Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was poking around on this site last September, and got quite a few of my questions answered about tilapia and aquaponics in general. I do thank you all for your much needed help.

Around that time I got ten 6 inch Blue Nile Tilapia from my mom's pond and scooped up about 25 fry that were swimming near the top, and started raising them with the intention of figuring out this tilapia breeding thing. I have had several baby batches since then, (and several were holding that I pretended I didn't see since I have so many babies now, lol). I have a couple 55 gal tanks, a couple 40 gal tanks, several 20 gal long tanks, and some 10 gallon tanks for when the moms were holding. All of these were plumbed (in different configurations) on a sump or a refugium, and one on a canister filter. Over the last several months I've been quite successful at breeding them. The timing of planting season coming back around here couldn't be more perfect, since I am going to have serious aquarium space issues as each of the batches of babies (that I kept) get larger.

Now, I know I have more tilapia than I need for the 4 IBC system that I plan to make. So likely I'll give some away or start selling them on craigslist later. But since I have been running an incredibly highly stocked aquarium system for months with no problems and crystal clear water already, and have become proficient at building various filters, I am ready to tempt fate a bit and see if I can go a good bit higher on the stocking of the IBCs (How much higher? To be determined, lol). I figure if I place a canister filter/sump (I'll build one out of a Blue Barrel) after the grow beds and prior to returning to the IBCs, I might be able to get away with a good bit more stocking without poisoning my fish. Now this will take more work, as the canister filter will require maintenance, but I'm already used to that.

So, my transition from aquaculture to aquaponics journey will start soon, and I am open to suggestions and input, and any general grumpiness about over-stocking the IBCs.


Thanks in advance for you input,

-Hope

Welcome Hope... we'd be delighted to share your journey...

Hope, You have done great already. Nice going!

Everyone here loves to see pictures of different systems. So, if possible, post few pictures.

Sure, I can take a couple pictures of my aquarium set up shortly. The IBCs are a month or so away. I need to build a screen enclosure for my aquaponics system first since I saw some fruit rats on my neighbors shed last weekend. But I am going to get some seeds started this weekend so they'll be ready when the grow beds are. And maybe shortly figure a way to add a grow bed into my current aquarium system since I'd love to have some fresh spices in the garage with the fishies.

Thanks for following along.

I think the hubby (who will be joining here shortly) and I have our plans in place for this season. We'll gather all we need to build the screen house and the aquaponic system with the intention of bringing it up at the beginning of March. It will be a three or four ibc system, based completely on what will fit in the sunny space we have in the back. We'll also do some root crops in dirt here and there where I can fit it, and likely some spices out front in our big middle of the yard flower bed. Spices and onions and garlic will go there, mostly because I'm not really a "flower" grower. If I'm gonna plant it, it's gonna feed me.

This weekend we are going to turn our current tilapia breeding system into our first official aquaponic set up. I want to start some seeds so we'll figure out a good way to incorporate that into the system, probably making some sort of a wicking bed for the purposes. As the seedlings are transplanted out, some spices will stay in there and keep the system going. I'm big into cooking, I paint with flavors like I paint with colors, so I love, love, spices.

Also, we really love the whole process of breeding tilapia, and don't really want to stop. So even though it will be a "small" set up, I am going to get an aquaculture licence so I can legally sell the tilapia fingerlings locally. Not as much because I want to make money (will be pocket change) but mostly because I'm enjoying breeding them in pristine conditions, and watching the beautiful life cycle... and I'll also likely meet more aquaponic people as a limited but high quality tilapia source.

So those are the plans, pictures to follow soon.

Here, we go, some starting pictures as promised. I managed to put them in backwards in order, lol. I'll figure this place out soon enough.

More pictures. The camera on my phone is not the best, sorry for the blur.

Hmm, interesting seed starting tower idea that would work great in my current garage set up. What do you guys think of this plan? Efficient or no? Seems like a good idea to me, but since I'm new to this, everything does. Lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1SSdtbrVUM

Just noticed that the fish tanks look cloudy in these pics, but they are actually crystal clear. Might have been the window reflecting or the poor camera on my phone. I'll have to find a better camera phone (easy in a house of six people) and replace those.

I wish i could have that many aquariums....

