Mineral Suppliments - Copper

[aquaarche]

I have a very hard time finding mineral supplements to add to my Aquaponic system. I found ways to add iron and Potassium. Magnesium is fairly easy seeing most of the pebbles I use have it.

However one mineral I need to supplement is Copper. does anyone have any natural way to add copper without killing the fish?

[keith_r]

copper is very toxic to the fish.. are you plants showing a some kind deficiency?
you could probably find a study regarding toxicity to fish, or a particular fish, i found this on catfish
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... x/abstract
it seems toxicity levels are tied to ph values as well as ammonia, etc

[urbanfarmer]

It's definitely a micro-nutrient. Most likely there's plenty of it in your water. Unless you have identified a deficiency, don't bother adding any.

[aquaarche]

Ok I wont do anything at the moment.

Some of my pichay is small leafed not really deformed. But from the Aquaponic plant health charts I down loaded for an linked site that someone posted here. it says that the problem may be lack of copper. I know it is toxic to fish in large amounts. but maybe it is not the problem.

My tomatoes are doing well one plants stopped bearing fruit so a pulled it. but the other is still bearing 6 more pieces so I left it in. Could the tomatoes be doing anything to the water. the one plants root have totally inundated the whole grow trough. for the Philippines this is a large tomato plant the fruit is larger than golf balls but smaller than base balls.

the Thai basil did great. but lately no lettuce will grow either. After the tomato's mature I will be redoing the planting with all fresh seeds and gravel cups. the troughs worked just as good as the gravel beds did I need to work on a float system where I can transplant to larger pots to get better growth of vegetables like cauliflower and cabbage. it will work better in a commercial size unit rather than this experimental size one.

I was looking into ferrous cement beds and tanks at the new site but money is tight at the moment Not sure if I will ever get the pilot program for ex-prisoners off the ground. but it is a good plan to help train these men with a technology of the future to help them get back on their feet. Whether they just train other or build and operate systems at least they will have something to give back to society.

[keith_r]

what kind of feed are you giving your fish?

[aquaarche]

floating pellets from our pet store here.

Aquachow caused a spike in pH because it adds calcium to the feed to promote algae growth in ponds not good foe aquaponics.

those are the only two types of food available here. the flake is the same as the pellets

[rfeiller]

chelated copper use to be used quite frequently in hatcheries. scaless fish such as catfish and fish of the charicin family (such as neon tetras and pacus) could not tolerate it, never tried it on tilapia.

[badflash]

Rabbit food is loaded with copper. I've feed small amounts to my fish and even crayfish with no issues. Iron is nearly always to thing you need to suppliment the most.

[aquaarche]

you know there was a guy up north who put Rabbit cages over his fish tank so the droppings could be eaten by the fish. That might make some sense in keeping the minerals balanced seeing the waste still contains copper, Iron and potassium. that might just be a good reason for having a rabbit. plus they are good eaten.

[urbanfarmer]

you know there was a guy up north who put Rabbit cages over his fish tank so the droppings could be eaten by the fish. That might make some sense in keeping the minerals balanced seeing the waste still contains copper, Iron and potassium. that might just be a good reason for having a rabbit. plus they are good eaten.

I do plan to try this!