haole420
Active Member
how often were you flushing? if you were flushing every week or two, then it makes sense that the organics didn't have time to break down into soluble, chelated forms usable by the plant.
an alternative to brewing teas would be to dosing an aquarium with organic fert, letting it digest for a week, then topping off your hydro res with the fish/organic water. the aquarium filter will filter out any undigested organic solids.
once in the hydro system, the nitro bacteria will prevent root rot, although it's not likely to survive for long without a steady supply of ammonia. but that's the same as soil bacteria: it can't survive in an aqueous environment very long. same benefit though, and cheaper (free).
i haven't flushed in over 10 weeks with my aquaponic system. have been dosing with bioweed here and there, and have had no problems with gunk or rot. i think the fish, snails, naturally occurring bacteria, and humic acids (from pond clarifier products) do a good job of breaking it down quickly. i've also added nirvana with no issues, but that seems like it's super soluble to begin with. my system also has a vortex filter to trap suspended organic material, which gets digested by a pleco. scavenger fish groom any particles off of the roots. pump filter needs to be rinsed about every two weeks.
switching to GO + calmag next grow (dec 1?) and seeing how far i get with that. not going to be a scientific experiment in that i can't segregate my system into ap+synthetic and ap+organic subsystems for a side-by-side comparison. the strain will also likely vary from my current grow. i leave it up to my clone supplier: "chef's choice."
an alternative to brewing teas would be to dosing an aquarium with organic fert, letting it digest for a week, then topping off your hydro res with the fish/organic water. the aquarium filter will filter out any undigested organic solids.
once in the hydro system, the nitro bacteria will prevent root rot, although it's not likely to survive for long without a steady supply of ammonia. but that's the same as soil bacteria: it can't survive in an aqueous environment very long. same benefit though, and cheaper (free).
i haven't flushed in over 10 weeks with my aquaponic system. have been dosing with bioweed here and there, and have had no problems with gunk or rot. i think the fish, snails, naturally occurring bacteria, and humic acids (from pond clarifier products) do a good job of breaking it down quickly. i've also added nirvana with no issues, but that seems like it's super soluble to begin with. my system also has a vortex filter to trap suspended organic material, which gets digested by a pleco. scavenger fish groom any particles off of the roots. pump filter needs to be rinsed about every two weeks.
switching to GO + calmag next grow (dec 1?) and seeing how far i get with that. not going to be a scientific experiment in that i can't segregate my system into ap+synthetic and ap+organic subsystems for a side-by-side comparison. the strain will also likely vary from my current grow. i leave it up to my clone supplier: "chef's choice."
