yellowing plants

[carl sass]

 

Hi All

 This my first time posting and really new to aquiponics. I currently have a working system.I have 3 halfs of 55gal drums set up as an ebb and flow system and a 3'x6'x1' set up as a raft system.Both systems are serviced by a 200+ gal fish tank. the ebb and flow system is going great guns , but the raft system is a lot slower growing and now most of the plants are yellowing. can any one fiquire out what my problem is

[TCLynx]

how much air do you have pumping into the raft bed?  Not enough aeration in a raft bed can certainly slow plant growth.

I have also noticed that plants in raft and nft for me seem to suffer more from nutrient deficiencies than the ones in my media beds.  Seems to me that under less than favorable nutrient availability situations (high pH or whatever) the plants in the media seem to have easier access to the mineralized solids and seem to fair better.  So, the plants in the raft yellowing could be a sign that the system is still really new or you have a deficiency of some kind.  If it is Iron deficiency it will show up in new growth first as yellowing between the veins while the veins stay green.

[carl sass]

 

 Thanks for your insight TCLynx. I do not have any extra aeration in my bed other than the aerated water going in ,so I will try your advice and add a bubbler. I currently only have four largemouth bass in my fish tank but I have been adding fish fertilizer with kelp which has the major elenents as well as the micronutrients. My system has been running for about two months now.if by adding the aeration dose not help do you think I should add more fertilizer or wait and let the system mature more ? I am  looking to get more fish (yellow perch) the first part of may.The yellowing starts half way up the plant at the stem and spreads out with the bottom staing green and the top yellow.

 

 

 

[TCLynx]

What is your pH?  You might need some chelated iron?

[carl sass]

my ph is 7 -7.5 nitrate  20 -40 ppm  nitrite  0.5-1.0 ppm   carbonate hardness  180-240ppm and general hardness is 120-180 ppm   I am just using a 5 in 1 test strip

[TCLynx]

The test strips are not generally considered very accurate.  But with a fairly new system and a pH over 7, you may need an occasional dose of chelated iron.

[carl sass]

Thanks I will give that a shot

TCLynx said:

The test strips are not generally considered very accurate.  But with a fairly new system and a pH over 7, you may need an occasional dose of chelated iron.