The show so far

Observations

1. Water is still cloudy.
2. Fish seem to be doing okay. They have a good appetite. It seems like they may be breathing a little hard. The numbers will explain.
3. The water test today told me that there have been some dramatic changes to it.
1. pH dropped to around 6.5. It's critical that I get this back up to 7-7.5. I am concerned about the wild changes affecting the health of the plants and fish.
2. The nitrites have increased and nitrates are unchanged. By itself, this is good because it tells me that I have adequate bacteria for a nitrogen cycle.
3. The Ammonia has rocketed to 2.0 ppm! This is very bad. It needs to come down as soon as possible but without starting over and without any magic, mystery chemicals from the pet store. I'm wondering if the plants can keep up with the processing of the nitrates. The fish need better, more stable conditions.
4. The plants seem okay as none are wilting. These plants are not grown from the growbed itself. I purchased them from the Farmer's Market and put them in there specifically for the fish as a nitrate filter.
5. Water temperature is steady at 23°C.

Analysis

As an immediate measure to address the issues, I performed a 10% water change using water that had been sitting in an open bucket for this use. I left it exposed to dissipate the chlorine without using any tap water dechlorinator.

I also added 30 drops of pH UP (10 more than recommended).

Next Steps

1. Add more seeds to the growbed so I actually grow plants and not just transplant the good works of others.
2. Get the ammonia levels down. I could siphon the unused food and waste away periodically and add more plants to use the nitrates and thus, help keep the water cleaner for the fish.
3. I need to purchase an aerator. I saw one online that will also help keep the submersion pump quieter, but I can't find it now. I'll dig deeper. I didn't just imagine it.
4. Sprucing up the tank and adding lights, etc. will have to wait.
5. Buy some seeds, soak them for a day or so, and then add them to the grow bed.
6. I will perform another ammonia test later this afternoon to see if more action is needed to reduce it.

The Numbers

Date	GH	KH	pH	NO2	NO3	NH3/NH4	Temp °C
16-May	180	80	6.5	3	80	2.0	23°