Richard bray

Fish Harvest
You may choose to harvest your fish all at once or in stages. If you do decide to harvest a majority of your fish, you will also want to harvest a majority of your plants. Removing fish from your system will reduce the amount of nitrogen significantly, which will cause stress for your plants.
Before you harvest your fish, make sure you can purchase new fry from a supplier. Some suppliers only have fry available during certain
170
seasons, and you want to make sure your system is not running fishless for more than a few days.
Keep a log of when you harvest your fish and how many you harvested. This can affect water quality, and you will want this data for future planning.
Plant Harvest
Plants absorb many chemicals that would be toxic to fish. Therefore, you want to keep an even balance between the amount of fish in your tanks and the amount of plants in your grow beds.
Plant harvest happens more frequently than fish harvest, but plants are also easier to replace. Keep track of the time each plant will take from transplant to harvest, and start seeds so they are ready to replace old plants.
Keep track of which plants you have growing in your system, because different plants absorb nutrients at different rates. You may find that your fish do well when they are paired with leafy greens, but struggle when they are paired with fruiting vegetables. This may be due to a nutrient imbalance, and since there are so many factors that determine how well a system will function, your specific location may favor certain pairings over others.
Seed Starting
You will need to start seeds as you harvest old plants. Keep in mind how long seeds take to germinate and grow to a size suitable for transplant. For instance, you will want to start lettuce seeds 3 weeks
171
before your harvest. Then, when you have harvested your heads of lettuce, the seedlings will be able to replace them.
Keep track of when you start your seeds, and how mature they were when you transplanted them. This will help you plan when to start your seeds in the future, and how each crop responds to transplanting. Experiment with different seed starting media if you are having trouble starting a certain vegetable.
Troubleshooting
Even the most meticulously-maintained system will have issues from time to time. Many problems can be fixed with small, gradual adjustments. Overcorrecting can result in larger problems that can cause significantly more damage.
There are 6 common problems with an aquaponic system:

• Nutrient deficiencies/toxicities
• Insects
• Disease
• Failure to fruit
• Dirty water
• Sick/stressed fish

Luckily, these problems are also easy to fix. A clean, balanced system that is within the proper nutrient, pH, and temperature ranges will rarely have an issue. However, it’s important to know how to recognize these common issues and understand how to correct them.
172