Plants not growing in rafts at all - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-29T05:30:23Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/plants-not-growing-in-rafts-at-all?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A251388&feed=yes&xn_auth=noId look at feeding more and t…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-20:4778851:Comment:2524722011-11-20T10:53:51.849ZRyan Chattersonhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/Ryan
<p>Id look at feeding more and trying to bring those nitrates into the measurable range. Also, a hardness of 0 is certainly not good. Add some calcium hydroxide to bring that number up (I would shoot for 60-100ppm depending on the crop being grown).</p>
<p>Id look at feeding more and trying to bring those nitrates into the measurable range. Also, a hardness of 0 is certainly not good. Add some calcium hydroxide to bring that number up (I would shoot for 60-100ppm depending on the crop being grown).</p> What test kit are you using?…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-17:4778851:Comment:2514552011-11-17T23:44:26.195ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>What test kit are you using?</p>
<p>if you are using the API master test kit for your pH, a reading of 6 only tells you that the pH is 6 or lower. You might want to make sure the pH isn't way low since I notice that you note your hardness is also 0.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Seeing as all your nitrogen is 0 it could just be that you don't have enough feed going into the system to support the amount of plants you have. Watercress is greedy and can use up lots of nutrients before the other plants get…</p>
<p>What test kit are you using?</p>
<p>if you are using the API master test kit for your pH, a reading of 6 only tells you that the pH is 6 or lower. You might want to make sure the pH isn't way low since I notice that you note your hardness is also 0.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Seeing as all your nitrogen is 0 it could just be that you don't have enough feed going into the system to support the amount of plants you have. Watercress is greedy and can use up lots of nutrients before the other plants get a chance at it (water cress being a water plant it probably uses some of the ammonia before it has a chance to be converted to nitrate which the other plants want.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What kind of feed are you using? Lower quality feed can leave you missing nutrients. Feed designed for ornamental systems tends to be as low in nutrients as it can since overload of nutrients and need to do water changes is a problem for ornamental systems while in aquaponics we want feeds designed for recirculating systems to grow out fish as quick as possible since the nutrients needed to grow fish flesh are also the same nutrients that will help grow veggies as well.</p> Hi Guys sorry for the lag I h…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-17:4778851:Comment:2513882011-11-17T19:50:59.049Zcharles pettersonhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/charlespetterson
<p>Hi Guys sorry for the lag I had been wating for an ammonia test kit.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>ammonia 0</p>
<p>nitrites 0</p>
<p>nitrates 0</p>
<p>ph 6</p>
<p>alk 80</p>
<p>hardness 0</p>
<p>d / o high</p>
<p>total system volume 4000 gals</p>
<p>surface area 720 sq ft</p>
<p> fish av. size 5 ins 180</p>
<p>2 troughs have cress the rest are now waiting for seedlings</p>
<p>troughs have airstones as does the degass tank</p>
<p>the water passes thru the…</p>
<p>Hi Guys sorry for the lag I had been wating for an ammonia test kit.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>ammonia 0</p>
<p>nitrites 0</p>
<p>nitrates 0</p>
<p>ph 6</p>
<p>alk 80</p>
<p>hardness 0</p>
<p>d / o high</p>
<p>total system volume 4000 gals</p>
<p>surface area 720 sq ft</p>
<p> fish av. size 5 ins 180</p>
<p>2 troughs have cress the rest are now waiting for seedlings</p>
<p>troughs have airstones as does the degass tank</p>
<p>the water passes thru the three filter tanks the goes into 12 half barrel beds full of cinder</p>
<p>the cinder has taro , vanilla , garlic , wing beans and nasturtiums growing very well .</p>
<p>the water then flows down thru a syphon and on thru the troughs , it then flows into a 500 gal sump tank</p>
<p>and pumps back up to the fish tank again.</p>
<p>the sweetwater pump is on a float switch that cycles every half hour</p>
<p>the blower cycles on 4 hrs / off 4 hrs repeatedly</p>
<p> </p>
<p>initially we grew amish deer tongue and manoa lettuce with great results no they simply</p>
<p>wither , almost zero growth.</p>
<p>I have a pond loaded with tilapi ave size 4 ins and am catching about twenty a day and raising the population </p>
<p>in the system .</p>
<p> </p>
<p>could the problem be the cinder , it is the red big island type ? </p>
<p>the cress?</p>
<p>the flow volume ?</p>
<p>I will send a sketch of the system layout</p>
<p> thanks for your patience</p>
<p> </p>
<p>charlie</p> Hey Carlie sorry to hear you…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-06:4778851:Comment:2435262011-11-06T05:38:10.620ZChris Smithhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/ChrisSmith
<p>Hey Carlie sorry to hear you are having problems. You have 6 troughs that are 4' x 30'. That is 720 square feet of growing space. With a minimum fish load of .3lbs/sqft you should have 216 lbs of fish or more to fertilize the system. How much fish do you have? What type of filtration do you have between the fish tank and the troughs? How often are you feeding? Are you aerating your troughs? Answers to all TC's questions are needed too. Give me a call and i can help.</p>
<p>Hey Carlie sorry to hear you are having problems. You have 6 troughs that are 4' x 30'. That is 720 square feet of growing space. With a minimum fish load of .3lbs/sqft you should have 216 lbs of fish or more to fertilize the system. How much fish do you have? What type of filtration do you have between the fish tank and the troughs? How often are you feeding? Are you aerating your troughs? Answers to all TC's questions are needed too. Give me a call and i can help.</p> What is the ammonia test say?…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-11-06:4778851:Comment:2437122011-11-06T02:25:14.387ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>What is the ammonia test say?</p>
<p>How bout pH?</p>
<p>How long has the system been running?</p>
<p>How many fish?</p>
<p>What about temperatures?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Watercress is a greedy plant that like cool weather and alkai conditions so if your pH is on the high side, I'm gonna guess that it is steeling all the nutrients and the rest of your plants are struggling. Is the watercress taking over the world?</p>
<p>What is the ammonia test say?</p>
<p>How bout pH?</p>
<p>How long has the system been running?</p>
<p>How many fish?</p>
<p>What about temperatures?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Watercress is a greedy plant that like cool weather and alkai conditions so if your pH is on the high side, I'm gonna guess that it is steeling all the nutrients and the rest of your plants are struggling. Is the watercress taking over the world?</p>