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  1. #1
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    Cyndi from Raleigh NC with aquariponic system

    Hi Every one!

    I am brand new to this forum. In fact it is the first forum I have ever really joined concerning aquaponics. I kinda skimmed the titles a little bit trying not to repeat too much, and I will look deeper. But you guys seemed so friendly I thought I would just post what is going on.

    I have a small aquaponics system. It consists of a 10 gallon fish tank, a couple of air pumps, a bell syphon and hydroton. The fish tank has 2 silverbellied tropical cat fish that have doubled in size in the past 3 months and are probably way too big for the tank. Plus my kids overfeed them regularly.

    I started this tank months ago, sometime around the beginning of the year. I did a by guess by gosh try and lost a couple of guppies once from using the wrong chemical to help with the PH but other than that I have been running strong for months now.

    I don't check my water as often as I should but I checked it today and the levels arw as follows...

    PH 6.6

    Ammonia .25ppm

    Nitrite 0ppm

    Nitrate 80+ ppm

    I know my Nitrates are on the toxic level. And that is what brings me to your forum.

    I can't grow plants.

    I bought a grow light, 2', expensive, and it is the last thing I can think of that is causing me problems. My house stays around 60 -80degrees. The light is turned on and off daily in the morning and at night respectively.

    I have tried to grow sage that was started in dirt, seeds of a variety of herbs I started myself, basil that is sold at walmart with it's roots, mint, spinach that was a seedling from the local nursery, lettuce, and finally bamboo. It is the bamboo that has lasted infact it is taller, a little, thatn when it was planted a couple of months ago.Everything else just wouldn't grow then became week and died. I have tried placing them high in the hydrotin so only their roots ever get touched with water. I have tried burying them all the way down with the same results.

    I have tried to add clip on incandescent light, another florescent without any noticeable difference.

    So I guess what I am looking for now is what kind of light should I buy, and where can I buy plants that have a track record of growing indoors on a aquaponics system. Oh, and is there a way to test for minerals?

    I know this was long, I am sorry.

    Thank you for reading my post,
    Sincerely,
    Cyndi McKnight
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  2. #2
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    Re: Cyndi from Raleigh NC with aquariponic system

    Hey cyndi! Welcome to the forum. I'm pretty new at this too but my guess is your lighting. I may be wrong. From my experience the human eye is a trickster when it comes to light. It adjusts and adapts making you think a light is bright when in fact it's not. For instance I purchased a 8 foot long light at home depot for 70 or 80 dollars plus bulbs. They were the t5ho fluorescents. Total of 4 bulbs all 54w a piece. So with 216w total I figured my plants were going to be getting a ton of light. These fixtures had no reflectors and the room was bring to my eyes but with a lux meter I was registering a mere 50-60 FC at a foot distance. The problem was the light was spread to thin and it was going in all directions.

    I went ahead and bought another light for 80 with free shipping that had 4 bulbs but next to each other and 4 foot long by maybe 1 foot wide. This light is giving me about 200 FC at 1 foot or so (my distance measurements weren't with a ruler just estimates). When I put more next to each other the distance increased as the light overlapped and I kept 200 FC or so with more distance. My lettuce loves it so far. I just need to be more consistent. I am constantly moving my setup around and right now my lights are disconnected since I upgraded my grow bed yesterday.

    Try lettuce. If you PM me your address I'll mail you some Bibb lettuce seeds i bought in bulk from a commercial seed supplier. I suggest trying with that because lettuce has low light requirements versus many other plants and are easily grown in aquaponics even if your setup isn't optimal. It will give you the confidence to keep going from them and improving your setup.

    Walter

  3. #3
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    Re: Cyndi from Raleigh NC with aquariponic system

    Hi Walter,

    Wow thank you! I am definitely going to get more/better lights. Any recommendations as to what brand or where to buy them?

    I would love some of the seeds once I have better light. How should I start them?

    Thank you again!

