Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have a question about systems..

Are most of the AP's run year round?

If so once you eat the fish how do you get everything back on track?

I'm guessing fingerlings would take awhile to produce what's needed to keep veggies going?

Or do you time it and take all plants/fish at once?

I'm such a newb..

I generally do two crops of fish per year. Starting the trout (cool season) fingerlings in April or there abouts. The barramundi (warm season) were harvested the day that the trout were delivered last year. Rainbow trout fingerlings have alway done well for me from the get go. They are voracious feeders and the growth on my plants when the system was brand new was quite astonishing. I often do a change over of plantings in autumn and a big clean up after the summer heat and to plant winter veges. The trout get harvested or thinned from the time they reach around 300g, a lovely size to eat. Others are left to get to around 500g. There are times of weeks and even months when I didn't have fish in the system, and the worms continue to break down roots and slowly releasing nutirents to keep things ticking over. Add fish again, feed and the plant growth ramps up again. Easy peasy!

I have decided to give seasonal fish a miss so no trout or jade perch for me for now. Have cod, silver perch and catfish of varying sizes and only pull a fish or two every now and then, so system runs fine all year.

Silver Perch keep my system running all year round. Last year when winter arrived and the SP became dormant I added just a small number of trout, I think 7 from memory, and they provided a nice little harvest at the end of winter. And as Faye mentioned.. trout are fun to feed.

Trout are so much fun to feed

I have silvers now because i was too lazy to go and get barra. Also a weird weather transition left me uncertain about their success.

Great info... Thanks all.. It appears AP is alot more flexible and forgiving than I thought. I thought trout would be out for me because of temps here in south Texas. But now I might try it next fall. I'll check with the other southern APers if they've had success with trout. It would be my preferred fish as I love the taste. It's also what got hubbie interested in helping me with AP.. I showed him a pic off the forum of veggies and trout on a table (looked so perfect it could of been a magazine ad).. He was hooked from then ... Wish I could remember who posted the picture. I'd send a thank you note.. Cuz lets face it, hubby is gonna do most of the hard labor...
We've been together for 36 years and its always been ME=Brains (dreamer). HIM=Brawn (easy to talk into)

Probably going to be hard to do trout in south Texas. Tilapia may be a easier choice. How for south are you? My water temps last year where always above 80F and sometimes near 100 in my above ground tanks. Trout would not make it at those temps.

Yea here in the cali high desert we get to about 120 F a few days during the summer... Was wondering if I did an in ground with a small chiller, is it possible to do trout year round? Not sure as to how cool I could get the water with an in ground, shaded with a small chiller.

Magnolia TX.. Bout 1 hour north of Houston.

What fish do you raise? Even with shading that's prob what I'll get. I plan on one entire IBC for fish but still not as deep as local ponds. Can any fish survive in near 100?

No trout for you guys as 75F is as high as they will handle.
Having the tank in the ground would not help much as the growbeds are above ground and will collect all the heat and pump it back into the fish tank. Think radiator in a car, same principal
Hey if I could get tilapia I would and you guys can

My trout died mid-June from temps and that was in PA. TX would be a negatory I think. Good news is you could probably do catfish or tilapia there I would imagine. I haven't yet had anything year-round except tilapia in the basement. Trout would die in June sometime, so I'd have to go fishless from mid-June to mid-August. Tilapia would be worse, would be heating the water almost all the time. Koi or goldfish are good options - I've had goldfish that went from being frozen over a couple inches in the Winter to being in >100 degree water in the Summer and lived.

Hum.. Good options...
I'm not telling hubby no trout till all the hard work is done.. (Me=Evil Wife).

So what to do when no fish in system?

Can goldfish and tilapia live in same FT?

Peeponics and yes I think they can both live together. HTH

Was it this pic from October 2012 Tambra? Trout season is aonly weeks away for us now. They do not like the weather when it warms, so I just move them to the freezer.

I bet they don't like the freezer either Faye!!!!