Aquaponics system update week 16

6 weeks of blogging on steemit!

The black gold from last week did not turn the tide for the already diseased plants. We will see if it protects the other plants from getting that bad. Feeding averaging 110 gr per day. I lowered the water an extra cm on the left growbed because the surface was wet not just moist. That can't be good with 20+ °C. I pulled out the snowpeas since they started to dry up.

My water cleared up enough to at least see the bottom again. Fish are growing, I'll be harvesting the first within the month. I'm convinced now aquaponics does not work without a solids filter beyond media growbeds. My growbeds are filling up with mud/fishpoop. I do have rainworms in there helping, but it's just not enough.
If you are starting out with aquaponics, build something like a radial flow filter or swirl filter from the gow. Yes, my system is still going but it's just not good if you cant see your fish properly.

still solids after growbed	worms at evey root I pull :D

Nutes in ppm

I hit some form of stability now, the PO4 dropped and the KOH being added to neutralize the pH seems to keep K stable at 45. Nitrates seem low but the tomatoes are growing really big leafs and setting fruit. If I had to go blind, I would be adding 20 ml KOH (25%) every day and 5 gr iron chelate every week. It should be doable to only measure pH and have your system running well if you have some experience within your parameters.

Element	My values	Typical hydroponic solution
N	10	210
P	12 - 18	31
K	45	235
Ca	140	200
Mg	30	48
Fe	0.6	1 to 5
Cu	0	0.05
NO2	0.3	0
NH4	0.05	0

More pictures

^^ giant tomato leafs or small hands. I leave you with this riddle