Quote Originally Posted by rfeiller
the nutrient requirements for each type of plant vary, in hydroponics formulations are plant specific, water is maintained at a certain pH, temperature, and hardness with RO water being the preferred solution base. Tilapia require just the opposite of what is preferred by the plants; tilapia are from hard, alkaline water with a temperature in the mid to high 80's. while plants prefer soft slighly acid water in the 60's to low 70's temperature. so one or the other or both suffer from the conditions.
in aquaponics it is quite frankly from everything i've read a crapshoot. the pH and hardness of the water are all over the place, the level of organics in various stages of decomposition is extremely varied, the type of food fed to the fish determines to an extent, what comes out the other end. the type of fish and how they process the food makes a difference, a herbivorious vs. carnivorious animals have different digestive systems, different natural flora and fauna in their intestines process and obsorb nutrients differently. then throw in some red wriggler earthworms into the mix and unless you have access to a lab with unlimited resources you have no idea what is in your water. so what you end up doing is to try to diagnose deficiencies by the symptoms, which by that time the damage is done to your crops. AP with high nitrates of course work great with plants that can tolerate wet feet and high levels of nitrogen do quite well with no chance of burning: i.e. lettuce and a couple of herbs. crops like tomatoes that don't like wet feet and will produce excess leggy foliage with substandard fruit are a different story, but still no burning. your hydroponics experience will come in handy with your knowledge of nutrient solutions. the trick is to find the nutrient balance without killing the fish. and that my friend is the challenge and fun of aquaponics.
Thanks for the replies guys. I had a feeling it was a big of crap shoot kind of art. That's ok. That's how I prefer it