Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello,

Yes, I know I've put more than desired, but it was not so much because, according to Dr. Nate Storey's website https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qczagOJG5mI&t=129s and the concentration of my 6-iron %, I would have to pour approximately 100 grams every 3 weeks for 3000liters, then 34 grams per week, to a concentration of 2 ppm. Or the bills will not be like this?

The fact of putting more than intended was the despair of not seeing symptoms of improvement ...

I'll stop in the meantime. As for measuring iron levels here on this island in the middle of the Atlantic, there are no such tests.
I have to buy it from other country (ebay), which will take a few weeks.

If it is not iron deficiency, what will it be? lack of potassium?
What can I do?
thank you

The amount of iron you've added shouldn't hurt your plants it just makes reading the tests a pain. I'd like you to check the package instructions and see if they have a spray application method for plants. Spray applying the iron avoids lockout problems and competition for uptake at the roots so try this on one of the plants having troubles and see if it recovers (not all of your plants show yellowing on the new growth so choose one that does).

Potassium usually affects the older leaves first because it is a mobile nutrient. Iron is not mobile which is why you see yellowing in the new leaves first. What you're seeing is a bit of both but it varies from plant to plant so you've probably got more than one thing going on as your title suggests.

Since you have it, try a spray application of the potassium sulfate on plants that have lower leaf issues. Watch the yellowing leaves for improvement the dead ones are already beyond our help.

Don't go overboard on applying these, one time only for now, just to see what happens. People run into problems when they over apply nutrients because many of these are in competition for uptake by the plants. If you get things to far out of whack it makes it tougher to figure out what's going on.

Hi,

Thanks for the response.
I know the potassium sulphate I have is 0-0-50.
But what amounts should I use for foliar application?
I do not have the slightest idea ...
Thanks

If your product is like this one - http://www.primera.coop/prod/nutritionals/0-0-50_label.pdf, I'd go with 1 Tablespoon per gallon added to warm water so it dissolves more easily. Since the salts can burn the leaves if you apply too much, it might be good to test it out on one plant and also spray later in the day so the plants have a chance to dry before nightfall but the solution isn't on the leaves during the peak sun intensity.

Finally I got the description of the food. It is a product produced in Portugal (my country) and has the characteristics indicated in the photos.
Is it good or bad? I do not know, but I thank anyone who can tell me.
If it is necessary to replace the food, I will have to import it from somewhere …

This is just a thought, but what if the deficiency is not iron or potassium, what if its magnesium. You mentioned in your original post that some of the tips of the leaves started to die. This is a sign of magnesium deficiency. I am sure someone else here on the forum with more experience can confirm if it can be the problem.

If it is, you can add Epsom salt, either to the water or as a foliar spray in the early morning or in the late afternoon.

It's possible but seems unlikely because usually you'll get darker veins or center section so I don't think it's Magnesium. Tip die back is also very common in potassium deficiencies.

And what about the fish feed?
Is good enought? someone recomend change it? keep it?
Thanks

No idea, never heard of it, can't understand a word of it..

If you're feeding good amounts into the system and getting multiple deficiencies then you have two choices, deal with it and supplement for the deficiencies or try to find a better feed. You may not be able to find a better feed over there...

I've tried many feeds here in Aus and some were really bad leading to many deficiencies. Eventually found a locally made fed that had good fish growth and practically no deficiencies in the plants.

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+1 to what was EB said.

At this point just continue to do what you are, changing too many things at once just makes it tougher to tell what's going on.

I think it's still a bit early to say this feed isn't getting the job done. If you do find that the food isn't giving the plants the nutrients they need then supplementing with the individual nutrients as we are doing is one solution but you can also take a more general approach by adding small amounts of something like organic fertilizer, blood and bone or a bit of compost. Slow release nitrogen is important, you have to be careful and avoid spiking the ammonia or you'll kill the fish.

Thanks,
But if you approach the image, you will notice that the compounds is translated into several languages. Also translated into English …

Two or three days after this message, I did as You said and sprinkled the plants; after about four-five days I sprinkled them again, and agaim after more 3-4 days.
I took photos 3 times, on the 8th, 12 and 18 to a tomato plant standing in a corner and see some improvements, as you can see in the fotos.







I also took two photos of a spinach, one of the 08 and the other of the 16th (I applied the same dosage). The differences are much more significant ...
What I gather is that there is actually a potassium deficiency.





As my KH is quite low, yesterday lowered to 4, I m thinking in adding potassium bicarbonate to combat both things at the same time. I just have to wait for it to arrive because as I did not find it here, I had to order from England.
What do you think?

Thank you all for your help

Plants look like they have improved quite a bit . Hard to tell for certain what caused the improvement. In these pictures they look more like an iron deficiency because the top of the plants is yellow and the bottom is green so maybe it just took awhile for the iron to be taken up or maybe they needed both or it was spray applying the iron (if you tried this) . I'm just glad they have improved.

Using potassium bicarbonate is a good way to supplement and adjust the pH/KH at the same time. Usually people switch back and forth between a potassium and a calcium product. I use Potassium bicarbonate and calcium carbonate to adjust the pH back up. Normally I just leave a mesh bag with coral or pieces of shell in the system and when it needs something more I'll put in some potassium bicarbonate. Every system is a bit different.

Running a low KH is pretty normal in AP and you'll only be able to do a little bit with it but it's good to keep it high enough so that the pH can't go into rapid fluctuations (so right about where yours is or higher). Try and keep the pH in the 6.0 to 7.2 range where most of the nutrients are available.

I looked at your fish food and it looks pretty standard, I'm sure it's good for the fish but it's still tough to tell if a feed will work for AP just from what they put on the bag.

Hi,

The water I used to mix was clean water so it only contained potassium.


I got a potassium test loaned by a friend to check their levels.
This is an easy-life brand test. I performed a test with the indicated measurements and obtained a color that corresponded between 15 and 20 mg / l (ppm).

Can anyone tell me what values are indicated for this componente in aquaponics?

Is this brand test reliable? Has anyone tried it yet?

Thanks for any help.

Can't help you as far as the kit and it's reliability. Most people don't test for potassium but someone here may have an idea for what the baseline is in their system. Plant needs for nutrients vary by plant type and life stage among other things. It's good to know that there's potassium in the system and I would think that if you have a reading it's probably OK but just having a reading doesn't really tell you if the potassium is available to the plants (I suspect a lot of it is though and it's probably existing as an ion) or if it's bound up in compounds where the plants can't access it. If it's available then the plants probably already have what they need and there is excess OR something is preventing the uptake of potassium. A lot of these tests can tell you something is present but not how much is available - it's not like hydroponics. Another thing that's different is that you're dosing with nutrients every time you feed the fish - in hydro you mix it once and let it go for a month. Hydro people may say you've got to have X amount of potassium but they aren't adding it the same way.