Sounds like you have a busy schedule in the next few months

Thank you guys for commenting and following along. I know my little fishy set up can't be terribly interesting compared to the amazing aquaponics set ups I've read about on here. But I'm going to get started, and over time will likely take over every sunny spot in my yard with one type of gardening or another, maybe even an ornamental pond where I could put more tilapia. But we just moved into this house two weeks ago so I'm going to have to hold back a bit at first and try not to bite off more than I can currently chew.

I've been waiting a year to move into my own home so I could start this, even helped my mom start her own aquaponics last year but I had to wait to do my own since we were renting for several years (lost a house years ago when hubby lost his executive job) and the landlord was not even happy with the garage aquariums. But now I'm excited, it's my turn. I'm gonna have to fight the urge to start seeds for everything I see a seed packet for, lol. Today I'm seed shopping for heirloom veggies at my favorite online seed place. I suppose before I buy I should do a search on the site a bit and see what grows well in aquaponics, and what does better in dirt.

Oh, btw, I have four kids, 13,14,15 yr old daughters and an 8 yr old son. They are great kids who have loved helping with the fish so I know they will be great help in the garden. Especially my youngest daughter, Eden (yep, like the garden) she has a natural green thumb and way with animals and every time I've had a garden or a spot with tomatoes in containers throughout the years she was knee deep in the dirt with me. Funny how kid's names just seem to fit them.

Ok, off to search..

Now thats how an office should be..



Nice work Trivial..

Ok, so this is the big weekend. We will at least start our build. We are in process of finding some ibc's, and the hubby has designed a system he's excited about. One guy said he has a couple 275 gallon (standard sized) ibcs and a few 330 gallon totes? 330 is a weird number to me, not seen that one yet, but we're talking to him to find out about them and may go visit to see if they are suitable. Well, as long as they haven't had anything bad stored in them, that is.

We are going to ditch the screen house because rat poison is cheaper and less trouble currently, lol. It will give us a bit more money to play with for our system. Plus, not sure the screen house would keep the citrus rats out anyway, if they wanted in. We also figure we're new at this so we need some extra funds hanging around for all the things we didn't foresee needing.

Next question, I can get the fish in there as soon as needed, since we have our own stock. I figure it's probably best to put some of the small ones in first since I'd hate to lose the bigger ones on our first go. The plants I won't put in until March 1 so that I'm sure we are past all chance of frost (if it happened by chance, it would be quite short lived since I'm near the water and frosts are rare here). I am reading that the seedlings will need some seasol (looks like maxicrop is the equivalent here) until the fish produce enough waste and everything cycles? I can put some of the water or some filter media from my aquariums to help seed the bacteria and speed things up a bit.

So my list of things to have on hand for water issues is:

Maxicrop with iron
Master test kit
Muriatic Acid (for ph since we have hard water)

What am I missing? I know I've read about more but now that it's about time to buy, I cannot remember what else I need on hand...

Oh, and, instead of letting the water sit in the sun for a few days to remove chlorine, can I just use the chlorine remover for ponds and aquariums? Will it affect the plants and their safety for consumption?

forget the muriatic acid
I was on the crazy wagon about getting my ph down and dumped some in

just don't

ph will find its balance and then when you stop looking it will be just fine

ergo......don't worry

Thanks for the input, Mr Aristaeus. I don't intend to freak out on every little change in PH, but I figure it's best to have some around if necessary.

Oh yeah. I need to add some aquaponic safe pest control to the list. Pests are rough around here so I'll have to stay on top of them. I know caterpillars hit my gardens every year so I'll get some BT and hopefully Organocide is safe for the fish? It's a favorite of mine.

It has the following ingredients:


Active Ingredient: Sesame Oil.............5.0%
Inert Ingredients Fish Oil .............92.0%
Emulsifiers..........3.0%
Total.................100.0%


I can't see any harm in it, but I'd rather ask first. (Did a quick google search, looks like people use it in their aquaponic systems already, cool.)

Also will get some ladybugs at first sign of aphids. Aphids are an issue every single year, so hopefully being proactive will help me out this year. And I will absolutely plant marigolds here and there. I'm going in full force against pests this year.

Tomorrow we are heading to Home Depot to get the pvc and other items we need (we're gonna call that our Valentine's day date, lol) and Saturday are picking up our totes. Sunday we will begin the build process (I hope!).