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High PH and No Nitrates

I have a single IBC Tote Aquaponic system. My tap water PH=7.5

The system cycled fish-less (added ammonia to kick-start it) for about 40 days and reached a steady PH of 7.0 and Nitrates exceeded 80ppm and ammonia was 0ppm. I have about 7 tomato plants and three cucumber plants growing in the bed. The tomatoes have reached upwards of four feet and have fruit on them already. I had been adding one capful of liquid seaweed each day up until I put the fish in.

at about day 40, I added 40 fingerling tilapia 8 days ago. Three days ago i noticed my water had spiked to PH 7.8, and then today I checked again and the ph is still at 7.8, nitrates are at 0ppm.

Is this normal? Should I worry?

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Permalink Reply by Vlad Jovanovic on May 19, 2013 at 4:06pm

You probably get all that and more from the kelp you are harvesting Harold.

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Permalink Reply by Suzanne Hayes on October 30, 2013 at 4:19pm

I am curious about adding sea salt to the system. How does that work? What ratios are you looking at and will there be any harm to the fish or plants?

I'm currently fish-less cycling and I am seeing yellowing and some die off on my transplants and a little on the seeds started directly in the grow bed

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Permalink Reply by Robert J on October 30, 2013 at 5:13pm

For what its worth (the guys who have commented have way more experience than I) I found liquid fish fertizer (about a cup) didn't hurt the fish or the bacteria but the plants really liked it. But these days I use Nourish L and Photosynthesis plus (links on my page) as a regular weekly treatment. Fish and plants seem to like it. I've found I really like teh ecological labs products. I think more because they are willing to share "how they work" rather than giving the standard marketing answers. And I've found them to be very helpful, when I've done stupid things.