Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Just tested. Levels still aren't where they need to be to introduce fish from what I understand.

ph 6.0 (understand feeder goldfish like it about 7.5)

ammonia 4.0 (shooting for zero)

nitrite .5 (shooting for zero)

nitrates 5.0 (shooting for 40 ppm)

air temp 80

water temp 75

The few plants we put in are doing well and the seeds we put in are coming up, except for the cilantro

Raise your pH to about 6.8... it'll help the nitrification...

Will do, thanks. I have electricians out there putting permanent power in right now.

OK, got my pool thermometer - it is cool to just look over on the table next to me and see the temp in the greenouse is 86 and rising and the water temp is stable at 75.7 - I like that, and it was only 20 bucks.

Cycling without fish still not complete - ph is still low at 6.4 - ammonia is down to 4.0 - nitrite is down to 0.25 but nitrates are still low at 5.0. I guess I expected these number to change a little faster but it has only been two weeks so I guess not. Plants are doing great except for broadleaf sage wheich doesn't seem to like so much direct sun. I'm covering it during the heat of the day. I changed the flow in the standpipes to raise the water level in the GBs and the greens I seeded are really taking off even more.

If I can get the ammonia down a little more I can introduce some fish, right? I'm expecting the GBs to bring that down.

Hi Terry Welcome to the AP madness. Keep on waiting to put in the fish till it gets cycled. Oh by the way the NitrAtes can be really high like 500 and still be OK. The plants really like lots of food. The other readings should be as they say. Ammonia less than 0.25, Nitrites less than 0.25 also. You really want NitrAtes to be reading something. The more the better up to 500. I have trouble keeping more than 5 NitrAtes cause the plants eat em up fast. When you get lots put in more plants.
Put some shell grit in the water and it will help try to keep the PH a little above 7.

Thanks, Don, will look for some shell grit - some things are not readily available for AP here, this is not exactly an AP hotbed. I may have to order it

You should be able to get it at Garden Centers and feed stores
as well.

Thanks, I'll check that - one of them does have worm tea for sale - may want some of that at some point. Doubt I'll try to make some for such a small project. They just charge ten bucks a gallon.

Progress report - pictures of the growbeds - ammonia still at 4.0 but topping of with city water brought the ph up to 7.6 - still zero nitrites and nitrates

plants have been in about a month, planted as small seedlings - the greens you may can see coming up by the cabbage were seeded directly. Trying to raise some other seeds up in a little grow case but they are not showing much progress. I'm hoping to get some fall seedlings when somebody stocks them and fill out the bed a bit more since the ones we are trying to start ourselves are showing so little progress. May also direct seed a little more.

other growbed

I like these pics. Plants are looking good.

Thank you, like I say I hope to be able to add some fall seedlings soon and fill it out a little more.

Worm tea is really easy to make. For the price they are charging of $10/gal you can easily make some by buying a bag of worm compost & some sulphur free molasses. Just throw an air stone in a bucket of water with a scoop of worm compost and a couple teaspoons of molasses. Let aerate for a couple days. Voilà worm tea. You can also use it as a insect/foliar spray for your plants. Very handy. If you vermicompost your plant scraps you can even save some $$ money there.

Your setup is looking good too.

Didn't know you could buy worm compost, I'll have to see if I can find some.

I bought a large bag (2 cu ft) of organic worm compost for $15 from a local gardening chain. Bought 32oz of organic unsulphured molasses from Amazon for $15. Using a 5 gal orange Home Depot bucket with lid, ~$5. The lid on the bucket helps reduce evaporation. I then just use one of my airstones from my tank since I have 4 of them in there. I always aerate my water for at least 24 hours as I take it from the hose before adding the compost and molasses. You can use your AP water too if you are removing the excess fish solids. What I've been doing lately is keeping a bucket of aerated water always going so I can top off my AP tank when needed. Earlier this season I was making a new batch of worm tea every 4-5 days.

If you are going to dump the tea into your AP system you might want to put the compost in a mesh bag or cheese cloth so you also don't accumulate soil in your system. Since I'm usually dumping it at the base of my dirt based tomatoes, citrus and hops they don't mind the extra soil.