Aquaponic nutrients

Several people have asked me where the nutrients come from in the aquaponic systems.
First of all the fish breathe and excrete and that supplies a lot of nutrient.
As the system ages  soil accumulates in the bottom of the water troughs. This soil comes from rotted vegetable material and from the coconut fiber  that is in the net pots that hold the
vegetables.

After 6 months or so all kinds of creatures set up homes in the bottom residue . The most noticeable ones
are : a tiny gray shrimp with a long name and red worms like the ones you find in worm bins.
All of this activity provides a lot of nutrients.

Experiment

Aquaponics systems are fun things if you like to conduct experiments.
I love to try new plants in the system . Some work and some don't.
Strawberry starts grew wonderful plants but only two berries because it is just too
hot at 350 foot elevation.
Papaya seeds planted in the system went crazy !   I pulled several out when they were about a
foot high . The roots were too long to pull out of the net pot  so I planted the whole thing in the ground.
The plants didn't even wilt they just took off growing  much faster than the ones planted in the ground.
Of course I planted them in an area the chickens had fertilized so they are now continuing to
break growing records.

Yucky Water

The water was yucky yesterday and the roots of some of the veggies
were covered in slime. What the h--- is wrong?
Turns out after some testing , we have too many fish .
The balance was off, too much ammonia in the water..

So we dumped some of the water and added fresh water that had the chlorine
burned off. Then we had fish dinner .

Everything is doing fine again and the fish tasted great. You have to eat at least 5 pounds of fish a
month out of this system to keep everything in balance.