Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Cool fish! Did you put them back in?

very nice system. Good work

Haha. Yeah, they have to grow much more!

yes nice fish and great pond.

I agree with the always upsize pipe recommendation.

Uh, about the ducks in the system, I don't really recommend it. Make them a system of their own unless you always cook all your veggies well since they are warm blooded and their manure should be properly composted before use in veggie beds that might grow veggies that will be eaten raw less than 6 months after the fresh manure is added to the system. That is just my personal recommendation. I don't have a problem with poo but if it comes from a warm blooded creature, I prefer it be composted before use as fertilizer on my food.

I have a duck a ponics system but it is separate from the aquaponics systems and we don't grow salad crops in it at least not for us to eat though I can't stop the ducks and chickens from eating what grows in their system.

Went cast netting again today, and look what I came up with! Dinner tomorrow night.



And we gained a new AP believer!!



He's pretty excited! This was one of the two tilapia I put in 6-8 months ago. This must be the fish that created all of these because the other died shortly after we put them in.

That makes sense.. Will take into consideration.

Damn nice selection of fish there... Wish we could have fish here that bred as easily..

ANy idea how heavy the big one was?

Didn't think to weigh him.

I'm pretty amazed at how fast the tilapia breed.

Tilapia breed easy but uncontrolled breeding can lead to a stunted population. If I wanted to grow out tilapia, I would add a cage to keep some in so they couldn't breed and they would grow out faster than the ones busy breeding. (They can start breeding when they are generally still too small to be worth much for eating.)

It's been a while since I've gotten on the forum. I also have neglected the system because I was frustrated by the lack of growth from the fish. Will update with pics later.

TC btw. Saw your new farm. Looks amazing! Congrats!

TC as you stated my tilapia bred uncontrollably and took over. Population has been stunted.

For the last two weeks I have been trying to get the fish out of the FT. Have removed a lot but still many to go. I'm looking for some advise here. Should I try to get all of the tilapia out or will they start growing again once removed? If they are forever stunted. I should remove all of them and restock. That brings me to the next question. Restock with tilapia or catfish? I really would like to do trout but that's not going to work.

Picture of the expansion I did last year.

Maybe you could stock a predator fish (bass?) that would keep them controlled?

Had one bass. Plus 200 catfish fingerlings. The catfish were growing well. Then I murdered everything but the tilapia by overfeeding. Had rainwater that got into a food barrel and me not wanting to waste food dumped it all in. Well needless to say I had a massive ammonia spike which killed everything but the tilapia. Quite hearty little guys. I kinda jumped into AP without learning or reading from anyone's else's past mistakes.

Took readings from the pond for the first time ever. I was unsure of the iron test and might have wasted $22 on the test. Do aquarium iron tests work good for measuring iron levels in the water for AP? If so what is the reading I should be looking for on the test?

I am looking at types of iron to add to the system. I have some for lawns but have read on the forums today that using a blend with zinc and copper will kill the fish. Found a maxigrow with iron. Is this liquid as effective as powdered chelated iron? Cost is $26 per gallon. How much should I expect to use of the maxigrow on a 4500 gallon Pond?

Water temp is 66
pH is 7.2
Ammonia is 0
Nitrite is 0.3
Nitrate is 5
Iron is 0