Help!!!! Water Temperatures

[cedarswamp]

Do you still have the sides down on your greenhouse? You want as much air circulation under there as possible, perhaps also blow a fan acrossed your water surface and/or maybe add a fountain to you fishtank to cool the water and add aeration.

[badflash]

If DO levels are low, the fish will tell you. They will gulp air at the surface. My guess is that you have a mineral deficiency. Lettuce is also a poor warm weather crop. There is a mineral deficiency post on the site someplace. I think it is a sticky.

[urbanfarmer]

Here it is: Nutrient Deficiency

I am going to have to agree with badflash. The algae may be contributing to the problem by consuming the few nutrients in your system. Potassium seems to be the deficiency problem here based on the symptoms presented. INTERESTINGLY, you may want to know that potassium is one of the hardest nutrients to have in good supply in aquaponic systems.

Add some potassium and see if that helps. Let us know how it looks in a week or week in a half. If there's no improvement, we can look into it more.

[aquaarche]

would chelated potassium tablets be ok.

I cannot find either one here for farm use. But I have some bottles of pure chelated potassium in the cupboard for human consumption. There are some very small amounts of magnesium stearate. Stearic acid from veggie source, and silica ingredients for holding it together in a Caplet form. would it be safe to use that?

Each caplet contains 99mg of potassium from potassium gluconate.

how do I get rid of the algae? If I add potassium wont that promote more algae growth? I will take a look at the chart. what if I add to much Potassium? what would the plants look like.

I could put a small tilapia in each float trough to eat the algae. do you think the tilapia will eat the roots?

another reminder all the seeds are made for warm climate growing. If that matters any

Thanks

[badflash]

Wood ashes are a good source if used sparingly and only a few tablespoons at a time. Add it to the beds, not the tank.

[aquaarche]

I have only float troughs now I add most of what I have into the flood tanks and let it sit on the bottom dissolve slowly. I use our hard water to buffer the water up in pH. there is calcium, magnesium and other minerals in it. Also I use the scrapings of a cuttle bone for calcium as well I soak them in water until they absorb water then I put it in the flood tank. I am looking to replace the flood tank with a swirl/cyclone filter. so thereafter I will add all nutrients into the troughs.

Does it matter what types of wood ashes. some woods are poisonous and some woods are treated with insecticides how would that affect the ash?

[urbanfarmer]

No, don't use any kind of treated wood or painted wood. Use natural wood and let it burn to a white ash. Chelated potassium could work. Does it say what chelating agent?

[aquaarche]

It does not say what the chelated agent is. but One is from Puritan's Pride and the other bottle is from NOW Foods both are vegetarian formula's. I am using cuttle bone (the bone from the cuttle fish or Squid)to help supplement Calcium, For the moment I will use gravel in my swirl filter but I will replace it with broken pieces of coral. That should supply calcium and magnesium.

Does anyone know what minerals are found in dead coral?

I went to float troughs because they are not as heavy as gravel beds. I am hoping to use the ferrouscement to build some troughs with. I will use wire mess and small re-bar to frame and cement it. I am wondering what the cement mix should be. A class "A" mix here is 1 part cement to 3 parts sand. I guess it should be made sore of dry but then kept int he shade and light spray until it cured.

After curing we will coat them with non toxic white swimming pool paint inside and out. or rubberized roof coating. Any suggestions on that would be nice.

[urbanfarmer]

I have no idea on the cement. Stucco is our resident expert on all things cement. Maybe someone else knows something... idk

[urbanfarmer]

How are the plants faring?