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TCLynx
11-22-2009, 09:14 AM
Hi all, I'm sure many of you know me from elsewhere on the web but I stumbled across this forum and noticed some people in FL that I haven't seen elsewhere. I'm In Central FL and willing to help people out. Currently have some small Blue Tilapia that I'm not planning to keep over winter so if you are near central FL and want some, PM me ASAP before I feed them to the chickens. I'm only going to keep a small number of tilapia over winter cause it cost me too much effort/money to keep them warm last year. We will be harvesting most of my big ones soon to make way for big catfish grow out and new catfish into the quarantine tank.

Anyway, hello!

stucco
11-22-2009, 09:36 AM
Howdy TCLynx, welcome aboard! If Dave isn’t ready for the blues I have room for them, or unless your chickens are that hungry. :) We don’t currently have any true blues, only locally caught tilapia from the ditches- so it would be a welcome addition to our system.

TCLynx
11-22-2009, 12:36 PM
I originally got mine from Morningstar and they can only legally sell blues to people without the aquaculture permits. Truth is, I suspect that any tilapia you caught from ditches are probably blues since they are the ones that have naturalized throughout FL.

Anyway, mine are offspring of ones I got my first year in AP that survived last winters low system temp of 54 F with no signs of immune system failure.

TCLynx
11-22-2009, 12:40 PM
as to the chickens, they are always hungry, starving, absolutely must have treats every time a person enters the yard or they will expire!!!!!!!! don't let them fool you they are masters of manipulation just like baby tilapia in an aquarium that can always trick some poor unsuspecting sole into feeding them even when they are stuffed.

I have to keep the other half from being tricked by the ones I have in the aquarium cause the bio-filter on that set up is not up to extra feedings!!!!

badflash
11-22-2009, 02:47 PM
I know what you mean! I get splashed every time I go past the grow out tanks. They learn fast where their dinner comes from.

TCLynx
11-22-2009, 03:44 PM
And if you feed the fish using automated feeders, they don't get to know you quite so well I've noticed. It's still possible to get splashed if you peak in at feeding time though.

stucco
11-22-2009, 07:06 PM
I thought I was doing good to be on the top poster list with 54 posts. And then you come along and do 10 in one day. :lol:

jackalope
11-22-2009, 07:30 PM
TCLynx Welcome to the forum, I recognized the name right off ..... I'm also a member of your forum ..... (not very active there tho ...... :oops: :oops: )

whitebrook
11-22-2009, 07:34 PM
Hello! I just started in this forum. I think I can learn a lot here!

TCLynx
11-22-2009, 08:07 PM
not much to my forum. Other than me having to delete spam all the fricking time :? I just put it up cause I could I guess.

jackalope
11-22-2009, 08:45 PM
whitebrook Welcome to the forum .... glad to have you here!

TCLynx
11-23-2009, 06:55 AM
Well, I thought it might be handy to link here to my system thread elsewhere as I'm not inclined to re-post the same things in multiple places. My system thread on BYAP has not been as active lately as it used to be, I have not been doing as much re-building or changes as I did once upon a time.
backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2640
Started Dec 2007
Currently
CHIFT PIST
Main Fish tank around 700+ gallons
Sump tank 600+ gallons
Grow beds total aprox 1400 gallons
Media river pebbles and washed sea shells
pH 7.4 (usually, will fluctuate up with well water top ups and down during rainy weather)
Right now about 72 plate size tilapia and 55 catfish between 1 and 7 lb and undetermined number of tialpia fingerlings/babies.

davidstcldfl
11-23-2009, 08:05 AM
Hello TCLynx, :) ....Nice to meet you.

As Stucco mentioned, I'm just getting started. The offer of some 'blues' sounds great ! :D . I'd like a few....maybe Stucco and I could 'share' your extras ? I'm trying to get a hold of a large aquarium for inside. So I'd only need a few, depending on their size.

I'll send you a PM........Thanks !

