Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Essentially "granite" or basaltic rock dust.... can be got from any granite - rock metal crushing plants...

Commonly called "blue metal" here in Australia and the gravel is what many here use as their growing media

we'r short in vulcanos here so basicaly that's crushed vulcanic rocks right?
i doubt i'll find some of that here, i'll get into that tomorrow, got some lectures today at the coledge

we'r short in vulcanos here so basicaly that's crushed vulcanic rocks right?
i doubt i'll find some of that here, i'll get into that tomorrow, got some lectures today at the coledge
thanks for the link!

Think there's a very similar product in the US called "greensand".

Maybe not identical, but serves a very similar purpose... provides iron, magnesium etc....

All the necessary trace elements which cause deficiencies if absent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensand

hmm, thanks rupert! we actually have silicat mountains beside the lime ones, so there's a possibility they make a simmilar product, but haven't found it yet on the web ...so far

greensand is actually called brecha at us, stone made out off different particles and glued togheter either with calcite or silicate, we learned that at pedology so that's actually a mineral tablet, containing practically all the essential microelements?--> exactly what you said

thank you!

i think i found something on the algea

Plantella professional TOPGREEN
Opis:

je univerzalno ekološko gnojilo na osnovi ekstrakta morskih alg(Ascophyllum nodosum).

basically it says it's a bio-nutrient made out of algea, it says it's great for the roots and flowers

as for substituting Fe i have access to FeSO4, and it's fito-farmaceutal -compliant ----> don't know if i wrote/spelled that righ

gonna dig some more for that vulcanic powder or similar


i actually found that chelated-iron that janet was talking about, i also found bentonic + zeolitic powder

any thoughts on what i found?

Chelated irons a good one Molj....

Perhaps some of the liquid seaweed extracts as well.....

Always read the packaging carefully though....

Anything with Copper is probably not suitable ... for edible fish anyway.

that's good to know ruperto, cos i'm planning to eat the fish in my soon-to-be pond at my parrent's place, wish i could fast forward this winter so i could start on the big system right away!

i never thought in my prior life i'd enjoy growing so much:)

Keep the 'P' words in mind molj = patience and persistance

And be wary of most of the recommendations that aquarium keepers may give you regarding disease treatments and use of other chemical, additives, fertilisers etc.... i.e. malichite green.....

Aquaponics is essentially totally organic in approach. If in doubt ask, you'll get an answer back pretty quickly.

I'd go with the chelated iron, and see if you can find phosphate as a plant fertilizer at a garden supply store. They should have organic phosphate.

Just add a tiny bit at first to make sure the fish are OK.

When speaking to A representative from Crop King recently he cautioned me to be careful when choosing Chelated Iron. He stated that DTPA Chelated Iron is what we want in our solutions for tomatos but to stay away from EDTA. However on my Google searches I can't figure out why he cautioned me. When I looked att the packaging I have, it reads EDDHA. I am sooo confused. But it seems to green things up and nothing has "carked" on me yet.

Sounds like you've got the right one DT.... or was that ED or DH

By the way, the banana in the growbed thing worked for me for adding potassium too. At least my plants are flowering and fruiting better it seems. No smell either.

i will check for those initials, thanks for warning me!
oh and i tried chopped worms but they didn't like them either
i tried starving the worms for a few day in clear water and then freezing them, that's the way the gold fish likes it, but the others still don't...maybe i'll colonize my biofilter with those buddies as you do your growbeds

hawk: i'm adding potassium with KOH as my ph buffer, but i bet it's a good thing, heard a lot of things from bannanas