Fishy Buds
Member
(I allow others to post in this grow journal)
Hey everyone! Just starting a grow journal to share information and results of my first grow using aquaponics! So I am already a little bit into the grow, but I will fill you in on the details. First off I have quite the experience with hydroponic growing as I have done many runs in hydroponics, as well as some in soil over a span of 6 years. I have been out of the loop for a while (3-4 years) but am starting up again and trying out aquaponics.
Grow room is pretty simple: Sealed and insulated with 2 rooms - one for moms and veg and the other for flower. All you will see in these pics is the veg room but worry not as the plants are soon to go into flower and then you will get a glimpse into that. Pretty small setup with only 8 plants veg, 2 moms (only 1 strain currently searching for what I want for the other one) and going to be doing a ScrOG with the screen in the flower room.
Ok so I have Sour Tangie as the strain, an 80% Sativa, 20% Indica cross and it definitely shows in the internodal spacing. They are being trained with fishing weights and yes, not the ideal training right now but I was overcoming some issues with some calcium deficiency and trying to overcome some other plant stressese topping, etc. etc. Anyways long story short they got a lot taller than I wanted before training but I am working with what I got.
Onto the aquaponics info: this is different than the typical systems you see people trying to run. This is a decoupled system. What that means is that I have a tank running with fish, and I take that water and put it into a separate reservoir for the plants isolated from the fish system. Fear not as this is still aquaponics in that no water is wasted. After pulling water out of the fish tank and putting it into the plant system, I simply top off the fish tank with clean water. More elaborately I should note that I actually have a filter taking out the solid waste. This solid waste is cleaned out of the filter and along with tank water put into a separate Minteralization Tank where it is churned to stay aerobic allowing for bacteria to break down the solids. After breakdown, this is the water which goes into the plant reservoir. I have about 50 tilapia and two plecos in a 250 gallon IBC tote. The tilapia are new and still pretty small (much bigger than when I got them) with the biggest around 3 inches or so. The system is still maturing so hoping to get better results with nutrient production after a few months. The picture below of the fish is about a week after I got them. I will try to get some more picture of the fish setup by this weekend or early next week.
So why do I find this to be more ideal than the "coupled" systems you see others doing? One is that I avoid the nasty mess of solids in my grow rocks. Second, logic says plants in hydroponics want a lower pH down near 5.7ish. Though I have seen many great aquaponic system growing produce operating around 6.8, I can't defeat the logic of science saying a more complete ion exchange occurs at the lower pH. I can also keep my fish and plants separate which is ideal for my small growing space. In addition, I can add supplements to the plants without affecting the fish which though some purists would argue against this practice, from my observations most commercial aquaponics facilities follow the practice of using additives as needed.
So without writing a novel, check out the pictures below. First set are from a little over a week ago and the pics where the plants are, well, bigger are from a few days ago. I have solely used aquaponic water for these plants and have only added a little ca-mg supplementation recently when I saw the calcium deficiency and as with all aquaponic systems, of course I add some chelated iron. I also add some homemade compost tea, but this is in a smaller quantity of roughly 1 cup for every 5 gallons and is simply an inoculate against any root borne pathogens as well as a foliar to protect the phyllosphere.
The most recent pictures show some deficiency starting in the lower leaves and some purpling of the stems making me think it is either Mg or K deficiency (thinking K as it is more common a deficiency though I do add potassium carbonate to fish tank so might me Mg). I sent in a water sample ( the first) to be analyzed this week so I am awaiting the results before I start making additions of any sort. Oh and last thing here are all my specs as of today:
Strain: Sour Tangie
Temperature: Room - 75-78F, Water is lower than ambient but must be close (didn't check it today but will tomorrow) but roots look fine due to compost tea inoculation)
RH: 50-55
pH: 5.7
EC: 1.6
Any thoughts on deficiency are appreciated... or take your bets as once the water analysis is in we will have the winner! The one weird thing is that the moms are not showing near the amount of deficiency symptoms as the other veg plants and have little to no purpling of the stems and yet they are same strain (sister clones), same water, same room. Only difference is the moms are receiving less light right now which I suspect may be the issues as the veg plants might be trying to photosynthesize more and consuming and requiring more nutrients... although at this points the one large mom is bigger than the rest which kinda negates the photosynthesis hypothesis somewhat.... I dunno just kinda waiting on the water analysis as that will shed light on everything.
