Newbie to AQ few questions about cycling

[Brad lord]

Hello all i am new to AQ and have a few questions about cycling. Brief history. Started with a 100 gallon fish tank and a 75 gallon grow bed (  12inches of hydroton) water temp is kept at 78 degress with 1/4 HP chiller ambient temp ranges from 78-90 degrees. I am using a bell Siphon with grow bed circulating every 12 minutes. I stared cycling 2 weeks ago using the fishless cycling technique using the aqua cycling kit that I purchased from the aquaponics  store. the first two days i added the prescribed ammonia and I have added all the bacteria over the course of a week. i added seedlings to the grow bed and have two 135 watt LED grow light cycling 16 hours on 8 hours off. Now my questions if anyone can help.

1. After the first two days of adding ammonia my levels have been steady at 4 ppm without adding any ammonia for the last two week. is this normal.

2. Everyday I have been adding either hydrated lime or aqua UP to try to raise the pH to 7 but it is holding at 6.4, is this normal?

3. even after two weeks my nitrite levels are reading 0ppm is this normal?

Sorry for all the normals but was wondering if anyone has any thoughts and if this doesn't seem right what can I do to fix it.

Thanks.

[Jonathan Kadish NYC AA Chair]

Everything looks normal... took me 35 days to see any nitrites. You will likely take less time.

[Hank Paloci]

I cycled with fish and had a nitrate spike in less than a week.

Consider finding a friend who already has a tank, and getting some rocks from him or her from the bottom of their tank ... or media from their GB. That will get the bacteria you want in the system quick, I think.

If you have no such friend, go to the local pet store and ask for some rocks from the bottom of one of their tanks. I hear they give for free. That's more risky though ... store bought fish are the microbial equivalent of online dating. You never know what you're getting.

[Brad lord]

Thank you for your responses back, all information is very helpful especially when you are new. Quick question,does anyone have experience dosing maxicrop with iron in a system I.e. how much per gallon and how often during fish less cycling

Thanks