Frustrating

[Aloha Don]

You have your lights on a pulley system?

[Roger L.]

No. Just small link chain and hooks so it is very adjustable. 10" has a bigger length which can be used also. Between the 2 chain sizes I can get the lights just about anywhere.

[Aloha Don]

When you get time, please give a comparative description from your old system to your new that allows your nitrates to rise this time around....
I just bought a test kit and although my system appears to be functioning ok, the levels suggest that it could be doing a lot better...

[Roger L.]

Well Don I think my impatience and ignorance is what my problem was the first time around. I got the idea of aquaponics from another site that told me how to build a constant flow system but not much else. So I built it and put it in my basement, put 2 T5 shop lights over top of it and planted a full bed of veggies. I stumbled upon this sight at sometime during all of the construction but but did not begin to read it until everything was already underway. I figured it would all work without much research. The only thing that got me reading was I did not want to kill fish so I started reading and looking at all the systems. Most of the systems were fill and drain and fully cycled. I started out fishless cycling and got a little blip of nitrates so I added fish. They stayed alive and I thought everything was coming together so in came the Tilapia. The plants, some of them anyway, came in and I was excited. Some plants seemed to flourish and some did not. All nitrates went away and I could get no flowers to open to pollinate and the leafy greens grew about 2" and quit. Miserable failure. So by now I had learned a lot by following the conversations on the forum and by reading "DIY Aquaponics" and Oliver's Aquaponics 101. So I then ripped out all the plants and removed the expanded clay, not easy for a guy with a severely bad back. Since then I have built my bell siphon and got the timing correct and replaced the lighting with6 T8's with spotlights coming. I have had to wait for the nitrates to get to 40ppm before planting anything and then only leafy greens. I'm not sure any of the rework added to the creation of nitrates other than removing the plants that were a constant drain to the nitrates. I have waited and waited for the nitrates and finally they are here. I need more grow bed to balance the system and now that the water has come in I am going to add additional growing area.

[Aloha Don]

Impatience is the one thing that gets me too.
I need to learn to stop tinkering and wait.......

[Roger L.]

Wow, when a system decides to cycle it really cycles. Nitrates above the 160ppm level. Nitrites at 0. Ammonia is at .5. PH at 7. I couldn't be more happy. I am still going to go slowly with the plants. I have spinach, broccoli and lettuce planted to see how the growth goes. My solar panel is in place and I have the air pump and a light on that, the pump and grow lights on house power.

[Aloha Don]

Good job...

[JCO]

OK, where's the photos of all these veggies that should be growing like carzy from all the nutrients they are receiving

[Roger L.]

That's the aggravation JCO. That's why I started the thread about me and my black thumb called "Starting plants" in plants in general.

[JCO]

What are you sayng, that your veggies are not enjoying the high nutrient levels