Basement Gardening Project - Day 8

It's been a week since I planted the kale, lettuce, spinach, and collard seedlings into the do-it-yourself deep water culture system in my basement. Here's an updated picture:

Deep Water Culture bubbler system with hydroton

The spinach is starting to show noticeable growth and everything seems to be over the initial shock of the transplanting. Since this picture was taken, I've lowered the lights to within a few inches of the net pots.  This should help the growing considerably. I also took the first weekly ph and nitrite level readings today.

With ph at nearly 8.0 and the nitrite level at just barely above 0 ppm in each of the 10 gallon containers, I added an additional 10 tsp of nutrient solution (in addition to the 6 tsp of nutrient solution I added last week during system start-up). The instruction label on the back of the Botanicare product we are using recommends 2 tsp per gallon for hydroponics systems. I should have added more nutrient at system start-up, but I've learned that in aquaponics and hydroponics it's better to make small adjustments versus big ones.

It's been my experience that tap water from municipal water systems registers above 7.0, so I'll need to take a trip to the hydroponic gardening shop tomorrow to purchase some ph Down to adjust the ph.