Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

SD,
330 gallons of media should support 82.5 pounds of fish. (330/4)
120 gallons of tank should support 60 pounds of fish. (120/2)

So you go with the smallest number: 60 pounds of fish. Maximum.

Then you factor in experience with fishkeeping, your willingness to monitor water quality, the type of fish you want, and how much oxygenation you think you have. (Trout need more oxygen.)

If you are good at fishkeeping, put in 60 fish, and start eating them at 3/4 pound weight. (I'm assuming that you are going to use a fish that gets that big, although yellow perch would not.) If you are new to fishkeeping, put in 30 fish. Oxygenation will be your limiting factor, so monitor for early morning gulping at the surface.

nice info!

i was wondering why one off the basil still has wrinkly shots and i looked better today an there were aphids on the green shots, sucking like crazy
so i pulled the plant out of the dwc and washed it under cold cold water and really tried to flush all off them suckers and i also sprayed with neem oil on the end cos there were some infants left

i was also restless last night and i made a drawing off my new setup and calculated the right proportions etc. and it seems like i'll be having 6 growbeds(200-250 L each)
fish tank is not determined yet but it's gonna be around 500-1500L not more, i figured that i would need more space then 10m2 for all the plants that would have to grow to use the nitrates

i also need a nursery(possibly a breeding tank) and i was thinking to do that in a small basement, where the temps are more or less constant even over the winter.
I'm interested if you put really young fish in the fish tank with the other bigger fish, will they eat them?speaking trout
if the answear is yes i'd need a nursery to grow them a little bigger before they go in the large tank
as far as i understand the breeding unit must stand alone, it contains 1:3(or is it the opposite?) female male ratio and it is used only for breeding(controlled with water temp.), when the younglings are hatched they'r moved to nursery?

now i have a chance to have a look at this at some local fishgrower that i know, but there were some floods and his system was damadged and he was hurt ...etc. shit happened and i'm wating for him to regroup and i don't want to nagg him so i'm doing it to you if you don't mind:) i'm gonna search the forum some more for this topic while u answear me hehe

good day!

do you have a worm farm? if you do and have finished castings at the bottom (should look like rich black dirt) then grab 4 or 5 handfulls, mix in some brown sugar maybe a couple tablespoons and put it in a 10 litre bucket of water. put an air stone in there for 24 - 48 hrs and then use the strained liquid a foliar spray.

read this thread, i tworked for me.

http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... php?t=2401

good stuff steve!
i'm still working on my wOrm farm, or should i say waiting to have the time to deal with it, so right now i don't have any castings, thanks for the notice

Big fish will eat little fish. It's pretty much a given.

I can't give advice on breeding trout. I thought I knew how to breed tilapia, but my gals are still being coy. For tilapia, one male and up to 5 females in a tank is nice--if you can handle that many fry. I have one male and 2 females--at least they're living in the same tank now.

damn, i hoped they were herbivores
so i should make a smaller tank (nursery) and i'd put there the smaller fish and the big ones besides in the big tank. when the big ones go on the plate the smaller ones get big enough to join the rest...is that right?
i could have a small aquarium or tub for breeding perpouses i suppose?
maybe you have to set up the mood you know, turn off the lights, bring on some music, let them have it the funky way woohoo!!

maybe the male is discouraged since he's got so many girls to choose, he needs motivation, competition...at least from my point of view hehe

I have mixed sizes of tilapia in my main tank. Once the fingerlings were big enough to take the pellets that I give the adults, they went in. In my case, they were 1.5 - 2 inches long. Larger than bite-sized for the adults. I keep 2 50gal aquariums for breeding.

hello

janet and others, i'm happy to say that the basil is still growing and progressing better from day to day, nice! still fighting aphids!

i'll bring some photos when the change is more visible!

on the other hand i'm constantly working on my new system's design and i hope i'll draw some final plans soon enough so you can see it

have a great rest of the weekend ppl!

molj-- can you find some lady bugs?

Probably no ladybugs in winter, C1.

If rinsing the aphids off isn't enough, I have carefully used insecticidal soap with no adverse effect. Spray only the plants, and ensure none gets in the tank. It is a gentle organic method of pest control, but I still don't think the fish would like surfactants.

ah shoot yeh right northern hemi Ooops!
How about a paint brush to damage the little buggers.

no bigger than the system is an the amount of growth, it should be easy enough to squish the bugs.

Look closely: most of the aphids ARE lady bugs: parthenogenesis. (Sorry...

I second dthawk and Janet: squish, wash, spray. The squished remains may act as a repellent (OGF 1970something), washing with a spray of water (spray bottle?) disrupts colonies, and the surfactant (soap or detergent) lets the water drown them or insecticides attack them.

How about diatomaceous earth? It is supposed to be quite effective on aphids, but don't breath the dust if you can help it. Usually available for pool filters..

be VERY careful with the soap. It will kill the fish.

hello!

u'r great ppl, always helping i love it !

i usually take my plants out of my dwc and spray them in the bathroom so that i don't get anything in the tank

for now aphids are under control, 10% left
i'm gonna wash and spray them with neem after a few days again, i've mixed some new neem oil solution since i was using a month old one before, so it looses on the efficiency

lady bugs are only accesible to me via mail or handpicking them in the warmer months, they'r desired but hard to get i know


i really need ur oppinion on this one

i looked for tanks today and i found 350 L ones PVC, really cheap
now i was thinking on breeding two kinds off fish, tilapia and trout in separate tanks
i'd use 3 of those 350L tanks for fish tanks, two for main tanks and one for the smaller fish

would breeding two species be too much off a work?
those 350L tanks are about 80 cm deep, would that be OK if i left the fish during the winter in the tanks, with pumps on so that water wouldn't froze?

or is it still a better idea to have one bigger tank for that intention?more tanks more pump power also and more plumbing etc.

looking forward for ur oppinions and experiences!