Testing your Aquaponics System

Since water keeps your fish and feeds your plants in an aquaponic system, it is extremely important to test it. API test kits are an excellent way to test water.

I recommend testing the water every day when you first setup your system.  That will show when you can safely add fish and plants.  Bacteria have to be present so that Nitrates are produced, since Nitrates are relatively harmless to fish and wonderful food for your plants.  When you see that your Nitrate levels are equal to your Nitrite levels, it is safe to add fish.

Once your system is established, you can go to testing the water once a week.  Beware of the dreaded pH spike.  If your pH gets high (up to 8), it is time to look for a dead fish, and remove it.  If there are no dead fish, start looking for nasty dead zones in your grow beds.  If you find one, just thoroughly mix it in with the rest of your grow bed.  That should do the trick, but if your pH is still too high (above 7.0) then you need to start checking for bacteria problems.  Your water may not be heated enough for the bacteria to thrive.  If the temperature in your fish tank is lower than 60 degrees  Fahrenheit, your bacteria are not thriving.  Track everything you put into your system.  If you have added something and then have a change in pH, you can see if what you have added may have killed off the bacteria.  Don't add citrus based products into your system.  Lemon juice is actually anti-bacterial and will kill off your beneficial bacteria.  That bacteria is the backbone of your system.  It does all the work of converting toxic ammonia and nitrites into nitrates.

Testing the water is really easy with an API test kit.  Of course, you have to follow the directions that come with the kit!  Here are a few items to watch out for.  When testing pH you can read the results right away.  When testing the Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates; wait five minutes after adding the test drops.  Then you can read the results.  Do not read the results before five minutes are up.  Also, don't wait too long.  Record all your results so that you can troubleshoot the problems that will come up.

Lets suppose your pH is way too high, then you can add some AquaDown after you troubleshoot the above mentioned causes.

What if your pH is too low?  Alternate adding potassium from your local brewery and then adding agricultural lime.

That is it for now.

Next we will learn about some more troubleshooting.  Get all the details by taking this course.

To your successful urban farming.

Scott


P.S.  Yes, these systems can go virtually anywhere.  Want to grow food in your home or at your restaurant? Yes, you can and in a smaller space than you may have imagined.  Get a space saver system here.