Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I started my system back at the beginning of November, not really knowing what I was doing/ getting myself into. My friend gave me a 55 gallon fish tank that I thought hey I could probably somehow turn this into a garden. I did a little research on google for aquariums systems and hit the ground running before I knew how to walk. So far what I have is a ebb and flow system that pumps water from my 55 gallon tank into my 2 ft by 4 ft grow bed that is 1 ft deep for 30 mins every two hours from 6am to midnight. My lights stay on from 6am to midnight too. Since I am not a big fan of eating fish I am trying to use tropical fish and I currently have 3 african cichlids that are still alive. I started out with two chilids and 2 dog face puffers but the puffers died. I got 4 more cichlids and three of these guys died, the first two I think got bullied by my survivors who wouldn't let them eat and then the last one I think just stopped eating. My problem that I am having right now is that my ammonia is really high and has been for a couple weeks now but I have 0 nitrite and nitrate. My fish are really tiny and I am not feeding them much because of the high ammonia. I believe my system did cycle because about a month in I had a high spike in nitrite and nitrate and then thing balanced out. The pH is currently at 6.4/6.6 after I added a pH booster cuz it was dipping down to 6.0 and maybe even lower. In addition to my fish dying my plants are starting to look a little sad with my tomato plants having wilted leave with specks of black. I am not quite sure where to go from here so any advice would be incredible helpful.

Welcome. Pics usually help. What feed are you using, what lights are you using and what temp is the water. Also what is in ph booster?

Sorry it took me a little while to figure out how to resize the pictures but here are some pictures of the set up i have. The pH booster I have is Microbe-Lift pH Increase Plus and it says it contains sodium hydroxide but i dont see any other ingredients. It says that it is safe for fish and plants and i got it at in the aquaponic section at a local hydroponic store.