Good news: We're coming up on exactly a week, and I think we're stable now. The azolla is clearly growing roots, and the maxigro nutrients I added has clearly helped, along with getting the pH to around 6.

Bad news: The biggest mistake I've made I think is not adding the nutrients earlier, because they've been nutrient starved this entire time. In the future I'm going to have to manually separate the azolla from the duckweed once it has had more time to grow.

I think roughly 30% has died, but this remaining is now growing roots. I don't really care about the duckweed, which is clearly surviving, as a good sign for the azolla, but they are competing for P and K. So I added another two tsp of the maxigro which is balanced NPK. I also run the pump for about 10 minutes a day to help circulate and aerate the solution.

Any tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated, thanks for reading!

I checked the pH it was around an 8 so I lowered it to around a 6 and added a small amount of maxigro hydroponic fertilizer which would provide more phosphorous and potassium to the water. I run the pump for about an hour a day to help move and oxygenate the water.

I think the duckweed is outgrowing the azolla at this point, but it's going to take another week of visual change to be sure.

Any suggestions are appreciated, thank you!

I am growing this in a tub in my living room in Chicago. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

Using thin steel efficiently, this keeps the panels above the plants and dirt so it doesn't get blocked or dirty. This would also be a bit more resistant to high wind because it can pass below the panels rather than getting trapped by the panel touching the ground. The slight angle ensures that water/dirt slides off more easily than a flat roof, and so the panels get maximum exposure facing in the direction of the sun either South or North depending on hemisphere.

This would reduce material investment and allow for much easier harvesting. Does anyone have any ideas as to whether this would be possible?