Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was watching a video of Wilson Leonard at a lecture in Hawaii and he mentions adding ammonia to a new system before adding fish or plants to jump start the system. Supposedly this will get the nitrification started before the fish and plants are added. Does anyone have a guess what ratio I should use? I will have about 50 gallons of water total in my system.

you need pure ammonia not cloudy or with detergents etc.

not sure how much to add but aim for 2ppm.

You can also use 'humonia'

You can add seedlings from day one.

If you add a capful of Maxicrop seaweed extract every day, testing the following day, until you get an Amm reading somewhere between 1.0 to 2.0ppm, this will be sufficient... and it will feed the seedlings until you add the fish.

P.S... It won't take much to reach 1.0ppm in your 50 gallons, so go easy.

Thanks for the advice, guys. Next question....it seems that I cant get tilapia local in Tennessee. From all the internet adds I looked at, I will be spending roughly $50 for 25 fish and then $75 to ship them. I am just not that set on tilapia. I was thinking of contacting the local co-op and find out when the fish stocking truck will be in town and just get Bass or perch. Any thoughts? Does anyone know of a better way to get fish?

See what Tenesse's rules are on transporting live fish you catch to stock your own "pond". Bluegill, crappie, and minnows will all work to power system.

50 gallons is awful small for edible fish. You can get feeder goldfish or rosy red minnows at pet store cheap. I have 4 goldfish powering my system.

Stock based on the size of the tank and the filtration that your system can provide. Base your calculations on the final grown out size of the fish (the size you intend to harvest them at).

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6646

Is this going to be indoors or outdoors?

I will try and answer some questions. My system is small and indoors. I found that there is a tilapia farm about two hours from me in North Tennessee, but I will probably not use them at this point.
I had not thought of using minnows. They are very readily available and cheep as dirt.
I ordered the Maxi-crop and had it delivered yesterday.
I have a local farmer that had some extra seedlings of tomatoes and peppers that he did not need, so he donated them to the cause.
Things are plugging right along! I appreciate all the help I have been getting from this forum.