Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

:clown:

Doug, remind me what kind of fish and what volumes you are planning...besides tilapia in the jacuzzi

The best fit fish for me is Channel Catfish (at least of those I know about). I enjoy catfish, but prefer Yellow Perch and Hybrid Blue Gill. The cats are omnivorous, but the others are mainly meat eaters. I intend to start up with 3-4" blue gill and perch and 5-6" cats. I will get 100 each of perch and blue gills and 200 catfish. My tank is divided into a smaller tank and a larger tank so I can use a two year cycle. With these larger fish, I am only going to use my large tank. I can use 3000 gallons in the tank alone and the grow table and sump and filter is almost 900 gallons. I may not use this much water to increase the nutrient concentration. I worry that initially my fish water may be too weak for good plant growth. I have been considering how to handle that. Perhaps a foliar spray of fish emulsion (not sure yet). Anyway, 400 various fish in 2000-4000 gallons. My other problem is insufficient grow bed size. I only have 96 sq ft.

I would put in a few Tilapia to see how large they could get in one growing season (6-9 months?) before they freeze. If I find a source of a small number of Tilapia (25-50).

I hope the fish reproduce. I hear that is tricky with the cats. They need some cover and there is none in the tank.

Judging by how well you'e done to date, I'm sure you'll find a suitable habitat for your cats to whisper sweet nothings within.

Maybe the cats would like lengths of PVC in various sizes.

I didn't find any Tilapia in quantities that small, and you'd get to pay shipping, too. Fewest I could source was 100.

You can always check with Mike F. He's breeding them.

Help me remember who Mike F. is

I went into engineering because I would have starved as a sales person. My memory for names is terrible

There is a technology school about 10 miles from my house that teaches aquaponics and aquaculture. Mr. Smith, the instructor said he 'might' be able to provide a few if their females produce young. Ify at this time, but I will check with him when I am up and running and water temp moves over 55F.

Janet, what was the price and fish size for 100 Tilapia? Where do they come from?

Michael Ferrini (he hasn't been on for a couple of weeks, he's in California)

michael_Ferrini He's in CA and breeding Tilapia. Here's a view of some of his fry...

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... &start=105

I haven't seen him as active as before, but he has lurked a little....

MF was moving houses, that may be why he is absent these days.

doh, of course! well remembered Dave!

of course, it could just be that he is busy emigrating to Australia?

Best price I found was Valmeyer School in Illinois. $35/100fish + $100 shipping. But they won't ship in cold weather, so that's out for me. Next best is Til-Tech (all males) or Miami Aquaculture (males and females). Check the Tilapia for Us thread for more detail.

Hope so, I'll lure him further south.

Janet, I think your idea of PVC pipe sections is good. I need to learn more about breeding them (how old for cats to breed, seasonal, water temp). My homework assignment.

It is 1pm and the greenhouse is 68F and outside is 27F (delta 41F!). It is very sunny. We had an ice storm last nite and all trees, bushes, and power lines are coated with ice. Now the sun is releasing the ice. I will not be standing under any trees for a while.

I am going to find a place to get coir around here. That is what I want to use in my net pots in the spring.

I remember Michael Ferrini now. Unfortunately, two weeks is about the half life of my memory these days.

At the advise of my concrete contractor, I used copper pipe thru the 8" thick walls of my tank. I hope this small amount will be OK for the fish. After I terminate the pipe, I can paint them to isolate the copper from the tank water. Today, I am terminating my copper pipe with threaded adapters. Two of these will go to my new heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is in the sun. It's flat black surface is hot to the touch. Of course there is no water in it yet. Based on a 60F temp delta, I have calculated about 8000 btu heat gain per sunny day with water flowing thru. My 3000 gallons requires about 25000 btu to gain 1F. So three days will gain less than 1F due to heat loss from the tank. Not as much as I would like, but something to offset the many heat losses.