Basil Drying up

[Danny Daniel]

Hi i have been having a problem with the basil in my system, they are all slowly looks like drying up turning a brown color, atleast 70% or more of the plants have dry leaves and some turning dry leaves on them.

Im thinking maybe something in the water might be hurting the plants? because there is a fungus in the water, because of when i had some of the fish die by the pump a few weeks back, i had not seen the fish for a few days or so, and when i did happen to see i noticed that the pump had torn them apart, and its fish guts all in the water, i got out what i can but still alot in there,  whatever is left in there has alot of this weird white fungus growing in there.when the fish die it just comes onto them, kind of outlines the fish with a white color kind of weird.

can anyone help me or have an idea what it could be from?what can i add to help the basil?

[Danny Daniel]

ya good idea, i will probably end up doing that for now. im sure the fish need the heat.

last time the water was so cold that my hand was hurting just being in there for to long, when i was trying to fix the buckets surronding the pump.

[TCLynx]

I've experienced that.  Ouch, makes even a young person think how terrible arthritis is.

[Katie D]

How much compost depends on the size of the garden, the climate of the area, and the type of compost you use.  But I pretty much said all that already.... :-)

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Well keep in mind also that the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service warns that "composting component needs to be sized on basis of carbon dioxide production. If sized to heat the greenhouse, the amount of carbon dioxide generated will be six times that needed for optimal CO2-enriched atmospheres. Nitrogen (ammonia) will be released, 50 times (what is) needed for optimal plant growth. When sized on basis of carbon dioxide, heat generated will be supplementary only, meeting perhaps 15 percent of the energy needs. Excess nitrogen will still be a contaminant of the system". 

[Launcelot Enverga]

good day guys, i need some help, my tomatoes wilt suddenly as in 1 morning i woke up they start wilting then before lunch time all of my tomatoes wilt. my system is 7 weeks old, 600L fish tank and 2 grow beds. i have assorted plants in my system but only the tomato have been damage. i did a research and the wilting looks like bacterial infection.
the ph was from 8+ down to 7.3 (7.7 - 7.3 in 2 days) in 7 weeks cycling process (as expected during cycling)

the situation before i the incident happen:

1. the tomato plants are only 4 inches apart, there are some 3 tomato plants in exactly same place. (might be crowding the roots)

2. top gravel is always wet and moist.
3. only 5 hrs of full sunlight.
4. i put organic powder fertilizer 2 days before the incident. (drastically lower the ph from 7.7- 7.3 in 2 days) TDS- 155-245ppm in 2 days. but before i put the fertilizer there was 1 tomato plant that suffer from the wilting.

5. the tomato plants are starting to produce flowers.
6. one expert told me its a bacterial melt, which occurs during the flowering stage of the tomato.

[TCLynx]

Why is the surface of the media always wet?  I would recommend adding more media or lowering the flood level.

What do your water tests say, why did you add fertilizer to an aquaponics system?

If there is not enough aeration and water is sitting in the beds or flooding over the media, the tomatoes might be suffering from "wet feet" and infections that can come with it.  In aquaponics most of those diseases are not a problem and plants usually don't start wilting from over watering but since you added fertilizer, now you may be prone to problems that are common in hydroponics with strong fertilizer and plants drooping from over watering.

[Katie D]

why did you add fertilizer or what kind?  I thought you never added ferts (just additives) to an aquaponics system....???