Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

This is my first aquaponcs systems and it is newly cycled.
250 gallons
pH constant at 6.8-7.0 (without needing to add buffers)
ammonia - .25
nitrites - .5
nitrates - fell and are between 5-20
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I cycled the system with fish and had around 20 remaining comet goldfish. Yesterday I went and bought 50 tilapia. I slowly acclimated them to the tank water (usuing the drop method) and then released them into the tank.
Everything was fine. They got use to their new surroundings (it seems) and after a couple hours I fed them some and they aren't pretty well. Some were shooting up to the surface and grabbing food, others a little more slowly but some seemed hesitant or even intimidated by the goldfish??!

Last night they became very skiddish, they definitely do not like a flashlight and barely ate.

This morning, the tilapia are extremely skiddish, they all hide in the back corner when I walk near the tank and will not eat anything. I checked water levels, my 220 gallon aerator is running full, flooded and drained the bed to ensure that there was plenty of oxygen and attempted to feed them again (I had removed all the feed after the first attempt) - still they are not eating and hiding in back corner towards the bottom.

Is this because they are still getting used to the tank? I had put a PE crate in the tank for the comet goldfish to get refuge from any tilapia wanting to attack them (which didn't actually happen) so I removed that also before the second attempt to feed them.

I had read that fish in darker tanks are more likely to be shy. I don't know if that is true or not, but the tank isn't dark nor is it in a lot of light, it is covered by a grow bed (about 2 feet above the tank) and on my balcony.

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Additionally, the pump in my system, it seems like its doing a fine job of filling the bed (the drain is a 10 inch overflow stand pipe with 4 holes drilled in the bottom - drip drain), however, none of the solids are picked up by the pump. Instead they ALL settle on the bottom and I am using a net to fish out solids 2 times a day. I am considering buying a water circulation pump
Any clue as to why this is happening?

They'll be fine. Give them a week or so to acclimate. Don't overfeed.