Thanks for those who follow this grow journal and help with their knowledge and I will answer any questions and try to help with mine - Cheers! (I allow others to post in this grow journal)
Hey everyone! Just starting a grow journal to share information and results of my first grow using aquaponics! So I am already a little bit into the grow, but I will fill you in on the details. First off I have quite the experience with hydroponic growing as I have done many runs in hydroponics, as well as some in soil over a span of 6 years. I have been out of the loop for a while (3-4 years) but am starting up again and trying out aquaponics.
Grow room is pretty simple: Sealed and insulated with 2 rooms - one for moms and veg and the other for flower. All you will see in these pics is the veg room but worry not as the plants are soon to go into flower and then you will get a glimpse into that. Pretty small setup with only 8 plants veg, 2 moms (only 1 strain currently searching for what I want for the other one) and going to be doing a ScrOG with the screen in the flower room.
Ok so I have Sour Tangie as the strain, an 80% Sativa, 20% Indica cross and it definitely shows in the internodal spacing. They are being trained with fishing weights and yes, not the ideal training right now but I was overcoming some issues with some calcium deficiency and trying to overcome some other plant stressese topping, etc. etc. Anyways long story short they got a lot taller than I wanted before training but I am working with what I got.
Onto the aquaponics info: this is different than the typical systems you see people trying to run. This is a decoupled system. What that means is that I have a tank running with fish, and I take that water and put it into a separate reservoir for the plants isolated from the fish system. Fear not as this is still aquaponics in that no water is wasted. After pulling water out of the fish tank and putting it into the plant system, I simply top off the fish tank with clean water. More elaborately I should note that I actually have a filter taking out the solid waste. This solid waste is cleaned out of the filter and along with tank water put into a separate Minteralization Tank where it is churned to stay aerobic allowing for bacteria to break down the solids. After breakdown, this is the water which goes into the plant reservoir. I have about 50 tilapia and two plecos in a 250 gallon IBC tote. The tilapia are new and still pretty small (much bigger than when I got them) with the biggest around 3 inches or so. The system is still maturing so hoping to get better results with nutrient production after a few months. The picture below of the fish is about a week after I got them. I will try to get some more picture of the fish setup by this weekend or early next week.
So why do I find this to be more ideal than the "coupled" systems you see others doing? One is that I avoid the nasty mess of solids in my grow rocks. Second, logic says plants in hydroponics want a lower pH down near 5.7ish. Though I have seen many great aquaponic system growing produce operating around 6.8, I can't defeat the logic of science saying a more complete ion exchange occurs at the lower pH. I can also keep my fish and plants separate which is ideal for my small growing space. In addition, I can add supplements to the plants without affecting the fish which though some purists would argue against this practice, from my observations most commercial aquaponics facilities follow the practice of using additives as needed.
So without writing a novel, check out the pictures below. First set are from a little over a week ago and the pics where the plants are, well, bigger are from a few days ago. I have solely used aquaponic water for these plants and have only added a little ca-mg supplementation recently when I saw the calcium deficiency and as with all aquaponic systems, of course I add some chelated iron. I also add some homemade compost tea, but this is in a smaller quantity of roughly 1 cup for every 5 gallons and is simply an inoculate against any root borne pathogens as well as a foliar to protect the phyllosphere.
The most recent pictures show some deficiency starting in the lower leaves and some purpling of the stems making me think it is either Mg or K deficiency (thinking K as it is more common a deficiency though I do add potassium carbonate to fish tank so might me Mg). I sent in a water sample ( the first) to be analyzed this week so I am awaiting the results before I start making additions of any sort. Oh and last thing here are all my specs as of today:
Strain: Sour Tangie
Temperature: Room - 75-78F, Water is lower than ambient but must be close (didn't check it today but will tomorrow) but roots look fine due to compost tea inoculation)
RH: 50-55
pH: 5.7
EC: 1.6
Any thoughts on deficiency are appreciated... or take your bets as once the water analysis is in we will have the winner! The one weird thing is that the moms are not showing near the amount of deficiency symptoms as the other veg plants and have little to no purpling of the stems and yet they are same strain (sister clones), same water, same room. Only difference is the moms are receiving less light right now which I suspect may be the issues as the veg plants might be trying to photosynthesize more and consuming and requiring more nutrients... although at this points the one large mom is bigger than the rest which kinda negates the photosynthesis hypothesis somewhat.... I dunno just kinda waiting on the water analysis as that will shed light on everything.
Thanks for those who follow this grow journal and help with their knowledge and I will answer any questions and try to help with mine - Cheers! (I allow others to post in this grow journal)
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