Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Greetings. New to AP and have some general questons.
1) Does anyone know of a reliable Tilapia supplier at a reasonable price? (not much profit to be made paying $1 a fignerling)
2) Any suggestions regarding sumerable heaters for my fish tank? I have an 800gallon tank and need a reliable heater
3)Any suggestions regarding ventaliation systems for a 20X40 ft greenhouse? We find the systems to be quite expensive
4) Anyother information or words or wisdom to a couple of people just starting off with an aspiration of eventually taking this to the commercial level.
Thanks
Murphy

Have you considered breeding the tilapia? Just a thought. You could become a new local source for fingerlings.

Good luck, best wishes,

Jeff C

er2murp2, can't help you with the tilapia source there but I would at the very least suggest you consider a Summer fish (Tilapia), Winter fish (Trout) scheme. Having to heat your tank might make Tilapia unprofitable any time other than Summer. You probably already considered this since you asked about sumerable heaters but thought I should throw it out there just in case.

20 x 40 is a good sized greenhouse. I'm not sure but it sounds like you are looking for 6400 to 8000 CFM of ventilation.
This publication might help http://www.extension.org/pages/32535/greenhouse-ventilation. Your location is probably warmer than here. Some greenhouses have vertical sidewalls with polycarbonate panels that can be replaced with insect screen using screen window kits from the big box stores. I've also seen inflatable side walls on greenhouses so when you want to let air in just deflate that portion of the side wall http - http://www.usgr.com/ventilation/poly-vent_inflatable_side_vents.php

You might also want to extend the greenhouse in the future? Some people start with a 20 x 40 and expand it to 20 x 80 or more as they grow their operation. With natural ventilation it might be more difficult to do side by side greenhouses later on so how big you want to get might be important.

Hope this helps.