Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

http://www.mdac.state.ms.us/agency/regulations_laws/reg_%20pdfs/Subpart%204/11%20-%20Guidelines%20for%20Aquaculture%20Activities.pdf

This link takes you to a PDF file of the regulations.

Is everything regulated, or only some? I.e. are catfish regulated, for crying out loud...?

no not catfish. only tilapia because its not a native specie and they reproduce fast. they are regulated by the state to keep them from getting into the waters and lakes

Correct me on this; but I thought tilapia couldn't make it through the winters here?

From the guidelines issued by the Dept of Ag.

Everything I've read says Tilipia need at least 75°F to survive. Higher to thrive. Lots of folks use heaters in their tanks. I am researching Yellow Perch as an alternative. They are supposedly much more tolerant of lower temps. I am still in the infant stages of this project and I research these things until my eyes glaze over.

Has anyone found a distributor for expanded shale or clay in the southern Ms/Al/La region? I contacted the place in La and they sent me to a distribution center in Kansas or somewhere; the product would be $300 and the freight would be $635, not really looking to spend $1000 on growing medium at this time. Does anyone know anywhere else?

I bought Clay Balls (Plant It) off EBay from Northstar hydroponics in Panama City, Fl. About $60 for 5 liters (45 lb pound bag) The shipping was free. I also stumbled across some cheaper at Home Depot online. Shipping would be free from them also on orders over $50. If your looking for truckload quantities I don't know where you can find it.

Just wanted to stop in and say hi to everyone. Haven't been on the forums at all in several months but been plugging away on my system.
Got our first freeze last night here in South MS and my system did well. No fish loss (using bluegill) but my tomatoes are looking a little rough. We shall see if they come back or if they are done.

For the good. Most of you remember my system, if not, a pic is on page 1 or 2 of this thread.
200ish Gallon tank with about 12-16 sq ft of growbed and my strawberry towers. Strawberries are showing some serious signs of nutrient deficiency (some of the leaves are white) but the tomatoes were doing so well that I did not want to alter anything. My Romano tomato plant ended up producing over 5 gallons. For those of you not familiar with Romanos - these are the little tomatoes you put on your salad. My large tomatoes did not produce well on the fruit but did huge foliage which leads me to believe they were getting to much Nitrogen. I ripped those out since they were not producing and it seemed to not have a significant effect on the system.

Most of the vines (cucumbers, cantaloupe) and the zucchini did not do well at all. In fact, I only got a couple of cucumbers and the rest of the plants ended up dying out.

I originally had feeder goldfish in the tank but they died out early and I got tired of buying them so I just caught some bluegill (about 20-30) and they did the trick. Even have a few that are about ready for a dinner plate.

It was a great experiment. Now, I am thinking I am going to sell it so I can build an even bigger one this Spring


Any questions on the system that I can help y'all out with?

I'm in Prentiss, MS and I'm a senior Bio major at WCU in Hattiesburg, MS. I've been entertaining the idea of beginning an aquaponics setup at my home for quite a while now and I've finally decided I'd like to get serious and begin planning/constructing a system. Any information and advice from some fellow Southerners would be greatly appreciated!

Also, I'm considering attempting an AP setup using turtles rather than fish(because they're my favorite animal and I already have two sliders as pets) but I'm still researching the risk/likelihood of salmonella transmission. If anyone has any experience with such a setup, your input would be especially helpful.

Thanks in advance; I look forward to hearing from y'all!

I am getting ready to build a much larger system and will gladly sell you my 200-250 gallon system. It would only need minor alterations and a new liner (I doubt the pond liner would hold up to a move). If you would entertain the idea, I would sell the whole thing for $350 (I have over $200 of lava rock alone)

Now that I am done trying to whore out my system, some helpful advice for our area:
I built a tomato tower on mine to hold all the weight of the tomatoes. It doubled as a means of draping a tarp over the system on those really cold nights but simply was not enough to keep it from freezing when it dipped into the teens a few weeks back. The system held up very well with only one busted valve. All the bluegill lived through the freeze under about a 2" thick block of ice. My next system will be inside a greenhouse where I can bring a propane heater in to keep the temps up on those types of nights.

Even using well water, you will most likely have to supplement iron - buy Fe-DTPA as it seems to work the best without turning the whole system red.

I am not sure how turtles will work and I would have similar concerns. I found that blue-gill and a few croppy worked well in my system. I did not eat them as I also enjoy fishing and usually eat saltwater trout and redfish. The freshwater fish came out of my pond in my back yard. I intend on doing channel cats or blue cats next time though and if I can regulate the tank temps in the greenhouse well enough, I may do tilapia as well.

Feel free to look me up on facebook as well.

I would like to know how your cooling is working. Seems as though it should prevent any freezing on the few days we do get that cool.

I don't think (at least here on the coast) that the temps are going to be cold enough long enough to freeze. The Kale and cabbage I have in my system right now will easily do okay with those temps, I am not worried about it.

Now, I have some potted plants that will be coming in the garage overnight

Hi all....just wanted to say hey to those hear from the south. I'm on the west bank of New Orleans here, and have been sifting through the great info on this site for a month or so now and decided to give my first AP system a try as I have access to as many IBC totes as needed. Also, If anyone is looking for IBC 's shoot me a message I have food grade for $100 and will work with you on price if you need a couple.

Welcome, Jena.