SnailPowered's Aquaponic Adventures

SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
Here are the pictures I took yesterday. The indicas look like little hedge bushes just growing fatter and thicker hahahah

Sugar Plum
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Green Crack
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Durban Poison
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Purple Mayhem
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El Fuego
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Blueberry
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Kneeling looking at the system
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Standing looking at it
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SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
I'm relatively positive that the Sugar Plum and Green Crack are dead, but until they turn brown they get a shot at returning lol. If they wilt completely or turn brown mostly they will be shoved down in to the grow bed for the worms to eat.
 
Yesdog

Yesdog

Well-Known Member
looking awesome!

Hmm, do you have any green algae growing anywhere? That stuff can suck up almost all the P and tons of N during a big bloom. Lack of P can produce some curling and stunting. I'm definitely in the 'low P' camp, but you definitely need some- and unfortunately there tends to be hot competition for P between the plants, algae, fungus and bacteria.

I've got 2 different sets of aquarium test strips I use. One measures up to about... 200pm nitrates (and other stuff i dont care much about), and another set of strips that'll measure up to 10ppm P. 20ppm is about the concentration of "free phosphates" you'd find it soil. The strips have definitely helped me, takes a lot of the guess work out of things.

As far as adding phosphates.... I *think* bone meal is ok for aquaponics, but from what I read it's not a great idea to use for marijuana anyways (trace lead content and stuff). monopotassium phosphate is used for helping feed aquarium plants, could probably work. (all of this assuming you actually have a P issue lol)
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
I'm curious about why you have such a wide disparity in vigor between individual plants. This points to a potential problem with the system or technique.

By way of example, I used to run bare root hydro from cradle to chop. Some of my plants did very well, some did poorly or even died! Tracking the problem back to its source revealed a root rot problem in early veg, which would sometimes fester and kill the rest of the rootball halfway thru bloom. This was caused by my netpots sitting flat on the flood table, which suffocated roots at the bottom. Lifting the netpots an inch to get better water and airflow beneath them solved the problem.
 
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SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
I think they may have some nutrient deficiencies because the curling on the Purple Mayhem and the El Fuego but it has been getting better. There is algae in the tank but I have noticed that as the plants have gotten healthier the algae has subsided. When the last plants were in veg the tank had no algae at all and no algae eaters. With a single flowering plant the algae started in the back of the tank. I got some algae eaters that have been knocking down the algae and I have been adding some Fox Farm Grow Big into the shapgnum moss every couple days. Just a teaspoon in each. I have put a mound of Happy Frog 5-5-5 fertilizer at the base of a plant before and it didn't seem to harm the aquaponics. I don't think a mound was a good idea, but I think I could sprinkle on the grow bed safely.
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
I'm curious about why you have such a wide disparity in vigor between individual plants. This points to a potential problem with the system or technique.

By way of example, I used to run bare root hydro from cradle to chop. Some of my plants did very well, some did poorly or even died! Tracking the problem back to its source revealed a root rot problem in early veg, which would sometimes faster and kill the rest of the rootball halfway thru bloom. This was caused by my netpots sitting flat on the flood table, which suffocated roots at the bottom. Lifting the netpots an inch to get better water and airflow beneath them solved the problem.
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Those two were the youngest and least healthy with the least amount of roots present when I transplanted them. When I transplanted them I didn't make sure that the bell siphon was working properly and it was basically making the grow bed a swamp instead of a flood and drain. That's when the plants got what I assume was root rot or something similar that damaged the roots. Those two are actually right by the water inlet and the Durban Poison is nearest the drain. The Blueberry is the healthiest because it is the closest to the water inlet.

