First set of leaves crisping

[JustaNoOb]

I plan on doing aquaponics one day too, poor fish haha.
I cycle my tea just like an aquaponics system. Using lava rock as my biofilter because of the surface area.

Current reading from my main tea.
NH3/NH4 - 0 PPM
NO2 - 0 PPM
NO3 - 160++ PPM Off chart < Would kill fish for sure

When cycling though, NH3/NH4 and NO2 are so far off the charts, it looks like ink.
At 36hrs, my tea wasn't much. It took 7 full days with a 85F water temp to cycle it.
Now the water is at 50F, when I use some water, I get a slight spike in NO2 and it drops to zero after a week.
Colder temps slows it for sure.
From asking aquaponics people, this is normal.

How can you tell if the microbes are dead?
Do you think sugar has something to do with it? Mine doesn't use any.

From what I could gather online, the microbes die after 24hrs without oxygen or food, mine has both.
As long as there is a supply of NH3/NH4, the cycle continues.

[Trex]

I plan on doing aquaponics one day too, poor fish haha.
I cycle my tea just like an aquaponics system. Using lava rock as my biofilter because of the surface area.

Current reading from my main tea.
NH3/NH4 - 0 PPM
NO2 - 0 PPM
NO3 - 160++ PPM Off chart < Would kill fish for sure

When cycling though, NH3/NH4 and NO2 are so far off the charts, it looks like ink.
At 36hrs, my tea wasn't much. It took 7 full days with a 85F water temp to cycle it.
Now the water is at 50F, when I use some water, I get a slight spike in NO2 and it drops to zero after a week.
Colder temps slows it for sure.
From asking aquaponics people, this is normal.

How can you tell if the microbes are dead?
Do you think sugar has something to do with it? Mine doesn't use any.

From what I could gather online, the microbes die after 24hrs without oxygen or food, mine has both.
As long as there is a supply of NH3/NH4, the cycle continues.

Im dead sure once the microbes die off ,some sort of anerobic microbe takes over and the molasses feeds it and it explodes in growth causing buildup and clogs roots ,pumps and all surfaces below waterline .

[JustaNoOb]

Interesting, I remember one of my earlier experiments did that too. I recall using molasses as well.
I thought it was from light leaks, when it could have just been from the molasses or both.

[Trex]

I tried it with pure canadian maple syrup also not the store shit , not as much buildup but failure just the same 😕