Basic Aquaponics - How to Raise Water pH with Limestones

It has been a long time since I last check the Aquaponics water pH value.  I suspect something is not right when most cutting that I planted starts to rot. This only happens if water acidity is high.

So with the pH test kit form API, I tested water and got the result of pH 6.0 on 3rd October 2016 as below video

At 6.0 pH I will need to adjust this, otherwise more plants will suffer. The easiest way to increase pH is to use Limestone, Cockle shells or other shellfish. There are also some places selling carbonates to add, which will give a very fast pH boosting. I am not keen in taking this route.

I use lime stones as video above and make some improvement to the method by using aeration to speed up the process as below.

pH water test after five days of using limestone, it increase to 6.5 pH on 8th Oct 2016

pH water test again after 2 weeks, it went up to 7.0 pH on 14th October 2016

pH water check after 3 weeks, it maintain at 7.0 pH on 22nd October 2016

pH water check after 4 weeks, it maintain at 7.0 pH on 30th October 2016.

The limestone has done it job very well, the pH value maintain at 7.0. That shows once all acidity has been neutralized the lime stones just maintain water at neutral.

I'll check pH again after another two week, to see how it goes.

12 December 2016 - Update

Check pH today and is read 7.0, after more than 3 weeks not testing.



I was worried due to rainy season  water may turn acidic. Looks like the limestones doing it job pretty well.

Affnan's Aquaponics - Fermented/Pickle Fish After A Week

After a week, transfer to another container. This is actually optional but I do it to change to taller container so that it will be easier to keep free from mould.

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Affnan's Aquaponics - Making Fermented Tilapia (Pekasam)

This is how I make pickled Tilapia or Pekasam in Malay, I had made a video on same topic few years back

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Fresh tilapia, remove the gut and salt it. Leave overnite or best 24 hours for salt to penetrate the flesh.

Tamarind and brown sugar mix to make the pickling  souce.

Tilapia covered by the tamarind sauce and sprinkle with burnt rice place in container to ferment for 2 weeks.

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Basic Aquaponics - Limestones Aeration

Putting aeration stone at bottom of the pot will give better circulation of water to the limestone.
This way it will speed up reaction of the acidic water with the stones.

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Basic Aquaponics - Water ph Adjust Using Limestone

Earlier checked aquaponics system water is about 6.1 ph. I need to boost this higher to around 6.5 to 7.0.

Low ph is acidic, plant cutting will rot before they can take root. This happens to Lemongrass and Pineapple crown that I'm testing.

Best to put the stones in pots so that it can be easily retrieve if needed.

My previous setup was using limestones before I switched to hydroton. Limestone is alkaline and hydroton us neutral.

Basic Aquaponics - Water ph Check

Checking ph with tester solution, my aquaponics system water is 6.1 ph.

Will adjust to buffer it higher using limestones.

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Basic Aquaponics - Spinach Seedling Transplant

Spinach seedling transplant using the flooded growbed method to ensure they are not damaged.

The growth is not uniform, those too small will have to wait for a few more days.

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Basic Aquaponics - Dayak Onion Propagation

Dayak Onion is another medicinal plants. This is how the plant is propagated in my aquaponics setup.

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Basic Aquaponics - Kuchai Repotting

Kuchai or Chinese Chives are use in stir fry dishes. They can be propogated by using bulbs from mature plants.

Seeds are difficult to germinate, this plants will keep on producing edible leaves through out it life.

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Basic Aquaponics - Sambung Nyawa Propagation

Sambung Nyawa or Gynura procumbens is a medicinal plants it is use for blood sugar control, blood pressure reduction and to reduce cholestrol level.

This is how it is propagated in my aquaponics system.

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Basic Aquaponics - The Pineapple Experiment

Testing Pineapple in my #gutterbed set. Pineapple requires ph of about 6.5 in aquaponics it is usually higher than this value.

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We'll see whether it is will grow or not.

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Basic Aquaponics - Kailan Transplant

Kailan seedling need to be transplanted since it is already about three inches tall.

