Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

great looking work!
gotta love having some helpers

What's involved in getting the Aquatic Culture License? I did some research and couldn't find anything about it. N.E. Oklahoma

It seems that I haven't updated in quite awhile. So here is a quick status update:
-The system survived (but not quite flourished) an extreme drought. Plants and fish grew great, but the extreme heat preventing fruiting of most everything until late into the fall. Air temperatures were commonly over 110 degree F during much of the long summer.
-The tilapia survived a fairly mild winter. We were able to keep the water warm enough with one small heater.
-We've experimented with different media and plants and have found a few things that seem to work well for us.
-We're coming up on almost a full year of operation.
-The tilapia seemed to breed well last summer

I'll post some pics and let the pictures tell the story.

Construction of the greenhouse/fish barn. I reconfigured a pre-fab carport by taking off some of the metal and replacing polycarbonate panels as well as construction some frames on each end and attaching panels there as well.

Some of the produce.

some more

To "oklaponics":

Regarding the Aquaculture License.

It was not too big of an ordeal. Basically, I had to fill out a few forms, give a description of the project, have a plan to deal with a massive die-off. Pay $10. They are supposed to inspect the facility before they grant the permit, but they have never came by. They just sent the license in the mail.

I recently did a renewal. Basically fill out a one-page report stating how much fish I had sold. and.... pay $10 again.

the license is from the State Department of Agriculture.

We are trying to slowly grow into a small commercial operation. Right now, just learning the system and experimenting. We hope to maybe sell at a few farmers markets this summer. Not much yet, but just getting our feet wet so to speak.

We are planning on adding some deep water culture beds this summer (outside of the greenhouse).

My son named our farm. FISHTABLES.

His logic was. We are growing fish and vegetables, let's call it Fish-tables. He's 7 years old.

Here is our logo:

Thanks for that idea of the cattle feeders! I showed your pictures to my hubby and he liked the feeders in particular. We wanted something fairly light (to take as much weight off of our floor as possible) and they are a good width and length. Did you ever measure the depth to see it they really are at least a foot deep? That's ok - we can measure one at Atwood's. Our porch will be about 20 feet long so two of these would work on the one side perfect. Raising them up on the blocks is a good idea, too. Where in Okla. are you? We are originally from Okla. and met and married in Bartlesville. My hubby's family have been farmers in the Enid area for generations and we still own farm ground over there. One of these times when we go back there (or to Wichita where our son lives), if you are "on the way", we'd love to stop in and see your set up - looks great!

The feed troughs have worked pretty well for us. We did have some set up with gravel media and some set up with floating rafts. We tended to have problems with the floating rafts and we just liked the gravel better, so we converted them all to gravel. The tallest beds have a large river gravel and the rest of the beds have a pea gravel. The pea gravel is probably a little better. My wife prefers working and planting in the pea gravel. The only downside, so far, it seems that one of the plastic liners has a small crack around the bolt that holds it on the frame. Nothing major yet, but the weight of the gravel does stretch them out a little bit.

It seems that the depth of our gravel is probably 10-11 inches. I think the troughs are 12 inches at their deepest.

We are located between Shawnee and Midwest City. Just South of I-40. You're more than welcome to check it out if you're ever in the area.

We usually go Tulsa way when we go to Enid or Wichita but we *can* go Okla City way if we want to, when going to Enid (for Wichita we cut up through Bartlesville and into Kansas to go there). We'll keep you in mind! I subscribed to your thread here, too.

Where did you get the clear panels for the outside of the greenhouse?

I got the clear panels from Home Depot. They carry PVC and polycarbonate. I went with the polycarbonate even though it is more expensive. I understand that it lasts longer and holds up better than the PVC. I hear that the PVC can become yellow and get brittle within a few years.

They say that the second year is better than the first in plant production. Probably because of the good bacteria that has gained footholds and is expanding. More than likely going to see less of the nitrite/nitrate/PH swings now that your system is established.

Great to see you are still working the AP system. Like what you did with that carport too. Keep posting.

Is the polycarbonate good enough and strong enough to put on the roof, too?