    Cyndi

  4. #4
    Aquaponics 101 Oliver's Avatar
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    Re: Cyndi from Raleigh NC with aquariponic system

    Cyndi,

    Welcome to the forum.

    I agree with Walter that you do not have enough light.

    Here are some numbers that might be helpful.

    T5s and T8s put out about 80 lumens of light per watt of electricity. T12s and CFLs produce about 40 lumens per watt.

    On our small indoor system we have a 160 watt T5 light using 8 tubes each 24 inches long with a built in reflector (2 ft X 2 ft) shining on a 5 square foot growing area. This gives about 800 foot candles of light, or 8600 lux. This is the minimum amount of light required to grow leafy greens and requires the light to be on at least 12 hours per day. This also works out to be about 32 watts of reflected T5 light per square foot.

    In our grow room, we are running about 1500 foot candles of light (16,000 lux). There we are using four times the amount of lights (16 X 4 ft T5s) for 11 square feet of growing area. We leave these on only 8 hours per day as they consume lots of electricity.

    Lettuce saturates with light around 50% that of sunlight (40,000 to 100,000 lux or 3,700 to 10,200 foot candles), so half of that is the most you would ever want to use. You can use less light for longer periods and most types of lettuce will actually do better with this reduced lighting and longer hours. In addition, you end up using less overall electricity. So, our 8600 and 16,000 lux (800 and 1500 FC) lighting works well to grow leafy greens.

    Oliver
    To measure is to know

  5. #5
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    Re: Cyndi from Raleigh NC with aquariponic system

    Thank you Oliver,

    The light I have now is from an aquaponics store out here in Raleigh. They said they grew tomatoes by it. I am going to start looking into more/better light this week.

    Thank you again!

  6. #6
    Moderator davidstcldfl's Avatar
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    Re: Cyndi from Raleigh NC with aquariponic system

    Hi Cyndi, welcome to the forum....

    I noticed in the 3rd picture, it doesn't look like you have much hydroton. It's hard to tell in a picture...it looks like you may only have 4 or so inches of hydroton/water to start with.

    If you had more hydroton, your plant's roots would have more room to grow, and be exposed to more oxygen when the siphon draws the water down.
    More hydroton would add to the filtration, and give more surface area for the bacteria to grow...
    "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - President Ronald Reagan

  7. #7
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    Re: Cyndi from Raleigh NC with aquariponic system

    Hi!

    Your are right, I only have about 4-5 inches of hydroton. How many inches do you recommend?

    Thank you!

  8. #8
    Members bcotton's Avatar
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    Re: Cyndi from Raleigh NC with aquariponic system

    In my first system I grew lettuces, cabbages and peppers in 6 inches of grow bed with plenty of success... with that said, most people target around 12" and I now subscribe to deeper is better.. But it's not going to stop you from sprouting and growing lettuce. Some plants do better with deeper roots and some plants just fall over in shallow grow beds.

    It looks like you have some extra depth available to you in your grow bed. If your stand can handle the weight, why not use it?

    brian

  9. #9
    Moderator davidstcldfl's Avatar
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    Re: Cyndi from Raleigh NC with aquariponic system

    Plus 2 on what Brian said.

    I've used mixing tubs from HD and they work well when full. They are slightly bigger then what you have.

    Let's see some picts of your new lights...
    "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - President Ronald Reagan

  10. #10
    Moderator urbanfarmer's Avatar
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    Re: Cyndi from Raleigh NC with aquariponic system

    Quote Originally Posted by davidstcldfl
    Hi Cyndi, welcome to the forum....

    I noticed in the 3rd picture, it doesn't look like you have much hydroton. It's hard to tell in a picture...it looks like you may only have 4 or so inches of hydroton/water to start with.

    If you had more hydroton, your plant's roots would have more room to grow, and be exposed to more oxygen when the siphon draws the water down.
    More hydroton would add to the filtration, and give more surface area for the bacteria to grow...
    This is also my suggestion! Also, the strength of the water current in the grow bed could be disturbing the plants.

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