Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey DDM, it almost sounds like what you want is the UVI green water culture.

Dave, thats might be a wonderful lower labor way to go about it! Do you have any details or plans for building the clarifier?

It seems a bit weird to let poop be the bio filter... But hey if it means cheap feed for fish I might give this some more thought. I could have a fish only system. On the other side of the coin, if I grow algae in a separate pond I could produce quality protein for me and the fish.

This weekend was my first time to fillet a fish ever. I took a couple of the smaller orange tilapia and decided to practice on them because they are not the best shaped fish and they grow slowly compare to the white and black. I must admit that I wasted a bit of meat with my sloppy cutting, but I did it!



For lunch we had tilapia pan fried fillets in butter and garlic with a squeeze of lemon, and onion soup made from the green onions and chard still growing in my AP bed after the frost. Its always such a good feeling to eat a meal prepared completely from food grown on site! This bring be up to about 21 meals prepared from my own produce! As I have put about $30 worth of fish food into the system that means my return this first year was about $1.43 per meal (not counting the cost of the system). I hope to really get this number up higher this next year! If all goes well I plan to do an experiment and live off only what I can produce from june to october this next year. That means 450 meals.

Im so excited

Qusetion? Can you feed tilapia boiled egg yolks? This might be a cheap solution for feed. My chickens are now free range and cost very little to maintain.

Reap ... as you sow DanD....

Glad you're enjoying the fruits (and fish) of your labour.... and much more to come...

Sounds like you're really moving in the right direction Dan. I'm anxious to find out how the egg yoke feed works out. I'm using pellets and I really don't think my Tilapia like them all that well. They go crazy after algae and duckweed though so I know they have an appetite.

Yes, I noticed that the tilapia dont really care for the catfish food but will devour as much basil and mint as I can throw in. Its a real pain to get quality fish food in this area. Tractor supply no longer sells fish food and the feed sold at local feed lots falls apart fast and clouds the water. If I buy good feed it cost a lot to get it here and its pricey. Also, from what I have read feeding tilapia commercial fish food or grain causes them to be high in omega 6 which causes join swelling; something I want to avoid.

Busy times.. I have cut and burned for the past couple weekends and I am ready to bring in the backhoe to prepare my next grow bed and square foot garden area. I put some cattle panel lined with chicken wire around the grow beds to keep the animals out; also worked to tie up the drain line to. I finally added a loop back pipe so I can run the outside part of the system while its cold. Since doing that the wheat has double in size and as seen in background the beef 'crop' is doing well also. I plan to drain some of the fish water outside once a week to keep the plants going and top off the fish tank with fresh water.

I am getting the water temp up so the fish are eating like mad again. I hope to get the water to 80 or 85 by then of the month and add some more light. My goal to get the fish breading so that I can have 300 fingerlings to put in the new outdoor tank as soon as spring is here. I just dont know how I am going to collect the youngsters before they are eaten. Any one have any ideas on preserving the hatchlings?

Did you find a use for those lawn clippings BRB? You think feeding clippings straight to rabbits be OK?

I feed lawl clipping to my rabbits, then leave the rest spread out on the balcony for a few days and store it as hay when it's ready. They love it fresh and as hay/

That is really neat KP! Thanks. I will do the same. How long does it keep as hay? By when should it be used? I am building a rabbitry at the moment and so should get my rabbits not too long from now.

The final stage of my first system is finally underway. After cutting down the brush I dug up the roots, burned them, dug a pond(tank), and leveled an area for grow beds. Now Im applying sand to protect the liner from gravel and to do the final leveling.

My goal is to have this cycling by the end of the month :crossfingers:

For goodness sakes Dandi... when are you going to stop mucking around with half measures and do things in a "big" way...

As always mate... I know it will be impressive when it's finished...

I sure hope our AP master inventor is up for visitors when this is up and running. I feel the need for a road trip. and would love to see this with my own eyes.

Like KP said the clippings would have to be spred/dried so they don't mildew as that would give the rabbits intestinal problems or even kill them. I was trying to figure out how to dehydrate the clipping in bulk without mildew growing. Possibly experimenting with an old gas dryer.

it dries in the sun quite readily when less than 2.5 inches thick. Quicker if on concrete. Or, mow without the catcher, allow to dry and then rake up, just like a farmer