Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Howdy, ive been lurking here for a while as i gather info. i am getting close to beginning a build (still undecided on an exact design). i am going to set up a 50 gal indoor aquarium this week to start some tilapia (thinking 50 fingerlings) so i have a little experience with them before i go larger when temps warm up in spring. any advise, tips or recommendations welcome. i would love to tour a working system, large or small, even if it involves a little driving.

you'll need lots more room than a 50 gallon tank for 50 tilapia!
5 will be plenty for that size ft

5 fingerlings? i know they'll grow, (not sure how fast, though) and will move them to a larger tank later. thanks for the reply. maybe im under estimating the size of fingerlings??

you need to stock to your filtration capacity.. starting out a pretty good, and easy system will be 1:1 - that means for every 1 gallon of fish tank, you have 1 gallon of media in your growbed - and a good starting point for stocking is for every 100 gallons of growbed, you can grow out 20 to 25lbs of fish...
smaller fish require more food/are more active etc... so it's kind of a bad idea to think that you can start with a bunch of small fish and expand as they grow, but everyone has to blaze their own trail, and kill their own fish

oops...justy realized what i posted. should read 25 fingerlings. thinking about hawaiian gold from whitebrook. (their min order)

ok, thanks. makes sense. guess i need to slow down and find a source where i can getfewer fish or just wait till next spring... i get excited sometimes and dont look berfore i leap

I had 30 golds in a 55 and din't have many issues. I moved them outside as they grew, and now am trying to breed the remaining large ones inside.

coachchris, thanks for the reply. that is the plan i have for mine. (keeping 4:1 or 2) "didnt have many issues", what issues did you have? How long before you had to move them out? was your ft an ap system or a filtered aquarium?
thanks in advance,
martin

Hey heartbeat91. I'm just up the road from you in Point, Tx.

hey stang, do you have a system up and running? i would like to visit a working setup before i build so i can get some ideas.

Yes, I have a small system in operation. I wanted to start small and make mistakes early before building a much larger one. I have 4 half blue barrel gbs, a 100 gallon ft and 90 gallon sump. It's been up and running about 3 months.