Today’s update for the transplanted series follows my aquaponics fish tank. Major changes in the last week because I was not keeping anything alive past sprouting! Bubbles the betta is alive though!
The Issues
No plant was staying alive past 2 weeks. The wheat grass did the best but would start losing color and falling over after a week. All the herbs I tried would sprout and then never develop true leaves (the ones following the seedling leaves). The medium that came with the kit did not maintain moisture well and I was adding water to each planting pot to keep the rocks wet.
Bubbles water quality has quickly degraded. The roots are supposed to filter out the impurities for a self contained system with no actual water filter. Without the established plants and roots taking out the waste from Bubbles we have a larger problem on our hands. Fin Rot!
Could sunlight be another factor? This is a variable I am not augmenting yet but is on my mind. The light the tank receives is mostly passive from the kitchen window on a different counter. I do not want to put the tank near the window as that promotes algae growth. Grow light in the future?
The Immediate Actions
I did a water exchange and started adding fin rot drops in the water to help reduce the effects. I have had this a couple times before and have had many Betta fish over the years, was not a new experience. The challenging variable is using plants as the filter! I had the seedlings dying again making any concerns about adding the medicated drops not a concern.
Large change is on the method of growing plants in the top planter. This is a removal of “extra limiting” piece and took me ordering a different medium. I also increased the growing space!
Possible Solution Applied
I took the top cover and 5 cup trays out. The trays were only reaching part of the water, a bunch of extra surface area is available and the holes going back to the tank are relatively small. Taking two of those cups and flipping them upside down created a screen to keep medium out of the tank. 1 of the holes is in a weird spot so I placed an appropriately sized rock in that hole. Water will still fall through but not the new clay balls.
Changed the growing medium to clay balls which are keeping a very consistent moisture level. I can visibly see the seeds are moist and also getting air contact without being submerged. This I hope will be the largest fix.
I filled the entire top tray with the clay ball growing medium. Cleaning later may be a much bigger challenge but I can still lift the tray and will take the pump out with the tray making the previous designed growing trays for access not a factor. Then I will not have to adjust the pump hose back under the clay balls.
This is a couple months into attempting the fish tank aquaponics system. I hope to get herbs from it in the future but as I take in challenges and lessons learned I will post them here. The changes I make may be great, or may be a failure. The important thing is to try and learn!