Comment

Comment by Kim Romen on June 2, 2014 at 1:19pm

Chris, I do keep getting thermometor and thermostat confused so thx for pointing it out!  It's a thermometor-no plug.  I bought another one and the new one, depending on the time of ay is about 10 degrees cooler.  Right now at noon with having had 80% natural shade covering from grape vine all morning the water is reading 83.7 on the new thermometor verses 90.9 reading on the old thermometor that's a relief! 

Stephanie, I haven't been spraying the baking soda/water mixture daily and have a feeling i should have cut off most of the leaves instead.  now the leaves that have the mildew are doing worse.  i dont see it spreading necessarily but the whole plants just didn't do so well.  from past experience i should prob just pull them before they get over to the nicer plants.  maybe wouldn't hurt to plant something new to have different harvest times anyway.  hate to start new.  anyone else have a history with mildews?

John (or others), I had heard that continuous flow method is a good way to grow in AP.  Does what u are saying mean that all continuous flow method beds lose more water?  thx for sharing your pics.  they are always so encouraging and give me something to strive for. 

Comment by Jeb Calen on June 2, 2014 at 1:06pm

Saw a deal on woot.com for 1K GPH pumps, they seem to be well regarded on amazon.  May be worth it for someone.

Active Aqua AAPW1000 Submersible Pump

Also - How often & what dosage do people supplement their AP systems here?  My first year was somewhat anemic (and expected on a new system), but year 2 still had a good amount of iron and other nutrient deficiencies.

I'm adding iron chelate (with zinc / magnesium / copper), potassium bicarbonate (not on same day as iron), and seaweed extract.  Plants are doing better now, but I'd like to get an idea of baseline for similar IBC based systems here.

Comment by Jeff S on May 31, 2014 at 3:51pm

Good lesson to know. Sometimes we out think ourselves and overlook the obvious.

Comment by John Malone on May 31, 2014 at 3:18pm

Water Use : Solving a problem

In recent weeks I've been going through a LOT of water.  So much so that I concluded that I must have a leak in the system somewhere.   I was losing well over 50 gallons a day, every day.   What puzzled me though, was with that much loss I should be able to see dampness somewhere.  But I couldn't.  A little leakage around a bulkhead and a few drops at the outflow of a siphon don't add up to 50 gallons.

Hmmmmm......  must be the liner in the fish tank or DWC bed leaking in to the ground below where I can't see,   But that just didn't feel right.  Pond liner is good stuff, and I haven't been playing with sharp objects near it.    I was vexed.

So I tucked it in the worry bin in the back of my brain box and kept adding water and running the AP system.  

What's that?   The siphon on grow bed 2 is stuck in the dreaded 'continuous flow' mode.   Drat!  Hate it when it does that.   I've been doing this long enough to know how to troubleshoot siphons.   Continuous flow in a normally working siphon means only one thing: the water flow rate has dropped.  The last five times this happened it was debris stuck in the pump impeller, but a quick check indicated that the pump was fine.

Wait!   I've got tomatoes in grow bed 2.   Big ones.  With lots of roots.  A look inside the siphon and, lo and behold, it's full of roots.   Yup - that'll slow the flow nicely.   A quick twist of the media guard to cut the roots and out they came, and the siphon started performing beautifully again and has been ever since.

And then an odd thing happened: the water loss improved immediately and dramatically.   Hmmmm - now that is odd.   I mulled over this for a day or so and came to the following conclusion.

When the siphon is in continuous flow, the water level in the grow bed is at the top of the siphon standpipe; as high as it can go.   There is only an inch or so of gravel above that water line, and the cinder/lava rock that I have wicks water very well.  I effectively had a very large evaporation tray set up being continually fed water and held to a constant level by the faulty siphon.  Normally the water level is only at that height for less than a minute before the siphon drains it away.

With humidity levels down to 20%, I was pumping water in to the air, very efficiently.

Comment by John Malone on May 31, 2014 at 2:58pm

Kim Romen got me thinking about water temperature, so I checked the fish tank.  Sitting just below 79F, which is about where I thought it might be, or even a little cooler than I expected.   If Kim's temperature is truly 104, which I'm a little sceptical about, then it's going to be a true problem during the extended hot spells.

I'd be grabbing a second thermometer, or even a third...

Comment by Stephanie Bader on May 30, 2014 at 8:14pm

Kim, I've got powdery mildew on my cucumbers too. How is the baking soda and water working our for you?

Comment by Chris George on May 30, 2014 at 12:01pm

@Kim.....you keep saying 'thermostat'....(as opposed to thermometer).....you aren't using a heater in your tank are you?  Does your 'thermostat' have an electrical cord attached to it??  (sorry, but I had to ask....)

Comment by Kim Romen on May 29, 2014 at 12:30am

Bob, yes I just saw the video.  Very helpful.  Thankyou very much!

Comment by Kim Romen on May 29, 2014 at 12:30am

Bob and Jim, I've been meaning to get some air stones.  I just ordered some and a thermometer.  I will look into a crown of water feature if I see that the thermometer is right.  It seems off to me, too, so I hope you're right Jim! 

I hope that if I do a stream and pond that ends up being in the sun more than this system, it will be ok as far as heating and cooling!

thanku! 

Comment by Jim Troyer on May 28, 2014 at 7:28pm

Hi Kim:

Something is not right with that thermostat.  It has only been above 104 once this year.  You will find that the water is pretty close to the average temperature

My jacuzzi system is more exposed than your system and the water temp is 84 degrees a 6:00pm

Nice Growth Scott!

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