Aquaponic Gardening

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I have had my aquaponics system running for about a year now.  I have been up and down with my fish and at the pressent time I have a little less than 30 goldfish with one plegostamus( probably spelled wrong) algae eater.  My system has about a 166 gallon fish tank (IBM) with a growbed on top that is about 16 square feet.  I was doing pretty good I thought last fall, then a friend gave me about 250 baby goldfish and guess it overpopulated my tank because after a month or so I started loosing fish by the bunches and lost down to 6 of my original fish.  I also had a piece of cement block that I had my pump on.  I removed the block and now have my pump sitting on the bottom of the fish tank.  I have gradually added more fish back until I now have about 30 fish.  I planted some lettuce seeds several months ago.  It sprouted and then has just sat there.  It looks like it might be starting to grow a little but not fast like all of the stroies tell.  I have some kohlrabi in my growbed and am afraid to pull it because then would not have any plants much left.  I put some small tomato plants in the growbed last spring and they have not died but have not grown either,  My PH is about 6.4, the Nitrate, nitrites, amonia are low to 0.  Just not sure what I am doing wrong.  

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Well, your nitrates are low, so your plants might not be getting enough food that way. Or you have a problem with lighting. Are you growing indoors or outdoors? How long has it been since you've had 30 fish and what are the dimensions of your growbeds?

Have you tried adding some MaxiCrop? If it's a micro-nutrient issue the seaweed supplements can provide some relief for the plants.


I added more fish a little over a month ago.  My growbed is about 16 square feet.  I am growing outside in a clear plastic greenhouse.  Do you think that 30 fish are enough for this size of opperation?


Alex Veidel said:

Well, your nitrates are low, so your plants might not be getting enough food that way. Or you have a problem with lighting. Are you growing indoors or outdoors? How long has it been since you've had 30 fish and what are the dimensions of your growbeds?


I don't know anything about MaxiCrops. or where to get them or apply them.
Scott Roberts said:

Have you tried adding some MaxiCrop? If it's a micro-nutrient issue the seaweed supplements can provide some relief for the plants.

MaxiCrop is a seaweed concentrate. I like the powdered form. Amazon sells it. If you have hydroponic stores near you they may sell it as well.  Basically it's chock-full of all sort of plant nutrients, especially potassium and micro-nutrients. It's safe for fish (people have used wayyy to much and i've never heard of fish dying from it). I'd try a tablespoon a week, for a couple weeks and see if there's an improvement with the plants.

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