AQUAPONICS... somebody, ANYBODY!!

[HeartlandHank]

I tried to find a few RIU folk who were into aquaponics in the past... no luck.

I've been growing a small aquaponic garden with a 40 gallon tank, in expanded shale, with 9 goldfish for a little over a year now... I'm ready to step it up.

I am looking at a 300 gallon stock tank with Tilapia feeding an 8x4 tray with media about 10 inches deep.

I was just hoping there was another nerd on here who wanted to chat shop...

 

[doniawon]

Im very intrested in dis one

 

[doniawon]

What do you use for the algae?

 

[HeartlandHank]

Rad man... I don't use anything for algea actually. I'm not sure if the fish are eating it up or if the bio filter is that efficient... but the water is crystal clear, very little algea.

You can see a very light film lower on the wall of the tank, but nothing serious. I'll snap some pics of the little 40 gal setup I got going now.

The small amount of algae is prbly due to the tank being black and the pots doing a good job of shading the water... that's my best guess anyway.

The mint plant in there was out of control with growth for a long time. Explosive growth = amazing filtration. I'm thinking that helps. We were feeding the runners of the mint down into the water and the fish were eating it right up. I skipped a few days of feeding and they would clear the foliage very quickly.

I;m really fucking excited about a 300 gallon setup with tilapia though. Very excited. Just need a little more coin and free time to get it going.

 

[milkman1]

Best of luck to you. I install aquaponics systems, they are productive and space efficient!
What are you using for the 300 gal tank? Do you run it CHOP?

best,
MM

 

[OGEvilgenius]

I've looked into this and I'll be following along. My understanding is you can get talapia feed and that really you need to use it because their diet is considerably different from a gold fish. There's a guy from Australia selling entire home kits I forget the name of the site though. There's an entire forum that's rather busy on it however.

 

[Hÿdra]

I can concur that tilapia is the go to fish for aquaponics.

 

[Alex281]

i have a system, i truly believe this is the future of farming

 

[HeartlandHank]

Best of luck to you. I install aquaponics systems, they are productive and space efficient!
What are you using for the 300 gal tank? Do you run it CHOP?

best,
MM

Milkman, that's great. I'de love to pick your brain at some point.
I'm thinking a stock tank. Either a galvanized or rubbermaid.
I have a spot with good shade for it to fight the heat here. The water needs pumped just a short distance to reach a full sun spot for a grow bed.

I'm not sure yet how I will do it. The way I have set up all previous systems is with a 24/7 recirculating pump with bottom drainage...
The expanded shale has always wicked pretty well for me. Now this has been for smaller systems... but I have always just pumped the water to the surface of the grow bed.... split it with a T, run the pump 24.7, and let gravity return the water to the stock tank. If I did this with a larger system I would need multiple sites with a T, maybe a manifold, maybe something different but the same idea...

Do you think this would not work well for a larger system?

How do you feel about a 1 to 1 ratio? 1 gallon media to 1 gallon stock tank..

 

[Alex281]

Milkman, that's great. I'de love to pick your brain at some point.
I'm thinking a stock tank. Either a galvanized or rubbermaid.
I have a spot with good shade for it to fight the heat here. The water needs pumped just a short distance to reach a full sun spot for a grow bed.

I'm not sure yet how I will do it. The way I have set up all previous systems is with a 24/7 recirculating pump with bottom drainage...
The expanded shale has always wicked pretty well for me. Now this has been for smaller systems... but I have always just pumped the water to the surface of the grow bed.... split it with a T, run the pump 24.7, and let gravity return the water to the stock tank.

Do you think this would not work well for a larger system?

How do you feel about a 1 to 1 ratio? 1 gallon media to 1 gallon stock tank..

i would avoid metal contact with the water because of the fish unless you line the tank.

 

[HeartlandHank]

I've looked into this and I'll be following along. My understanding is you can get talapia feed and that really you need to use it because their diet is considerably different from a gold fish. There's a guy from Australia selling entire home kits I forget the name of the site though. There's an entire forum that's rather busy on it however.

Yeah, I should prbly jump on another forum while doing this project. RIU is cozy though.

 

[HeartlandHank]

i would avoid metal contact with the water because of the fish unless you line the tank.

Yeah? That's good to know. I never thought of that.
I've been leaning towards the Rubbermaid tank. It's cheaper and I like the black container. I have some galvanized stock tanks that I have used as mini raised beds. So, I'de like to get something new. Never had a rmaid stock tank before. Just a few TUFF STUFF.

 

[HeartlandHank]

I deleted an earlier post and am reposted without pictures. I setup the system, but it is not mine. So, didn't feel right about it...
Here was the post.
I setup this little one over at a co workers house who was into the idea. Expanded Shale is the media. Nothing fancy, but it's a nice little herb garden. 9 3-4 inch goldfish in 40 gallons give plenty of nutrients to feed these 2 large containers of shale with mint, dill, basil, cilantro... The growth rate is totally dependent on how much you feed and the bacteria. If you do a large water change (haven't in a long time), growth comes to a crawl and takes some time to recover. If you feed 3x a day though, growth explodes.

This tilapia and fruiting veggies is a whole different game though. Goldfish and Dill are cake. I'm going to have to do some research and hopefully chat with some experienced growers to keep healthy tilapia and produce veggies. I'm totally into it though.
I lose my interest in gardening at times and gotta find something to kick start it. Hops was my first idea, but I think this 300 gal tilapia aquaponic thing is going to be better.

 

[Alex281]

I deleted an earlier post and am reposted without pictures. I setup the system, but it is not mine. So, didn't feel right about it...
Here was the post.
I setup this little one over at a co workers house who was into the idea. Expanded Shale is the media. Nothing fancy, but it's a nice little herb garden. 9 3-4 inch goldfish in 40 gallons give plenty of nutrients to feed these 2 large containers of shale with mint, dill, basil, cilantro... The growth rate is totally dependent on how much you feed and the bacteria. If you do a large water change (haven't in a long time), growth comes to a crawl and takes some time to recover. If you feed 3x a day though, growth explodes.

This tilapia and fruiting veggies is a whole different game though. Goldfish and Dill are cake. I'm going to have to do some research and hopefully chat with some experienced growers to keep healthy tilapia and produce veggies. I'm totally into it though.
I lose my interest in gardening at times and gotta find something to kick start it. Hops was my first idea, but I think this 300 gal tilapia aquaponic thing is going to be better.

metals are pretty toxic to fish in general so if its possible i would avoid any form of metal in designing the system. also i use a 1:1 gallon of fishtank water to growbed capacity. for getting a complete diet with tilapia that can provide all the nutrients you might need to supplement or feed a really good diet consisting of things like BSF larvae and duckweed.

 

[neosapien]

My buddy did this for awhile on a commercial scale. He used Blue Tilapia and grew herbs and spices and some vegetables pretty successfully. He built a big rectangle in the ground and lined it with hdpe and that was his fish tank and built a smaller rectangle above it and lined it with hdpe and lava rock and that was his garden. I just skimmed through this thread but I still have a couple of his tilapia and I can say that they will definitely eat algae.

 

[NietzscheKeen]

Chat me up! I've been building an aquaponics system for a least two years now. Everyone thinks I'm a crazy person and tries to fight me on it. I've been shopping around for Tilapia, but am not sure of the winter time water temps. I could probably finish that green house and put it in there.