Questions about my first system

[phil]

I have a 50 gallon fish tank and then I cut a 55 gallon plastic barrel in half for the grow beds. Filled both grow beds with pea gravel. I placed 8 tomatoe plants in there. 4 in each barrel 1/2. In the fish tank right now I have 4 comet goldfish. They're probably 2 inches long right now. I've been testing my water and my ph the lowest it's gotten is 6.8 and the highest 7.2. My ammonia has been 0 to 0.25 and then nitrites have been 0 and nitrates are around 10. Everything looks really good. Fish are swimming good and seem happy. Plants are growing and dark green. My system have been running since June 1st. I added about 10 gallons of water from my fish tank inside then the rest of the tank in filled with tap water and let it run for about 3 days before I added the fish.

My question is do you think I have enough goldfish for this amount of plants? And do my water levels look like they are in good ranges? Anything else feel free to comment

[Tomas]

Hello phil, I think there are a few fish in your system. Nitrate levels should be up to 80 ppm. Consider that you should add about 100 grams of fish food per day / m2 of plants.

However if you notice no deficiency in your plantas, you may need to keep your system running like that.

[Jonathan Kadish NYC AA Chair]

That number of 100g per square meter is based on Dr. Rakocy's research for DWC systems(actually 60-100 grams). You need no where near that much for media grow beds, more like 10 - 20 grams per square meter because all the solids stay in the system.

Tomas said:

Hello phil, I think there are a few fish in your system. Nitrate levels should be up to 80 ppm. Consider that you should add about 100 grams of fish food per day / m2 of plants.

However if you notice no deficiency in your plantas, you may need to keep your system running like that.