Day 33

Strawberry success!  I think our shade cloth is helping the strawberries.  We are getting larger strawberries now and I think its because they are getting the chance to grow before they ripen.  So it was a number of larger strawberries that disappeared into the tummy of the oldest daughter before I could say "I need to take a picture of it,"

Tonight I did some water tests to see how the nitrogen cycle is going.  The nitrogen cycle is what this is all about and it is basically the fish producing ammonia which is converted into nitrites.  The nitrites are converted into nitrates and the nitrates are what the plants love.  The water cleaned of ammonia is then returned to the fish and the cycle continues.   I tested for the levels of all these things to see how the system is going.  All my levels are going well.  The one I am a little concerned about is the nitrates.  They are at 0 which is great.  It means the plants are taking up all the nutrients but they may also be not getting enough.  The quicker I can get the trout in the better.  I added some Seasol to the tank to make sure the plants have some food in the mean time and while doing so I noticed we already have some seeds sprouting.  The tiny shoots are starting to poke out of the larger seeds.  Its 3 days since we planted them and I think by the weekend we'll have something to take pictures of.  It amazes me every time just how quickly the aquaponics system is.