Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi

I am a newbie and planning an indoor system (after a lot of research which is ongoing).

I am looking to grow indoors for a family, including flood and drain media beads (with bucket planting so I can easily replace plants without disturbing the bed and other plant roots too much), and with towers.

My research is indicating about 20-25 fish per 300L of media, so 200-250 fish for the media beds.

I've also been told about 1 fish per tower and there will be 30 of those, so 230-250 Tilapia in total.

I am planning on 2 1,000L IBC fish tanks with 2 sumps underneath. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether 1,000L tank space will be enough to accomodate 100-125 fish?

At the moment I am planning on 2 tanks, so will this be enough, or do I need to modify my plans and bring in more space for the fish?

Many thanks for any help and advice.

Mike / PQR

Welcome to the forum Mike

Thank you, much appreciated! I am very glad to have found such an excellent resource.

Hi, welcome PQR!
As you mentioned, my understanding is that fish quantity should be based on media bed filtration and ultimate grow out size, unless you are keeping the fish temporarily, and moving them into other systems as they grow.
BUT, the more intensely you stock, the higher risk you have if something goes wrong, such as a power outage, disease outbreak, nitrite spike, etc. Many people like to keep one fish to 19- 38 liters. So, in an ibc, that would be around 50 -60 fish max, depending on your media bed volume. Also, the more fish you have, the higher your supplemental oxygen needs become.
with around 300 L media, you should have around 10 fish or so. You might want to start thinking about how you can increase your growbed size, or add some other form of filtration if your goal is higher fish production!
Hopefully others chime in if I am off here, as I am relatively new to this as well.

Less fish=less issues. Pro easier to learn, with less risk. Con, poor plant growth. I think starting at the lower end of the stocking rates and ramp up overtime. As fish grow so does their waste. Try water cress initially, will grow with little nutrient in the water.

Have fun!