Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Impeccable as always Ryan....

Very nice!

Dang, Ryan! Makes me want to jump in my truck and drive to Florida just to pick up some produce. To bad it would be spoiled by the time I got back to Texas.

thats a big tilapia

Great looking produce Ryan!

Thanks for the response on my question. My SLO is doing a decent job but I'm thinking I'll redesign it to be a center drain with a similar guard cut from PVC. I noticed TCL had a center drain version awhile back.

I'll keep looking at the inflow manifold and see if I can figure it out as well. My tank isn't the ideal width and depth for generating radial flow but it can't hurt to have as much self cleaning as possible.

Doormat Tilapia!

Tilapia is the wrong material for a doormat... It is squishy in the wrong way!

Thanks everyone!! Things just seem to be growing better and better. I harvested 29# of Swiss chard out of 12ft^2 this morning... 2 weeks ago it was 27# out of the same area.

For anybody that doesn't get just how sustainable Aquaponics can be, over a 6 month period I am able to get 1# of fish and 15# of lettuce per 1.6lbs of food.

1.6# in, 16# out. Thats 10:1...And that's a conservative number.
HECK YES

Another aside... the size of the FT seems to have a direct correlation to the potential size of the fish. Stocking doesn't seem to have any effect, as long as the filtration keeps the balance properly.

Your 'clear sided' fiberglass tanks were special- What did they run for production? And is there a set of design specs they'd be willin to float? Was there a 'break point' for the production? I mean... sheets go to X dimension, so they don't go bigger than, or perhaps less than raw material?

Were your 'strawberry pot' style tubes made by y'all, or did you find them pre-made somewhere... or does your company do that? I saw the 'how to' on you-tube, and while it seems reasonable, it also means another expensive tool (heat guy) and potential risk (I don't have asbestos gloves...) etc...

I'm amazed at the variations on theme that are productive, easy to use, and really so very simple...

Ok... I found the catalog--
And I still don't see the 'strawberry pot' there, but i did e-mail regarding the 'backyard' set up. Nor, actually, the 'vertical'... tho I vaguely remember media for one... better go back and earmark!

Great business cards Ryan!!

I have loved reading through this thread, Totally inspirational Thanks for sharing

@Pirate Ron-
You might already know this, but "doormat" is what we call the biggest flounder we catch. And that tilapia was a monster.
Out of curiosity, Ryan, do you know how old that doormat tilapia was when harvested?

Got it, I was just being a smart Alec.

Yeah, sometimes we just can't help ourselves.

Dnc lady- not sure what you mean by what they ran for production... Price ? No idea
No specs, sorry. (1500gal, that's about it)

PAES doesn't well those tall vertical towers (not what I was calculating production from if that was the impression) so can't help you there, sorry.


Thanks Amo! I really appreciate it!

Jimbo- no idea bud but he's still alive and kicking(finning?) I asked him to sit still for a few shots

I came across this today and figured some might want to give it a read. It's an article on friction loss I co-wrote several years ago for pond trader magazine. I constructed a test apparatus and recorded real world flow rates through a 90's, 90 sweeps, and double 45's.

http://www.pondtrademag.com/articles/ar-71/