Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello All, been reading and working on my system for awhile now, its currently cycling and being tweaked, my impatience at warmer weather is also delaying introducing fish (blue tilapia). So I decided to start my system thread, since I enjoy reading others journeys might as well share mine.

I have no trouble growing things, everything that is not edible in fact I like growing things. It reminds me of my mother (passed) and helps me relax, while I can grow things keeping vegetable plants alive has always been a challenge. I have lived in the South since leaving the Air Force in 96' and have always been done in by one thing or another, growing veggies starts out well and then they just burn up in the sun.

So I figure if I can take the hard sun out of the picture by using a grow lamp and ensuring the plants always get water/food I hope to be more successful, we shall see..... I started by doing the rubbermaid hydroponics on the porch, here are the pics of that journey and it was a huge success. However I found myself doing my routine with it, adding nutrients measuring PH and then going to the Koi Pond and cleaning it. Once day I read the "liquid karma" nutrient container.... Wait a sec, this is poo.... I clean the Koi Pond of Poo... why am I paying someone for poo when I have a pond full of it.

Converting to Aquaponics was born so I started studying, watching you tube, forums, etc... I quickly realized I had a complete system ready to go I just needed to get the pond water into a grow bed. But I may need a few more fish... Bump number one, the wife was not going to let me ad tilapia to her Koi Pond, note I do all the work on it, just saying since she is not around. See I was captivated by the idea of the whole circle of life and being able to eat fresh fish to hence the why I wanted tilapa vs add more Koi.

Long story short I got a sump tank and a fish tank, I get my tilapia she gets her Koi Pond unblemished as the system is not visible from the house. Here we go...

Well the board does not handle photos like one would expect....

Fantastic Koi pond, and good start to the AP. Are you going to connect the water on the two systems? Would be interesting to see that. Good luck

I had initially thought to CJ but through various discussions with others and submissions to the spouse it was decided not to, I did use some of the water to jump start the new system. My stretch goal is to use the Koi Pond water in a strawberry tower system, a favorite of my twins, sometime in the future.

As a general question I thought this video was a splendid idea and if could find a piece of styrofoam big enough it could help provide some shade for the fish. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ksnnwxlq1g

The question is what kind of styrofoam is safe to keep in the water?
Where can I find that styrofoam?
Where can I find duck weed?

You can find 4' x 8' sheets of styrofoam to make your rafts at Home Depot - fairly inexpensive and easy to work. They are the same material that Pentair Aquatic Ecosystems uses with their system in Apopka.

You can collect the duckweed in most ponds around your area. You'll see a few varieties once you start hunting. The one you want is the smallest one (Lemna minor.) Google some images so that you can recognize it. After washing it thoroughly, I would start it in a separate container for a few weeks and watch for possible undesired critters (snails, etc) before introducing it to your system.

great set up... nice use of bamboo to cover it up... how much have your temps dropped this week with the cooler weather we have been having?
just started reading about building a system and it wont be long now...

@chopperpilot - thanks for the tip and guidance!

@Aquajon - Thank you the deal with my wife was she did not want to see any of the system from the house so the bamboo camouflages it nicely and the plants do the rest!

The temperatures have plummeted its been rather shocking to say the least and bothersome as I wanted fish in weeks ago. But in FL as you know we can only keep Blue Tilapia and their minimum temp from what I have read is about 50-60 depending on were you read, so in my mind if the water temp hits 60 thats a red flag of warning. Well the water temp has been in the 30’s there is no way my little brooder heat lamp could of made up that much difference. Plus they would babies so a double whammy means I wait, which is killing me.

Last night my wife and I settled on a plan B go get a cheap starter aquarium at pet store and put the fingerlings in it and we keep it inside until the weather breaks which I hope is soon.

The bigger question is how do others keep their water warm in the winter months? I can’t imagine everyone just shuts down the systems and harvests all the fish when the cold arrives. That is something I will have to figure out. Good luck with your system!

Maintaining warm pond temperature is much more of a challenge in central FL than one might think. The extremely low temp (30's!) that you are experiencing in your Koi pond is completely untenable for tilapia. I am remiss to enter a marital "discussion" with a position, but I have to side with your wife. It might not be appropriate to put tilapia in your koi pond.