Using flooded growbed method prevent damage to the fragile seedling.

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Pandanus Planting - In Aquaponics Potted Gutterbed

Pandanus leaves is use in many rice dishes in Southeast Asia, they are cultivated in kitchen garden and this video it's from my #gutterbed set.

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Saddle Valve - What it is and how it's made

I use this method of water diversion if needed. Usage confine to within the fish tank.

Depends on volume of water to be diverted, 1 or more holes can be made.
Twisting saddle will adjust water diverted.

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Trimming Roots from pots in the #gutterbed

Root growth if not checked will clog #gutterbed. This is how I trim roots when needed.

You can see in the video, plant roots holding on to the conduit. This make the plant more stable even in small pots.

Video above shows how I scrape roots with knive. I do this for all plants from time to time.

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Seedling For Aquaponics

Using seeds is a cost effective way of growing vegetable, they can be purchase online or safe keep for later usage.
However seeds can be difficult to start or in short, they fail to germinate.

Seeds like above can be purchase online and they do grow.
There will be time that seedling is a viable alternative, especially when you need plants urgently.

Above are few seedling that I purchase from time to time if I want to grow plants that needed quickly or for trials.
A word of caution: It is recommended that seedling only be grown in fully matured growbed.

Sweet Basil above is a surprise to me since this herb required colder temperature than what we have over here.

The seller assured me that this plant can survive the heat in the lowland. Will try out, but I may do dirt in pots first for this, then I'll transfer to aquaponics if it manage to grow.

I plant Thai Basil without problem from cuttings they grow really well in Aquaponics

Cili Bara, these is a variety from Indonesia, do grow in Aquaponics but require lots of nutrient to do well.

Above Cili Bara planted in pots at the Farmer's Market, it sure look very good.

Egg Plants seedlings, I had limited success with these on the traditional growbed. I will test these batch on the #gutterbed.

That's it on the seedling, just ensure growbed fully mature before planting seedlings.

Sowing Seeds for the Gutterbed

This is how I sow seeds for the gutterbed pots.

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Back Lane CRAFT Set Goes Guttergrowbed

Replaced all the traditional growbed from my CRAFTS set it took me two days to do and what a long day today.

Started by removing all the old growbed from the set.

Gutter tested for leak, only one leak due my mistake for not noticing the slight damage part on the gutter.

Gutter placed at an incline, reducing water and make it easier to do a leak test.

I use the standard Solvent Cement for PVC and it does work really well. Use a fresh bottle and apply generously, it will seal good. As stated one leak but easily fix with a hot glue.

Once the old growbed out, a new racking needed for the gutters. Gutters are 13 ft each (4 mtr) the Dikson bars or angle iron is 10 ft long. I'll put additional length on both ends to support the extra gutter.

Using these angle iron is easy to custom make the needed rack, took me close to four hour to make it.

The rack need to be level to ensure water do not spill out from one end before the siphon operates.

Those white tubes is needed to ensure pots didn't topple and for root to hold on to something. The tubes is the electrical conduit which I often use as plants support.

Siphon use is the 15 mm mini, I need to see how it perform. On some installation siphon need to be tuned, usually the outlet pipes adjusted to make it works better.

Inflow is from one pump rated 2000 liter per hour flow at 30 watt. The power requirement for 15 mm siphon is very much less, about 1/3 of that 25 mm siphon.

Water from the pump is divided by four since there are four gutters, each with its own siphon. Easiest way to divide and distribute water in Aquaponics is by splitting it by two and four. It will divide evenly and most of the time we don't need any tap or valve to adjust.

Siphon outlet is best to be as far away from the inlet, a pair of gutter emptied into one of the left return tank while the other into the right tank. Water feed taken from the feeded tank with a single pump as stated above.

Took the above photo at 21:30 hrs, the set completed at 19:00 hrs. Need more pots.

This #guttergrowbed is mainly for small plants and leafy vegetable. It is not recommended for large plants. I will further my Aquaponics trial using this method and hopefully it can evolve into something cost effective to operate commercially.