SnailPowered's Aquaponic Adventures

SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
Here are pictures of the plants from a bit ago, I'm really hoping they start improving!

Sugar Plum


Green Crack


Durban Poison


Purple Mayhem


El Fuego


Blueberry
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
The nitrogen is in the water, I'm getting about 20ppm for the system. That has seen other plants thrive. Although I don't know how to find out without digging down to the roots I'm guessing that it is probably root rot. The water is has a lot of movement and aeration so that should help guard against root rot I guess. The more I have read into the symptoms I really think that not having the water flowing constantly with the lights one initially is what allowed it to bloom so much. The water is oxygen rich but I doubt there is much movement of air through the substrate without the water going. With the water doing its flood and drain the substrate has air flowing through it constantly. Adding a fertilizer with beneficial bacteria seems to be the only other guard against root rot bacteria I can find.
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
I decided to change out the sphagnum moss because it hasn't been done and it should help bring the PH down a bit. I also cleaned out the bell siphon and it was really nasty. It definitely wasn't flooding and draining the way it is supposed to so that could have been part of the problem. There was a healthy amount of roots from the last plant growing in the sphagnum moss which I thought was kind of funny. I will let you guys know if anything changes noticeably. The plants don't appear to be improving but if they are getting worse it is very, very slow. The biggest concern is that I don't see any new growth coming in. The last plants that were transplanted into the aquaponics went from a pot in my backyard I had thrown seeds in to see if they would grow and they once they got into the aquaponics they burst with life.
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

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I opened the tent today and the Blueberry plant is visibly less curled with the leaves extending much farther outward! It's a small sign, but it is a positive sign and I'm really happy to see a positive sign!

Sugar Plum (I'm keeping the same order)


Green Crack


Durban Poison


Purple Mayhem


El Fuego


Blueberry


These are much closer up and I'm not satisfied with them for comparison, I'm going to take more...
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
Ok, these are standing up. I think they are more like the others that I took when I wasn't happy about how they were looking hahahah.

Sugar Plum


Green Crack


Durban Poison


Purple Mayhem


El Fuego


Blueberry


I put about a half teaspoon of Superthrive in each 3" PVC of sphagnum moss yesterday afternoon. That is the only change I made. I can't say that the Superthrive made the difference for sure obviously, but I am very happy that the plants may be on the up side. The Sugar Plum and Green Crack are very unlikely to recover IMO, but I'm still hopeful.
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
bf80255 said:
Nice save! :)
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Thanks! I'm really hoping that all six pull out of it. I went ahead and added another half teaspoon to each sphagnum moss tonight. I could dump all 4 oz. of the Superthrive directly into the tank and it would be the recommended dosage, so I don't think I can add too much. It has fertilizer numbers of 0.5-0-0 so it certainly won't nute burn the roots. I am contemplating adding some Fox Farm Big Bloom 6-4-4 occasionally the same way. I think I may go ahead with that plan since this is working out well so far.
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
Here are some pictures of the plants 24 hours-ish later. The Blueberry is looking better with less curl to its leaves so that make me happy. The Durban Poison is looking pretty good considering the rough start to life it has had so far, which is really exciting to me because I have never tried DP.

Sugar Plum
IMG_0886.JPG
Green Crack
IMG_0889.JPG

Durban Poison
IMG_0890.JPG

Purple Mayhem
IMG_0892.JPG

El Fuego
IMG_0893.JPG

Blueberry
IMG_0894.JPG
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
The plants in the aquaponics are looking a bit better but still showing the signs of the root problems. In the meantime I decided to play with my USB "microscope" that was like $35 on Amazon and take some pictures of the dried Silver AK. I have really enjoyed smoking this, it is a bit heavier body high than I would prefer but I find it helps me focus and feel more alert.
Silver AK_001.jpg Silver AK_002.jpg Silver AK_003.jpg Silver AK_004.jpg
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
Beastly lathe in your avatar pic. You run one of those at work, or?
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I call that "The Queen" it's my favorite lathe in the school shop. It's one of two Monarch lathes, that is the shorter one. it was last rebuilt in 1959 when my dad was 2 months old and it still holds .001" accuracy without a problem. The only drawback is that they didn't mount a DRO on it.
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
I'm trying to get a Smithy Granite for my home. The machine maintenance tech for my school compared it to a Bridgeport for milling capacity, thats plenty for my home projects.
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
I decided to get a rough estimate on the weight of my last harvest. I got 75 grams on hand, and that is after smoking roughly 7, giving 7 to my in-laws for helping me trim and watching my dogs and then probably another half oz. went into butter for edibles. So all in all I think I got about 3.5 ounces from the Silver AK plant which is a bit heavier than I was actually expecting.
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
Everything is going well now minus the Sugar Plum and Green Crack. I'm almost positive that the Sugar Plum is dead, there's a faint hope that the Green Crack I still alive, but it's slim. Other than that the Durban Poison and three indicas are growing well, soaking up tons of light and growing leaves like hedge bushes. I will post some pictures tomorrow now that my internet is back up.
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
Sorry for not posting pics as promised. My pregnant wife woke me up at 6am to take her to the hospital and got there to find out she has a kidney infection. She is fine, it was caught early enough to not cause any major problems but it definitely made for an exciting day. I think I will have time tomorrow, I took pictures but I'm too tired to wait for them to upload right now.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
SnailPowered said:
Sorry for not posting pics as promised. My pregnant wife woke me up at 6am to take her to the hospital and got there to find out she has a kidney infection. She is fine, it was caught early enough to not cause any major problems but it definitely made for an exciting day. I think I will have time tomorrow, I took pictures but I'm too tired to wait for them to upload right now.
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Yikes! Uh, get some sleep, bro. We'll be here.
 
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