Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi. So I am reading up on nitrate and finding that I don't quite get where the nitrate needs to be growing.

Right now, my plants are in a 2-inch basket with rock wool and and lava rock. The roots dangle in the water all the time (I have four air stones in various places in the system).

The places where the nitrate is growing is either in the gravel of the aquarium, the synthetic biomedia in the sump, or in the 2-inch basket.

Am I doing something wrong?

thanks

Nitrate is what the plants need to grow and what you are trying to produce in aquaponics. Having nitrate is not a bad thing as it only becomes poisonous at much higher levels (which you are highly unlikely to ever reach). If anything you can add some more plants to the system.

Thank you. My question is about WHERE the nitrate should be growing.

Nitrate doesn't "grow" as such but is produced as the by-product of beneficial bacteria living in your system. These bacteria will live on any surface in contact with the water. In a system with a grow bed, the majority of these will live on the grow media as these typically have a rather large combined surface area.

In your system the purpose of the synthetic biomedia is to provide a surface for these bacteria to live on so the majority of them would be found there

That's right, ammonia is leeched into the water from the fish's gills, it is dissolved n the water. Then, as the water flows over the media, the bacteria which live on the surface of the media convert he ammonia into nitrate (nitrite is an intermediate product in this conversion).

In AP enough surface are must be provided for enough bacteria to grow on, and enough contact between water and media, ie flow rate over/through media, for the conversion to take place at a fast enough rate.

This is good....so, as the bacteria grows, is it naturally being pushed off the synthetic media, into the water stream, to be absorbed by the plants?

I am trying to figure out if I am missing out on better growth if I don't put things in the right location.

tks

The bacteria stay on the media but they give off nitrate in a similar way to your giving off carbon dioxide when you breathe. These nitrates are then carried in the water from where the plants are able to absorb them.

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