Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

wow!! That's a lot of fish!!

And probably.. a lot of ammonia.. as well...

You could add an Oscar to eat some of those little ones. Down the road you can eat the Oscar. Proceed with caution though - I'm not sure how much slack one Oscar can take up and since Oscars have a voracious appetite .

They apparently taste good but I can't speak from experience.

Actually my Ammonia is low I do frequent water changes plus there are less fish in the 200 Gallon then the 90 Gallon and they eat less cause they are already ready to eat here is my proof...

Yep.. entirely possible to grow lots of fish.... if you change lots of water...

But you don't need lots of fish to produce lots of veges... and the principle benefit of aquaponics... is to save water....

Each to their own... but if it's lots of fish you're after.. then design a good RAS style fish farm... you can still use the waste water to grow some veges...

The water changes were lets say by accident... lots of unforeseen leaks when trying to build the system... but for right now the waste collects in the overflow and I scoop that out and put in the worm bin I have.

I also put some of of the red wigglers in my grow bed. Ever since I added them the water quality has improved. My plants are growing slow but I think it's because of the weather. I keep the basement at 70 degrees.

What have you got for lights down there? And how close are they to the plants?

The Light is about 12 to 15 inches from the growbed. I Took a reading yesterday and my PH is low I added some baking soda to try to raise it. I only used a little and now the water has become dark and murky.... I don't want to do another water change again maybe I need to add a large swirl filter or add the sump back onto the 90 gallon with the K1 media.

Anybody have any suggestions!!!

Snatch some ankle stockings from the wife/SO and stuff them with oyster shell grit. Can get that from any feed store. Put them in the growbed near the incoming water.
Oyster shell is a natural way to raise the PH to around 7.2 or so. It naturally won't go any higher that that and that is about average for plants/fish.
Other that that, just leave things alone and let nature take its course. The more you mess around with it, the more frustrated you will be. You are creating a mini ecosystem and it'll take time to balance itself. The water changes may have been accidental, so now that things are topped up and cycling, just leave them be for a while.

I can't seem to find oyster shell grit anywhere is there a name it may go under that I am not finding or asking for.

NM I found it under bird feed supplements at a the Petco I will get some this weekend.