Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have checked it out. It is confusing as far as native fish.

Farmer,
Ok then PM Ryan. By the way that quote came from his backyard system thread.

http://myfwc.com/license/aquaculture-ce ... quaponics/
You can have Blues in a home AP system, if your commercial, you need a permit, and if your selling fish or produce, you need additional permits.

Thanks Coach, that's what I thought but I was not sure. So I did not want to give an answer that could get someone in trouble.

You want at least 5 gpm for raft beds. The speed of flow doesn't need to increase as the length of the beds increases but never go more than 200 feet on a single flow loop or the plants on the end will have trouble getting enough of things like Iron etc.

Tilapia can handle very still water so you just need enough flow to make sure the water quality stays good, stick with the "at least turn the fish tank volume over each hour" and you should be ok with tilapia (though I've never been one to push tilapia since even here in central FL, it will get cold enough to kill tilapia in a system with flood and drain elements unless you heat the system. (I recommend channel catfish and bluegill here as local native fish and you don't need any permits or to worry about getting the right variety.) FYI, if you are not keeping your water heated year round here in central FL, channel catfish are likely to grow bigger/faster than mixed gender blue tilapia ever will. My first year keeping Channel catfish I harvested some 6 lb fish but that same year keeping blue tilapia I think we got a few that got over 1 lb but most of them were between 4-8 oz (which is the size range that most bluegill can get to easily in the same amount of time.) Tilapia generally stop eating when the water gets much below 70 F and they start dieing when the water gets below 50 F (they may not be well below 53 F) Catfish and bluegill can keep eating some at least down to about 55 F and they don't start dieing because of cold till about freezing (provided they are already big enough to go without eating for a while, as in don't get new tiny fingerlings to go in an unheated outdoor system in Dec or Jan here.)

TCLynx,
Thanks for the info. Can Tilapia and Bluegill coexist in the same tank. If so where do you buy Bluegill? As I do not like catfish. And this is a strictly food for my family venture.

You could probably have tilapia and bluegill in the same tank, I've never actually done it.
Problem I found with having a mixture of fish is if you want to harvest something particular it gets difficult if they are sharing a tank. Especially if you have catfish and something else since the catfish tend to get beat up when you start swinging a net trying to get just bluegill or tilapia.

You can get bluegill from Florida Fish Farms (look em up on the internet and you should find a phone number) you will likely have to keep calling in hopes of getting ahold of someone and bluegill are not always available. They do have a minimum order but maybe you can find someone who would share an order with you or you can always pay them the minimum amount but only have them bag up the appropriate amount of fish for what you need. (Don't over stock a new system in anticipation of loosing some fish since gross overstocking of a brand new system often results in killing ALL the fish.)

TCLynx,
Thanks again for the information. As you said I do not plan on even fully stocking the FT to start off. As I do not have enough grow room yet to fully capitalize on the size of my FT. By the way I'm looking forward to the Uni Seals that I ordered from you. Nice prices (shameless plug )

Question, if all my grow beds (CF) are in a greenhouse. Including my DWCs would there be enough heat transfer. From the GBs to keep the FT. Warm enough not to worry about the Tilapia, through our short winter? As long as on any really severe nights I stopped flow to the GBs overnight. To keep the temp in the FT higher.

If your Gh is very well insulated, you may be OK. But a few cold cloudless days, and your in trouble again. Also, are you looking for them to survive or thrive? They prefer 75-85, with mid 80's being ideal. Most agree a mid to high 70's is a good compromise for plants. I have to heat my GH when temps drop below 50F. Also, covering your FT will drastically cut down on heat loss. You can add heaters to the FT, but if you don't cover it and/or put it in a GH, most of the heat that you're paying for ends up in the air.

One of these times I will learn to quantify my statements a little better. As I am the poor kid on the block. My "greenhouse" is a hoop house covered in a single layer of 6mil clear greehouse film. My Ft is now covered with a heavy duty brown tarp. To help mitigate heat loss. So basically by what I am reading I will still have to use an auxiliary heat source.

Your water parameter pic is expected at this stage, high pH and all others at zero. Amm will rise first, then nitrite, then nitrate. pH will usually slowly decline over time as the nitrification process is acidic. When amm and nitrite are back to zero which could be anywhere between 4 to 12 weeks depending on temps etc you would then be considered cycled. But yes, next time use the search button hehe

Your design layout is fine, my only recommendation is to leave yourself with some room between the sump and DWC as you may find at some stage you will need finer filtering (polishing) before your DWC to prevent fine waste build up on plant roots and in the DWC itself. But to keep it simple your design is good and you will be using the GB's to mineralise fish wastes and that nutrient solution will be returned to sump which you will pump to the DWC. Nutrient uptake in the media beds from plants will reduce available nutrient to the sump but if you stick to brassicas in the DWC you will be fine. Leave heaving fruiting crops for the media beds. As mentioned before, you can still change design as you go along.

Flow rates in the FT I am not sure of what has been documented but you will find that many systems do not swirl FT water with good results. But for better solid control it would be better to swirl. Just plumb a distribution pipe into the FT from the main sump pump that creates a swirl effect, you can play with this design and you will find your own best set up to move solids to the centre for pick up by the SLO. Every FT will be different so clear cut numbers are not easy to give.

I would expect lava rock to have a larger BSA than gravel but as mentioned it is harder on the hands but plenty of people use it so it is probably more personal preference. If you can get it at a good price and cost is what you want to keep down then go for it.

FF, I'm right there with you. Single 6 mil poly GH. I used Styrofoam as a tank cover, but was having issues with my siphon drains splashing too much water out. Trying to make something better. I have a tiny electric heater, but am looking at getting something with a higher BTU. Trying to keep upper 60's-70 at night. Easy when it in the 50's, which is the majority of the Winter...as you know. But, when we get the bigger fronts, and get highs in the 50's, that little unit just don't cut it.

[quote="Charlie"]Your water parameter pic is expected at this stage, high pH and all others at zero.

Here you go. Pretty boring as it has remained stable for the last week, week and a half. nitrates are up a little. but that is it. As for the design statement. My design is still as fluid as the water in it. Money concerns mainly. Right now I have some water diverted from the pump to go back into the ST. Or else I can overflow my FT. Learned the hard way. I am planning on using this diverted flow to run through several 55gal drums to clarify the water. Basically borrowed the design from Ryan's backyard build thread. As I know enough to know that I can not out design him. It also clicked all my boxes. Cheap, check! Effective, Check! Plus I had extra barrels so it just made sense.

Coach isn't your fish house on a galvanized building. Either way, here is a DIY idea for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQGtl87-x58