Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I will post a pic every day to be shure Im not mis-reading the test. I'll even use the fresh water card

pro testing hey?
Aquatic ecosystems has many different portable labs, photometers and colorimeters as well as monitoring systems. Way more than my meager earnings could imagine.
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fus ... es/ssid/13

Wow, those bags look nice! You'd still have to be concerned about ammonia build-up and the pH shifting, but if you didn't feed the fish the day before you ship, it would help on that front.

Next time someone wants a shipment from me, I'll have to try them.

The guy that shipped the fish to me said he fed them enough to get me started. The water had fish food and poo. I though about testing the ammonia level, but was to excited to get them into their new home. Most of the reacted to movement by swimming away really fast so I guess the levels were ok. They were in the bag for a full 3 days.

They came shipped in a flat rate box via the united states postal service. The bag was about. 6"x6"x6" in the box which looked to be a 8"x8"x8" box with a couple inches of what looked like really huge paper towels on all sides. I do not know what it weighed. It had almost a gallon of water in the bag; 9.8 pounds? There was room for many more small fish. I guess.

Thanks Dan,

That's very helpfull

These fish are my breeding stock. It looks like 20 fish might be the max for a 100 gallon tank.

My goal next year is 400 pounds of fish. If I grow them to 1.5 pounds it looks like I need 1333 gallons of water for 267 fish and 2666 gallons of growbed.

Does this sound ok?

That is a LOT if grow bed.
What is least amount of water to fish I can grow and not be running to great a risk of having problems?
Can I use 1000 gallons?

Less water just means I need more grow beds?

I selected out 2 females and 1 male to retain as breeding stock. I would consider that to be a minimum to retain.

You can start eating them at 150grams. (1/3 pound). That's a little small, but do-able. I have 42 fish in 125gals. The largest are perhaps 200g now, and I need to eat another meal to make room. My stocking level is a little high. For nice growth, I would say 25 tilapia per 100gal sounds nice. (That's assuming 200gal growbeds.)

The limiting factor really seems to be the growbed (filtration), and the ability to oxygenate, not the gallons in the fish tank. I've seen pics where the fish have no room to swim, but are growing well. Of course, I think they inject oxygen to do that. And I think it's running too close to the margins.

I think your math is off. 1lb fish:2gal tank:4gal growbeds. So if you want to have 400lb stocked, you need 800gal water, and 1600 gal growbeds. But like I said, you can start eating them smaller than 1.5lb. So perhaps stock 300 fish in an 800/1600 system. Start eating at 1/2 - 3/4 pound.

This would be assuming good experience in fish keeping. Given lesser experience or unwillingness/inability to test the water, I'd stock 200 fish in an 800/1600 system. Learn as you go and determine what your own best limits are. I haven't even touched on turn-over of the water in the system--something I am learning is important.

1lb fish:2gal tank:4gal grow-beds Thats what I was looking for! Thanks.
I knew I saw that figure some where, but did not have any luck with the search.

Mind you, that ratio is optimal, and takes practice. I am at about half that right now as measured by fish:growbed. I think now that I have my pH and flow rates straightened out, I can go a little higher.

Janet is a RSG Dandee.... (really smart gal)..... good advice

Well, I lost half my small fish in the pump. I don't know how they fit but they did. Hopefully there are some males :male: left

I put some screen around the pump. I hope that stops that.

My pH is still 7.03

This is my ammonia:


This is my nitrates:

Given that in most systems pH drifts downward over time Dandee, I think your current reading of 7.03 is just fine......

Keep an eye on the other readings, and resist the temptation to feed your fish for another day or two... then only do so lightly.

Starting to cycle, then. So far, so good.

Sorry to hear about the fishies. Cycle up with what you have, and order more before cold weather sets in if you think you may need them.

My pump has a little basket-thing on the intake that was supposed to house a sponge prefilter. I pulled out the sponge (it clogged quickly) and kept the basket-thing in place to keep fish out. I lost a half a goldfish in a pump intake a few years ago--nicest one in the pond, too.

Oh, do share what you have learned.