sprouts

Some of the old stock seeds didn't look like they were doing anything so I picked up some new, organic seeds the other day.   Spinach, 2 kinds of kale, arugula, mesclun, and a few more lettuce.   Going to be all greens for a while until the bed stabilizes.



Water:  

Learned that very hard water has high Alkalinity or "buffering capacity."  I noticed PH going back up over 8 over the past 2 nights after having it down to 7.2 before bed.    For hard water, I found articles about adding muratic acid which is hydrochloric acid ( read label and use with extreme caution!! )   vs. "ph-down" which is phosphoric acid.  Boy did that work!   A very small amount, about 5ml brought the 60 gallons down from PH 8 to 7.  Pretty extreme drop but no living things in there to stress yet and right on the desired mark of 7.     Had the plants out just in case things went haywire but PH was stable for 4 hours at 7.0 so I put seed starters back in.   Hope they are alive tomorrow.

Ammonia is still frustratingly high, perhaps 4.0 maybe a bit higher.  I changed ALL the water 3 times 2 days ago and still no change there.  It must stick to the rocks and walls or something.    Heating water to 81F for cycling and also aerating.  Added a little seaweed for the starts.     Going to try to leave everything alone for at least a week and see if the nitrites will show up.