Aquaponic Gardening

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Raft/Deep Water Culture Growers

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Raft/Deep Water Culture Growers

A group dedicated to raft growers. A place to share tips, tricks, and general info.

Website: http://coastviewaquaponics.com
Members: 378
Latest Activity: Dec 8, 2022

Discussion Forum

A short time lapse of a "different" application of DWC

Started by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. Jul 2, 2017. 0 Replies

Just an FYI. Here is the link to the youtube vid: http://bit.ly/2sLEAgABelow is a still of the system.…Continue

Floating Raft above Aquarium

Started by Courtney. Last reply by kimlee kingston Jan 4, 2015. 2 Replies

Hi everyone! I had some issues with setting up a grow bed's plumbing and it got me to thinking, in the interim, can I just set up a raft directly onto the fish tank? If it were any other kind of…Continue

polypropylene for "tray-ponics"-type "rafts"

Started by Paul Trudeau. Last reply by Joni Solis Nov 14, 2014. 37 Replies

Glenn Martinez has described a nice small raft system where he uses 24 inch x 36 inch x 8 inch-deep plastic masonry mixing tubs (trays) (available at Home Depot) as plant troughs.  Instead of…Continue

Stll in business- Coastview Aquaponics

Started by Michael Gough. Last reply by Michael Gough Aug 20, 2014. 3 Replies

Aloha all,Just joined today. 2 years ago had taken a tour of Coastview Aquaponics operation. Going back to the big island IN 4 WEEKS to see what damage our Puna property sustained from the…Continue

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Comment by Kate Mink on April 10, 2012 at 12:37pm

Dustin, you might try regular spraying with Botanigard. It's expensive but safe to use right up to harvest, and controls a wide variety of pests. Many tomato wilts are carried by bugs, and the idea is to keep the bugs down, so stary spraying early (when plants are a foot high or even sooner). You can't kill the blight, the idea is to keep from getting it.

Christian, I agree that you probably have low nutrients in your system. How many fish do you have? How large are they? I recommend you get a nutrient test kit and check for pH, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. I like the liquid kits from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals better than the test strips. Again, a bit pricy, but easy and precise, and a $30 kit may last years.

Comment by Mörður Gunnarsson Ottesen on April 10, 2012 at 4:55am

Cristian, I would guess that your problem is that the plants aren't getting all the minerals/nutrition that they need. Check your PH regularly to see if it is stable and in the right range. If you show/send a picture then I can probably diagnose the problem.
Observation from picture:
If your system is small and exposed to rainwater then controlling the system is futile. 

Comment by Dustin Hardin on April 9, 2012 at 11:55pm

How do you help with Blite on tomato plants so that you do not hurt the fish or kill bacteria? Thank you for your help.

Comment by Christian De La Nuez on April 9, 2012 at 6:17pm

The small system that I'm using is the one shown on my avatar. Water temp is always between 70-84 degrees. They get around 12 hours of light. One small lettuce has one leaf starting to yellow a little bit. All the other lettuce looks nice and healthy, just very small for being 41 days old. I started them out in root cubes in a shallow pan with water for 22 hours a day and 2 hours of no water. Then when they had their first set of leaves, I put them in net cups (with the root cubes). And thats where I'm at now. They have 3-4 leaves each but are tiny. I also have 2 serrano pepper plants in there and they have stayed pretty small too. They have 4 leaves each but haven't grown from there.

Comment by Jordan Erickson on April 9, 2012 at 4:24pm

Christian, do you have the system attached to a grow bed, or bio system of sorts for the Bacteria to colonize and convert the ammonia into usable form for the plants?

Comment by Kate Mink on April 9, 2012 at 4:03pm

Christian, what are your nutrient levels? Light? temperature? are your plants showing any signs of distress such as yellowing? If you pick one up, does it have lng healthy roots? Impossible to even guess what's going on without more information!

Comment by Christian De La Nuez on April 9, 2012 at 3:29pm

Hello everyone, I have been growing my lettuce in my small backyard setup for 41 days now and my lettuce is still tiny. I thought I was supposed to have table ready lettuce in 40-50 days. Anyone have any idea why it's taking so long?

Comment by Rick Welland on March 20, 2012 at 9:58pm

On my page about halfway down is a drawing of our layout. How does ground water maintain O levels? ?? Fish have been living in parts of those ponds for some years now. We intend to widen and deepen the ponds so that we can support a larger population of fish. And will areate on the return from the growing trays. And experiment some with food.Have large filters for the water entering the holding tanks tho may need to filter the water before entering the pump.

(Lived for over 30 years in the islands and miss greatly some of what you are enjoying.Still at much the same lattitude but at 6000' high we don't have the coconuts..) Cheers... 

Comment by Kate Mink on March 19, 2012 at 7:56pm

well, I like to maintain circulation 24/7. If you're getting aeration this way, as I am, you need it as much at night as by day, and it ensures that nutrients and O2 are always mixed. Turning pumps on and off can be hard on them, or they can lose prime. That said, some kind of short power-cycling to save electricity is worthwhile if your pump is good with that - many people do it. And if your pump can go low-high instead of on-off, that could be the best.The plants can be stagnant for a day or 2 with no harm; fish need O2 24/7.

As to top vs. bottom trays - I have long troughs, and I don't see any difference in nutrients between water fresh out of the fish tank and water going back in. Friendlys report the same.

Pontoons vs. rafts - seems like they both work well.

Comment by Rick Welland on March 19, 2012 at 4:39pm

sorry meant to add that my holding tanks are about 800 gallons so could use that daytime stored extra fish pond water to trickle flow thru growing trays at nite- at perhaps a slower rate?

another question?? How does it work re the top trays getting more nutrients than the trays lower down in the system? need to occasionally switch bottom trays to top? Rotate? Or? 

 

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