Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

capsicum and flat leaf parsley today after three weeks:

the pump in clear water - yesterday

some new plants added to the fish tank today:

Fish a few days ago.

Sheez, you dont have a slow speed do you! How's the cycling going?

did you see the tomatoes on the previous page, john? Pink Brandywines. I'm really looking forward to eating them.

The cycling is going nowhere. I wonder if we're doing something wrong. This morning's tests showed the pH going up at 7.2, nitrates are barely registering it's not clear but it's not pink either (which is the next reading) so I'm guessing it's 0. Nitrates 0, ammonia 1. We're thinking of changing some water today.

What makes the pH rise? We put new plants in yesterday but all the pots are terracotta. What is happening when the water becomes clear? When that happened last week I thought it would progress nicely towards being cycled but it hasn't, it's just doing nothing.

All the duck weed we put in is dead. We haven't fed the fish for 3 days. Any ideas or suggestions welcomed.

Ph will change a bit through out the day, your's really hasn't changed that much so I'd not be concerened. I think you may have slowed down the cycling process a bit, from what I have read here duckweed will consume ammonia so that may have slowed down the cycling process.
Not a real concern though, it all takes a bit of time and as long as your fish are alive its good.
I'd say feed the fish a bit and change out some water if ye like. The ammonia reading is still low so no worries. Feeding the fish a bit each day will give you more waste and of course more ammonia.
So feed em a bit each day, and monitor the ammonia changing some water based on the test results. Your still in the first phase of cycling, a couple weeks and you should be at the end of it if not sooner.
Love the plantings!

I agree with John. Feed a little bit and stay the course. It's looking great!

Yep - be patient, it will happen.

BTW - I see no need for a water change. The ammonia is at levels that you will need for the system to cycle, so you don't want to reduce them. The PH level is pretty much at optimum level for the bacteria. I would watch the PH though because if it gets too high then the fish may suffer because ammonia is more toxic to fish at higher PH levels.

oops, we changed the water already. John, Janet, VB, thanks a lot for your help. I'm kind of an instant person, I want it done yesterday. I'll have to learn to slow down a bit.

I must say the fish look very healthy and are happily swimming around inspecting the new plants. When I went out at first light, they were all tucked into the plants. I think they slept in there.

By your silence I am thinking everything is going super smooth Forest. Please say that is so?

the fish are well and happily swimming around. I just took some photos to update what's happening. I also have a question about tank maintenance. I'm guessing that we don't clean away the crud that builds up in the tank as it probably helps with cycling, but what sort of maintenace should we carry out. My husband is desperate to clean the tank and I said to leave it. What should we do?

these are pink brandywine tomatoes. They have flowers and are growing very well.

THE fish with the pump off, so no water ripples.