Dianna Wink

Hi Anne,

When I saw the cilantro and parsley getting leggy, I did move the light closer to try and help them. Since the yellowing has started, I’ve added an air stone to the water plants sit in and Ive also elevated the plants a touch out of the water to make sure the roots aren’t completely submerged. Just recently I moved the light away to see if that helps at all. Havent added any additional nutrients to the water since I am not sure which, if any, are needed here.

Here’s a closer up of one of the yellow leaves if that helps:

Thanks so much John any advice for my herbs?

Hi all,

I have a homemade aquaponics setup on my countertop. Everything has been going well until recently. My herbs just got their first set of true leaves and they’re turning pale yellow and weak. I am growing parsley, cilantro & basil.

Nitrate levels are 20ppm or below.
Nitrite & ammonia 0.
Water hardness 75 (soft).
Chlorine 0.
Alkalinity low.
pH 6.8.

I have 4 fancy guppies with a pump to transfer water from fish tank to plants above and then gravity returns the water to the tank through a small hole. There is also an indoor grow light on the plants 12 hours a day.  The plants are in a clay media setup that stays full with water at all times. (I tried draining occasionally to mimic a bell-siphon setup but that was disrupting my nitrogen cycle). I’ll attach an image here of my parsley showing how the first true leaf has been getting more and more yellow. Thanks so much for your help with this!


- Dianna