leaves on it now. There have a been a few flowers, but I just like the way the leaves look.