Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Algae blooms are influenced by pH and nutrient load Cyara... as Chappo points out, they also directly and adversly affect pH & DO...

Bloom management is a "science"... get it wrong... and you'll end up with a pond full of rotting algae.... and rotting fish....

Extensive aquaculture, lightly stocked by definition... can acheive fish growth with a "degree" of algae and correct succession of zooplankton and other organisms at the right stages of fish growth.... primarily larvael and fingerling stages...

But for healthy, well fleshed high quality fish... you need protein... a minimum of 30%

Yes... you can throw Tilapia in a hole with some water ... and let them grow without any input.... but IMO... your returns, both in number and growth will be unprofitable... and even disappointing in terms of personal return and consumption...

As to algae and zooplankton being high in Omega 3.... I seriously doubt so in the case of micro-organisms such as zooplankton... the amount of Omega 3 (a synthesised fatty acid) produced in a microscopic organism would be miniscule...

Even allowing for the vast numbers that might be consumed by a fish... the transferrence to Omega 3 fats in the fish would be neglible IMO...

Similarly... the amount of algae needed to generate Omega 3 within a fish would be large... typically the Omega 3 oils are produced by extraction from large amounts of algae...

If you're looking for a source of Omega 3 in your diet... then why not grow Chia in AP and eat the seeds... in the mean time feed your fish... then eat them and gain some extra Omega 3...

I understand that ROO... but I have read that adding lots of extra DO can prevent the severe pH fluctuations.... That is my question.

Appreciate your input and your experience ROO... but I plan to get it right. Good thing I am using such a tolerant species of fish!

Interesting point...

Bugs?... earthworms?... maggots?... all natural. Just looking for truly organic and sustainable answers.

Never have planned to do that..... questions are all about inputs....

Never said zooplankton were high in Omega 3. I said algae and plankton were.....

I disagree.

Exactly. Want to produce large amounts of algae.... safely.... for the fish... hence the questions...

Chia? Never heard of it. Thanks. Will look it up.

But main interest in all these quesions is to increase Omega 3 in my fish. Market a truly organic .... high in Omega 3 .... product.

Plankton is merely the collective name for all micro-organisms that float in water...



Principally it is made up of zooplankton such as copepods, arrow worms, and invertebrate larvae....

Oh... and algae are also classified as "plankton" ...

Three main groups...

Yes. We now agree.

Chappo, there has been no feed given to the fish since I got them. Currently readings are 0,0,0. I have added some off the shelf sea salt. Its been raining buckets this week so I have not had a chance to add extra oxygen. I bet there has been a thousand gallons of rain water flow through the system.

Using what I had laying around I tried adding some oxygen to the pond. I had an old blower used one those blow up bounce things. It will only blow air down a little over a foot down.

Add an amusement tube and its a fishy fun park.

Dang, we could use some of that rain (the buckets under the edge of my roof only collected a few inches of water which means we got only a fraction of an inch of rain.)

So how are the blue gill doing. I'm very interested in how they do for you, I've heard they are a challenging species in tank culture but I know they are good eating fish out of the lakes up north. If I give up on tilapia, I would be interested if blue gill are worth a try. Do they need to be feed trained? I've got a bug zapper up over one of my catfish tanks now. I haven't actually seen the fish eating the bugs it drops yet but I don't see a huge number of dead bugs caught in the mesh in front of the waterfall so they must be eating them.

As to your tarp, I don't think the blue is enough to stop the algae. Green would be better. Actually the best would probably be one of those silver-gray tarps that really block the light. If you got a harbor freight in town, they often have some decent prices on tarps if you don't have one on had or a better source.

Good luck with the new fish. A 3% loss is really about to be expected so hopefully the rest survive the pH/DO fluctuations until the algae fades.

My pH was 7.2 at 6 am this morning. So that seems good. I have lost about 40 fish the first few days. None since then. I think many of the bluegill were not in great shape when I got them.

I am told gluegill will eat just about anything. I threw in a couple hand fulls of pellets and when I came back a hour later there was no trace of the pellets. I might need to feed them some flake food, but I was hoping that once they pellets got soft the fish could manage to nibble off what they needed or find them when they sank.

Howdy DanD Dazzling Doug up north in Okieville.
Thinking about your blower I had a battery of aquariums set up and used a smog pump and a electric motor for a areator, and had to bleed off alot of air the smog pump ran over 40 twenty gallon long tanks, with air to spare.
Where are you close to? looks kinda like Hill Country
Later DazD

Forgot to tell you that smog pumps a kinda loud and you need a in line filter to get any oil out of the pumped air. Sure work good though

A smog pump.. Interesting idea. Defiantly cheaper than a blower.

I am East Texas 100 miles or so East of Dallas

I threw in a small bucket of manure about a week ago and have a nice green soup now. The fish didn't even rise to be fed. And they always do. Interesting. Took a few days to take effect so I thought it had done nothing. I think it is worth pursuing if only for personal self-sustainability.

Glad no more fish dying DDM.