numbers do not make sense

[Moe]

Hello everyone.

I am a soil gardern.  This is my first aquaponics system.  I am so exited.  I put the system together and it is mechanically working.  I used "amonia" solution that I purchased til I ranout before I saw any Nitrite or Nitrate.  Now I am using peetology to supplement.  The five days numbers are as follow:

                                     Amonia          Nitrite         Nitrate       PH

Day 1                             2                     5               160            6.0

Day 2                             2                     5                160           7.2

Day 3                            2                     5                  160          6.8

Day 4                            2                     5                  160          6.4-6.6

Day 5                            2                    5                   160            7.6

 

 

everyday I added about 2-4 ozs of very aged stuff.  Can any one tell me what the numbers above indicate and what I should do next?

 

Thanks

 

 

[Keith Rowan]

stop dosing with ammonia..(or humonia)

higher ammonia readings will inhibit the cycling process. you only need to be at 2 max for cycling

after the ammonia gets to 0, dose again to 1 (or so), you should have 0 am and 0 nitrites by the next day to consider your system cycled

regarding the ph, are you cleaning the tube between tests, and are you testing at the same time of day?  there will be diurnal swings in ph so it's best to check at about the same time every day

[Alex Veidel]

Actually Keith, a lot of people recommend keeping ammonia levels at 4ppm max. But yeah, too much ammonia inhibits cycling.

Moe, you have a lot of nitrates. Did you test your water before you started cycling and saw nitrates initially? And do you have any plants in your system yet?

Keith Rowan said:

stop dosing with ammonia..(or humonia)

higher ammonia readings will inhibit the cycling process. you only need to be at 2 max for cycling

after the ammonia gets to 0, dose again to 1 (or so), you should have 0 am and 0 nitrites by the next day to consider your system cycled

regarding the ph, are you cleaning the tube between tests, and are you testing at the same time of day?  there will be diurnal swings in ph so it's best to check at about the same time every day

[Moe]

Alex,

initially I had 0 Nitrate.  two days ago, I did not add any amonia as recommended by Keith.  Last night(Day 6), the amonia was still at 2.  But the Nitrate dropped to 60.  Nitrite at 5 and PH at 7.2.

I dropped some lettuce seeds about three weeks ago.  only 3 have came through the hydroton.  two days ago, I removed some of the rocks and I added seeds.  I made sure that this time the seeds are in the "wet" zone.  will see how they do in a week or so. The new seeds are lettuce and watercrest.

I have a lot of soil plants/seedlings but I do not want to mix. 

[Robert J]

Moe,

 

Be Patient.  My system had the advantage of being pretty well filled by rain water and had set for weeks before I got the pumps installed and began cycling.  Even with that, I didn't see a drop in ammonia until the end of the second week.  I also used a bad recommendation and started with way too much ammonia.  But, by the end of the second week, ammonia would be zero each day, nitrites were still hot at 5ppm and nitrates fluctuated between 60 and 160 ppm.  Ph was all over the place.  May be important to note I had a full set of plants in the system and was alternating between ammonia and fish based organic fertalizer after the second week.  It wasn't until week 5 that my nitrites dropped to 2ppm and then almost like clockwork, week six I it zero.  At the end of week six my readings were Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 60, ph 7.2.  Today my ph runs about 6.2-6.4 and ammonia between zero and .25ppm.  Nitrates generally above 60 and nitrites at zero.

[Keith Rowan]

i've cycled with fish, and kept it below 1..(by controlling feed)

but i've cycled without fish, and maxed at around 2, it took a little longer without fish but i suspect that had more to do with temps than anything else

but yeah, some folks recommend 4 for cycling, some 2... six of one half dozen of the other

[Moe]

Hello,

it is me again.  I think I goofed.  I have added a plant foor that suppose to help the plants till the system is cycled.  All of a sudden I got Amonia 4-8, nitrite 0 and nitrate 0  for couple of days.  How could nitrate go from 160 to 0 that quickly.

did I kill them, did I wash them away?

if that is easlily done like this, how do I know that they will not wash away again?

Thanks a million for any help.

 
Keith Rowan said:

i've cycled with fish, and kept it below 1..(by controlling feed)

but i've cycled without fish, and maxed at around 2, it took a little longer without fish but i suspect that had more to do with temps than anything else

but yeah, some folks recommend 4 for cycling, some 2... six of one half dozen of the other

[Robert J]

Moe, Give it a couple days and monitor it.  See what the ammonia does...  If it comes down, your nitrites may or may not come back up, but your nitrates should.  Your system might suprise you.

[Moe]

I have been trying to establish a cycling system for so long now.  I am not getting impatient.  I just want to be on the right track and then be patient, I do not have a problem with that. what I have a problem with is that I am very new to this and I do not know if I am doing it right.  as you can see from the numbers above, the Nitrate was off the chart at one point and then now Nitrite and Nitrate are Zero.  I am a perfectionist and I like to know "How to grow the bacteria".  So far I do not think I know.

I can water a tomatoe plant for 120 days.  I am patient :)

  
 
Robert J said:

Moe, Give it a couple days and monitor it.  See what the ammonia does...  If it comes down, your nitrites may or may not come back up, but your nitrates should.  Your system might suprise you.

[Moe]

I have read some comments that the nitrate went from 160 to zero because the plants are using it.  That could be true because the baby seeds of lettuce are peeking out! Maybe
 
Moe said:

I have been trying to establish a cycling system for so long now.  I am not getting impatient.  I just want to be on the right track and then be patient, I do not have a problem with that. what I have a problem with is that I am very new to this and I do not know if I am doing it right.  as you can see from the numbers above, the Nitrate was off the chart at one point and then now Nitrite and Nitrate are Zero.  I am a perfectionist and I like to know "How to grow the bacteria".  So far I do not think I know.

I can water a tomatoe plant for 120 days.  I am patient :)

  
 
Robert J said:

Moe, Give it a couple days and monitor it.  See what the ammonia does...  If it comes down, your nitrites may or may not come back up, but your nitrates should.  Your system might suprise you.

[Robert J]

Moe, its been a couple of days, what are your numbers now?

[Moe]

Last night I have 2 for amonia, 0 for Nitriate and 6.0 for PH.  I did not bother check for nitrate since nitrite was zero.

I will do a full check tonight and post it tomorrow.

 
Robert J said:

Moe, its been a couple of days, what are your numbers now?

[Robert J]

Go ahead and check for nitrate, when your system is fully cycled, before adding fish, if you continue to add ammonia, it will comsume between 2 and 4ppm in 24 hours, nitrite will remain at zero and nitrates will come up.  Of course your plants will eat the nitrate at some rate.  As nitrifying bacteria establish themselves, ph will naturally come down.  Looking back to when you started, your ph started out a littler lower than normal, so not sure how to guage it right now.  What kind of fertilizer did you use to spike your ammonia?