Plant and Fish Question

[jillybee23]

Hello All:

I sewed my seeds (Peas, basil, spinach, lettuce, bak choi) in the planting kits. The peas grew extremely fast but the other seedlings lag behind. I have 20 gold fish in my 150 gallon system now. My 50 tilapia fingerlings will arrive on Monday. I washed the soil off the peas and planted them in the growing bed with the bell siphon and they are not doing well. My questions are:

1. Did I plant them too early?
2. Do they need continuous flow instead of the bell sipon?
3. Are they lacking nitrate?
4. Once I stock with the fingerlings, how soon should I start planting my other vegetables?

I read somewhere that Peas and Tomatoes does not water continuously at their root. Is that correct. Please help.

Thanks
Angie

[LFCummins]

Hey there.

As to your questions.
- I don't know about your nitrates and such (you should be testing your water in the system for that).
- As to planting too early, no - I've simply sown seeds on occasions, however there seems to be an "adjustment" period when I transplant from "dirt" with some.
- Far as the wet roots for tomato and peas, you should have periods of drainage that take 30 min to an hour to refill your bed , depending on the cycle. My tomato, peas and beans all did fine. Mostly I was concerned about the tomato plants. Also I shut down my bed flow at night which allows for more dry time.
- Number of plants (area) is comparable to fish but not a rule of thumb. Lots of variables weight in, size / number / gallons of water / water temp and chemical make up vs the size of plants / are they producing / how many / how old (small or large), also how is / was the system doing prior to the change of adding fish / plants, more fish means more waste means more natural filtration is needed to balance them out. A plant can die from malnutrition if not enough bacteria and fish waste are present in the proper mix. Don't worry you will get it.

These are just answers from my limited experience. Hope they help you in some way.
As the season starts here in the states some of the Old pros will get on and update their systems, they are excellent sources for information.

Good Luck
Best wishes