Cycling is well on its way !

Amonia (undiluted left)

Nitrite (1/50 center)

Nitrate(1/20 right)

The farm is cycling ! since the 16th nitrites have appeared and since the 22nd, nitrates have made their appearance, and are seriously increasing since yesterday! This means that in less than 2 weeks, beneficial bacteria became able to start the process of nitrification, and the pH is starting to drop, wich is another sign that the nitrification is happening. Ammonia by the way, have disappeared since the 27th ! Today, there is still a great deal of nitrite. which mean that the water would not be safe yet to introduce fish.

Cycling the vertical farm

It has been a week that the "farm" is up and running. The "system" is for now in the phase of "cycling". That's how the pro's call it. It means that when a new aquaponic system is started up, beneficial micro-organisms need to set their homes in the "System". This process occurs naturally as microbes from the air settle in the system and process ammonia produced by the fish and the food leftover. Alternatively, the  system can be seeded by a mixture of nitrifying bacteria. I hope that adding "vermiwash" and a few worm cocoons and babies will accelerate this start-up of the system by bringing the beneficial micro-organisms from day one, and nutrients for the plants in the system. Basically, to cycle one's system, one just needs to wait, and see if ammonia gets converted into nitrate, using a kit of reagents that change color depending on concentration.

2 days later, ph is very low - how do I adjust it ?

Since I have read in many places that for aquaponics, the pH should be somewhere around 6.5 to 7, I decided to mesure the pH of the water in my tower since the beginning. I used little pH strips with 3 colored indicators to determine and I was surprised when I saw a pH of 5 ( or below, since the strips do not go below 5). I was surprise as my vermicompost pH usually is around 7 and 7.5, and that I assumed that my "tea" would be close to that. Also, before starting I downloaded the NYC water quality report, in which they indicate a ph close to neutral ( ie 7ish).

My brand new aquaponics vertical farm

A little less than a year ago, I moved to New York to  join my Kochana who took a new job there earlier that summer. We moved from a college town in central Illinois. That meant that we had to say goodbye to sweet and tasty tomatoes, zucchinis and other garden deliciousness. We now leave as many New Yorkers in an apartment, with no balcony, and no access to a small backyard or a rooftop to start a garden...
After starting earlier this year a vermicompost bin - my partner suggested I do so - I though she may not mid if I would start to grow something with this compost that I can now start to harvest.... Since there is neither a backyard or a rooftop, the idea to renew a past experience (from very very long time ago - high school more precisely) of aquapomics ( actually my high school attempt was hydroponics).
So there is my design : a triangular 3 feet tower with a slit on one side made of a thin plywood recovered from an old cabinet that we trashed a few weeks ago,  a small filing store-box find by the neighboring trash for the tank (made of PE), polyester fluffy filling from an old comforter,  food grade PE tube, a small aquarium pump found in the neighborhood, and because that free pump was not strong enought an actual fishpound pumps, found on Craigslist for 20$.