That is what I have put together from my trial-and-error reasoning. Does that sound reasonable or do you think the problem still exists?
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
I'm also not sure that composting stems and the old roots in the bed is necessarily the best way to ensure that problems can't happen. I do believe the organic material composting in a swamp is part of what makes them so nasty and not a place for MJ to grow. That part is a fine line of treading I think.
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
I have been thinking that I should also rework my bell siphon so that I can turn down the flow into the grow bed. Right now the bed cycles about every 3-5 minutes, full flood to full drain. Every once in a while I will get water droplets that seem to be being expressed by the plant and not condensation or anything. This was what led me to decreasing the time of pump duration during flower.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
SnailPowered said:
Those two were the youngest and least healthy with the least amount of roots present when I transplanted them. When I transplanted them I didn't make sure that the bell siphon was working properly and it was basically making the grow bed a swamp instead of a flood and drain. That's when the plants got what I assume was root rot or something similar that damaged the roots. Those two are actually right by the water inlet and the Durban Poison is nearest the drain. The Blueberry is the healthiest because it is the closest to the water inlet.

That is what I have put together from my trial-and-error reasoning. Does that sound reasonable or do you think the problem still exists?
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A failure of your bell siphon would certainly explain things.
 
Yesdog

Yesdog

Well-Known Member
SnailPowered said:
I'm also not sure that composting stems and the old roots in the bed is necessarily the best way to ensure that problems can't happen. I do believe the organic material composting in a swamp is part of what makes them so nasty and not a place for MJ to grow. That part is a fine line of treading I think.
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Ah, yea the swampiness could do it. If you want microbes eating/composting the dead plant matter you gotta make sure its all aerobic stuff, stagnant water will promote anaerobic microbes more and that can cause all sorts of hell.
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
Yesdog said:
Ah, yea the swampiness could do it. If you want microbes eating/composting the dead plant matter you gotta make sure its all aerobic stuff, stagnant water will promote anaerobic microbes more and that can cause all sorts of hell.
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Yeah, I think that is the major problem that arose when I didn't diagnose the bell siphon quickly enough. Anaerobic decomposition was happening and fouling the water and the Sugar Plum and Green Crack just weren't strong enough yet to withstand it. Although, the Green Crack almost looks like it might be growing some new growth. I'm really expecting it and the SP to die completely at any moment honestly. I would be very glad to have them hang on and make it though of course. I think I need to add more fish. I would like to get rid of the goldfish and load the tank with platies but I haven't found anyone that wants some goldfish yet lol.
 
Yesdog

Yesdog

Well-Known Member
SnailPowered said:
Yeah, I think that is the major problem that arose when I didn't diagnose the bell siphon quickly enough. Anaerobic decomposition was happening and fouling the water and the Sugar Plum and Green Crack just weren't strong enough yet to withstand it. Although, the Green Crack almost looks like it might be growing some new growth. I'm really expecting it and the SP to die completely at any moment honestly. I would be very glad to have them hang on and make it though of course. I think I need to add more fish. I would like to get rid of the goldfish and load the tank with platies but I haven't found anyone that wants some goldfish yet lol.
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They can probably pull through- unless the root crown is totally rotten. Can maybe do a light foliar to keep em going until they get their root strength back
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
This is why I check forums daily, I forgot about this and now I need to go attempt it. I will foliar some Fox Farm Grow Big and probably a few drops of Superthrive...gotta find a squirt bottle that hasn't been used for anything I don't want on my plants hahahah
 
Yesdog

Yesdog

Well-Known Member
SnailPowered said:
This is why I check forums daily, I forgot about this and now I need to go attempt it. I will foliar some Fox Farm Grow Big and probably a few drops of Superthrive...gotta find a squirt bottle that hasn't been used for anything I don't want on my plants hahahah
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It's easy to forget about- really only needed if the plants are sick, but it's definitely worked for me.
 
SnailPowered

SnailPowered

Well-Known Member
I sprayed some Grow Big foliar on the sativas today while the lights were off for a little over an hour (bottle says not in direct light). The first thing I noticed when I opened the tent the other day though was that the indicas and Durban Poison are thriving! The indicas look like a hedgerow in the back of the tent.

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