Comment

Comment by Jim Troyer on February 26, 2014 at 12:37am

It took me 3 days to catch my first fish on a fly. Now I can feed myself at will.  It takes time to learn a skill, you have learned many.  You only lose when you quit.  Keep the faith Casey

Comment by Casey Unfried on February 25, 2014 at 10:51pm

I have tried fly fishing...lets just say ive never done it right  I am a terrible fisherwoman..i am surprised i can catch my tilapia 

Comment by Jim Troyer on February 25, 2014 at 7:18pm

The trick I use to catch fish in a stream is fly fishing.  Drowning a worm or throwing hardware never worked for me...anywhere

Comment by Casey Unfried on February 25, 2014 at 1:22pm

@John

Oh my, well I never used that much but i definitely will not be using it again

@Jim

I have fished for a long time and NEVER GET BITES. I am an awful fisherwoman XP I have tried everywhere here and cant catch anything haha, but I believe you, my dad is a great fisherman haha

Comment by Jim Troyer on February 25, 2014 at 1:14pm

Good fishing in the upper Verde there Casey, small mouth bass were beautiful. 

Be sure NOT to use citrus in AP

Comment by John Malone on February 25, 2014 at 1:11pm

@Casey Unfried

Stay away from citrus as a means to lower pH in aquaponics.  Citrus juice is an anti-bacterial, which will harm the beneficial bacteria in your system.  

You really don't want to harm the engine of your little eco-system, and the bacteria are doing most of the work.

One popular method is to use pool acid (muriatic), but with great caution, because it's strong.  It's cheap, readily available and does the job.  It's all I've used in my system.

Comment by Casey Unfried on February 25, 2014 at 12:30pm

@jim

Oh wow ours is just ridiculously hard. I live in Paulden if you know where that is, just fter Chino Valley

wow, i have heard oranges and limes(lemons) recommended as a good way to lower the ph. Thanks for the explanation^^

Comment by Jim Troyer on February 25, 2014 at 11:36am

Left you a voice mail Kim.  I should have numbers tomorrow.  Someone finally called me back this morning...

Comment by Kim Romen on February 25, 2014 at 9:19am

thx Jim!

Yes, Dr. Brooks or anyone who'd like to chime in also about the difference of the AP and soil growing season would be great.  Dr. Brooks, I know u just pulled your chard.  r u planting more?  can u not plant all the same veggies in a floating raft? 

thx again!  i have a few sprouts coming up today.  i planted a bit heavy with some seed directly in my system after pulling out the zucchini that was shot from fungus and bugs and some spinach.  i also have some seeds going in my mini greenhouse. 

Jim, email me some #s on materials for the long garden bed project when u have them!  i'm getting anxious to expand although it's been nice to get my feet wet slowly at the same time  :)

Comment by Jim Troyer on February 25, 2014 at 12:28am

@ Casey:

Good question!  7.4 pH is very good water for AZ, we in the Phoenix metro area suffer with ~8.3 pH

to answer your question, I looked to the mud farmers at Clemson University: 

Lime reduces soil acidity (increases pH) by changing some of the hydrogen ions into water and carbon dioxide (CO₂). A Ca⁺⁺ ion from the lime replaces two H⁺ ions on the cation exchange complex. The carbonate (CO₃^-) reacts with water to form bicarbonate (HCO₃^-). These react with H⁺ to form H₂O and CO₂. The pH increases because the H⁺ concentration has been reduced.

Since we are trying to lower the pH value in your system we do not want to add lime as it raises the pH value, making the solution more basic

(http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~blpprt/acidity2_review.html)

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