Balancing the Ph, ammonia, nitrates....

[Nasus Marsh]

Our system has been running for about five weeks.  We used an IBC tote, have 150 gallons of water with 10- 4" tilapia and 20- 2" tilipia.  We are growing lettuce, spinach, broccoli and strawberries in the grow bed.  Everything seems to be going well; fish are alive and so are plants.

I am driving myself crazy trying to understand the ppm of all these components.  I have read so many different things that I am having nightmares about numbers and ppm.

Using Ph down we have our water at 6.9, we have a master kit to measure everything but I am confused on what the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate should be and how to get them there.

Does anyone have words of wisdom to share with me?  Simple would be best (feeling really old and dumb today).

[Robert Rowe]

Don't chase the PH. If you use tap water let it set for a couple of days to boil off the chlorine, then add to system.

If you have cycled and your ammonia is low and your nitrites are low with building nitrates just add plant load gradually and the PH will settle over time. My PH after several months has finally dropped to 7-7.4. To go lower I will look to natural solutions which I haven't found at this point. My fish are happy, 2 raft beds and 2 media beds are growing good  crops. I have 23 6-8" Red Commets in a 220 gallon pond and a 80 gallon aquarium with a large plecy and 24 Tilapia 2-4" send output to the system.  My 700 gallon grow tank is slowly warming up for the Tilapia. I plan on moving them when the water temp reaches 70 degrees.

 

[Steve Winchell]

Well the easiest thing to tell you in you want 0 NH3/NH4, 0 NO2, and NO3 constantly in the system at low to mild levels.  If you are not getting these results then you should look at your bio filtration and make sure you sized it correctly for the job.  Remember no fish ever died from too much filter or to much DO. Hope this helps you understand it a little clearer.