Hello From San Diego California!

[RMDelete]

Hi everyone!

I am located in "Sunny" San Diego... more like OVERCAST San Diego right now :)

I've always LOVED to garden and grow my own plants, fruits and vegetables. We moved into a condo about 6 years ago where it has a tiny little Patio and at first I was very excited, shortly after moving in I tried to build my own greenhouse there and had done quite and extensive mini greenhouse, however... sadly the HOA sent me a letter to take down my "structure" so I had to destroy it... heartbroken and discouraged I was without many awesome plants, but I also came to realized that my EAST facing condo patio on the 1st floor was not ideal since the SUN would rise and cast about 1-2 hours of direct sunlight onto the patio dirt floor.... pfft not nearly enough to properly grow anything.

Well after a while I learned about Hydroponics and decided to give it another shot because the raised garden would actually THEN obtain 6-8 hrs of sunlight :) so here I am!!

[dead_sled]

Welcome aboard! No HOA to worry about here, just JCO. :lol: :mrgreen:
I don't think JCO has made anyone dismantle a greenhouse.

[Roger L.]

Welcome to the group. You will find many helpful, knowledgable people here.

[RMDelete]

haha thanks, yeah the HOA sucks, I'm glad so far they haven't said anything about my little Aquaponics system. I'm bouncing around the board reading little bits and pieces here and there :) so it might take me a while before I am situated

[davidstcldfl]

Hi RMDelete, welcome to the forum... :)

[DruidFromAus]

Hello and Welcome to the forums :)

What kind of setup do you have at this stage?

There should be plenty of people who will be able to help and give you advice here.

happy reading and good luck :)

[RMDelete]

Hi Guys! Sorry been distracted, back now looking for help buuut what I have running right now is:

45 gal barrel cycling up to a 30 gallon grow bed using Hydroton as media, have some earthworms in there, 10 fingerling Tilapia and currently growing: cauliflower, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers and basil... these of course are my sacrificial plants since I haven't actually planted anything from scratch (well except for the basil) oh, I also have a couple of garlic bulbs in there.

I know my grow bed is still not big enough but it's all I can have since I have such a small patio and don't want to get in trouble with the stupid HOA lol

Right now I am having problems with my plants flowering, some cucumbers are forming but then the little baby cucumbers shrivel up and look like they are turning yellowish (only the fruit) soooo... not sure what it is but I am assuming maybe an Iron deficiency, so I added some Chelated Iron in there DPTA 10% added 3/7 tsp in there since it said 1/2 tbsp x 100 gals sooo *shrug* hope this works :) the fish don't seem to mind it too much! Now time to read and see if I can figure out what exactly is wrong with my System LOL :)

[Roger L.]

Is your system completely cycled yet? What are your water readings like? A new system will have trouble supporting flowering and fruiting plants.

[RMDelete]

I'm not too sure if it's COMPLETELY "cycled" yet, but I know the beneficial bacterial must have settled in, since there used to be high ammonia levels and now there are none and I do get slight traces of Nitrites and Nitrates, the water looks (or should I say LOOKED) clean. But I added in some of the Chelated Iron and now it's kinda brown/red/orangeish (sp)

the fish (Tilapia) don't seem stressed out and my temps are constantly at 72 degrees, PH between 6.5 and 7 haven't taken reading of any other things since I added in the Iron, maybe I will do that tonight.

someone in a Hydroponic store was telling me that supposedly Aquaponics is only intended for leafy greens such as lettuce and spinach and herbs and not so much fruiting veggies but I don't think he knew what he was talking about :\ I keep reading left and right on various sites that Iron is the one supplement you may have to occasionally give your System but that Fish poo is an almost perfect fertilizer sooo *shrug* I hope I am doing OK...

[Roger L.]

If you were cycled you would be getting measurable amounts of nitrates. It took my system forever to get where I had sustained levels of measurable nitrates.

[Aloha Don]

What is a desired "target" for nitrates?