A lot of people put worms in their grow beds...I don't. Think about it...what does a worm do They eat...right...and when they eat, what comes out the other end? Worm poo.....DIRT..

Regardless of what others may say and do in their systems and what you may have heard, sooner or later you are going to have to take all your media out and re-wash it to get the worm poo out, otherwise what you have is a gravel/dirt bed and your dream of an almost maintenance free Aquaponics System is history.

As for the PH, don't worry about it....just let it cycle naturally. If you have any old aquarium filter floss laying around, put that in your A/P filter...that will help jump start the system.