You're going to want to keep your blue tilapia between 75 and 85 degrees for best health and growth - upper 60's will slow them down: breeding stops and feeding is curtailed in larger fish; lower 60's is extremely stressful: colors fade, feeding stops, upper 50's nearly unsurvivable, 54 is considered by many to be the kiss of death. Even if they survive that exposure, they are probably permanently damaged and will die soon. You will see dead ones floating in ponds near your house if there isn't a microclimate shelter for them when we have cold snaps. When your entire system chills, there is no place to hide.

You will benefit by making a solar collector for your T setup. You can pump your water through a coil of black nursery hose in the sunlight and raise your pond temp considerably during the day. The more water that you have, the more stable the temp will be during the hours without sunlight. You might use a jacuzzi style heater to warm the pond on chilly nights. That will require a thermostat, maybe an Arduino, etc - there are some great supplemental electric or gas heat ideas on other discussions.

Note: If actual pond water is pumped through the solar collector hose (no heat exchanger,) then you will want to engineer the pumping system so that the hose drains completely back to your system during the "off" hours and you don't end up brewing a batch of nasty death water in the stagnant hose.

Do you have food lined up for your fingerlings during their tank raising stage?

So I am realizing Jeff as I read and research and frankly its coming as a bit of a surprise so a solution will have to be found. The Koi have no issues at all but then again the water quantity in the pond is significantly more than the outdoors 200 gallon tank that is for the tilapia. Either way I have awhile to figure it out, I do like the jacuzzi heater idea, have to see what crags list / ebay shows for those.

As for food I was looking at one of the following, any suggestions:

http://premiumfishfood.com/aquaculture- ... -food.html

http://www.amazon.com/AquaNourish-Omniv ... lapia+food

Be careful of the spa/Jacuzzi heaters- many contain copper, which can kill your fish.

Coachchris is right: Copper is a very dangerous metal to your fish. He is also right that many spa heaters have copper and nickel/copper elements. But there are many stainless steel and even titanium spa heaters on the market. Finding the appropriate metal will make your search more challenging, but that's still probably your simplest way to heat the water if you have to use electricity. (I prefer natural gas.)

If you want to avoid building a closed system heat exchanger, stay away from the copper. (Thanks Chris! )

I like premiumfishfood's fry powder and crumble. Fry love it and grow fast - had an excellent survival rate for this year's batches of babies with that feed! However, it's a bit expensive to buy and ship as your population grows. The Purina Aquamax pellets of various sizes are also eagerly devoured as your fingerlings graduate to larger food. The 50# bags are more economical and easy to distribute in small auto-feeders. Your duckweed initiative could offer a nutritious supplement to ease your feed bill.

Maybe feeding them basil, cilantro and oregano for their last week or two could catch on?

CPJeff- You got me thinking about a SS propane spa heater...have to look for one. That would be much cheaper then electric I'm using. I will need to add a thermostat since the controls that come with spa usually start in then 80's/90's. Instead of paying for the fry food, i just throw mine in a coffee grinder. I used both, and honestly didn't see any difference, except in my wallet.lol I actually grade the sizes until the fish can eat the full size pellet...around 3". Just adjust the grinder and then put it threw a screen. I then have additional small crumb/powder for new fry. I've found a duckweed source close...so thinking about trying to grow some in a shallow plastic pond that I have. Just so cold now. I plan on putting some more tilapia in there as well, but don't want to heat it. So, will have to wait for warmer weather.

Wynd,

I initially thought that food was just a matter of size, but the fry food is actually much higher in protein - which the fry need to grow properly. I also found that the larger ingredients in the food meant that the ground up pellets yielded mostly powdered fibers. it's not very nutritious. Once I switched to the higher protein powder, the fry grew MUCH faster and had a notably increased vitality and near zero mortality.

I'll be looking forward to hearing about your gas spa heater.

The duckweed video using styrofoam was interesting but I think you could make something similar using PVC pipe for the rectangular frame. Wouldn't look as good but it would probably be easier to make.

Just an FYI. You do need a higher protein for your fry. But, if you have a 35% or higher food, and size it accordingly, my fish grew at comparable rates, with very low mortality. I just can't justify the $$.