JCO
11-24-2009, 05:53 AM
Welcome to the show....sit down....relax awhile. New voices are always a welcome addition to our family..! :mrgreen:

davidstcldfl
11-27-2009, 01:39 AM
TC, I'm either in info overload or just practicing for old age...hope it's the first :lol:

Here and in your 'other' forum (94 pages of GREAT reading , by the way :D ) You use the term....
CHIFT PIST....... _ _ IN FISH TANK......PUMP IN SUMP TANK , What is the first two letters ??? :?: :? :oops:

EDIT:
THE ABOVE QUESTION WAS ASKED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.....NOW THAT THE SUN IS UP........
:idea: Pssst....hey Dave, it's "Constant Height".....lol...... :lol:
Must of made the coffee a litle stronger this morn........... :D

TCLynx
11-27-2009, 06:31 AM
Constant Height In Fish Tank Pump In Sump Tank

I personally like the set up where the fish tank overflows into the grow beds and the grow beds drain into the sump tank where the pump draws the relatively clean water back up to the fish tank. This makes it so the pump doesn't need as constant cleaning as mine did before I switched the set up. Also, there is the safety factor in that since there is only one pump and it is not in the fish tank, you can't have the fish tank pump dry if something fails. One of the more common disasters in AP is when some bit of plumbing gets bumped aside or when a sump pump fails, the fish tank pump can empty the fish tank. There are methods to protect against these disasters but my favorite one is simply make the system CHIFT PIST.

badflash
11-27-2009, 07:02 AM
That is basically the way my system is set up. In addition I have air stones in each fish tank. The air pump is on a separate electrical circuit. If something goes wrong with the pump, you still have air, even of it trips the circuit.

davidstcldfl
11-27-2009, 08:24 AM
TC/BADFLASH, That does make sense not having to worry (too) much about the pump getting (as) dirty , by being in a sump that is being fed from the GB(s).

You are using a 'no holes overflow'....actually a 'venturi' set up, to help get some of the solids off the bottom of the FT ? I'm just trying to make sure I'm seeing it correctly....thanks.

davidstcldfl
11-27-2009, 08:49 AM
TC, I know I'm asking lots of questions....hope it's ok, not sure if this is the right place to do it(?) :?:

In regards to the fish tank that you made from 'cattle panels'. ( In your post at B.Y.A.) What type of insulation did you put between the cattle pannel and the rubber liner ? Are you happy with this set up....no problems to speak of ? Do you think this is a better set up then using above ground swimming pools ? Price 'versus' quality ?

I was thinking of cutting the cattle panel in 1/2 length wise, in order to make (aprox) 2 Ft high fish tank(s). How do you figure out what size rubber liner to use ?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice you care to share. :)

badflash
11-27-2009, 11:04 AM
I only have one tank that uses what I refer to as a "Plumbers Nightmate" I put the suction of it at the bottom of the tank to pick up solids. Active fish will keep most of it moving, so I'm not sure it matter much in a small less intensive system.

This works fine, but you need to vent the air out of it periodically. If you don't the tank will overflow when it gets air bound. I like drilled systems better.


TC/BADFLASH, That does make sense not having to worry (too) much about the pump getting (as) dirty , by being in a sump that is being fed from the GB(s).

You are using a 'no holes overflow'....actually a 'venturi' set up, to help get some of the solids off the bottom of the FT ? I'm just trying to make sure I'm seeing it correctly....thanks.

TCLynx
11-27-2009, 12:02 PM
Sorry this might not be appreciated much but I'm gonna link to a thread I started elsewhere that has diagrams in it showing things like the SLO drain (what used to be called a venturi drain.) Which is how I get the solids off the bottom of my fish tanks even though it's really set up more like an overflow.

TCLynx's System (http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2640)

I do not recommend the no holes overflows really since they do have such an issue with getting air locks and stopping. They do work but they also need regular attention and I've had aquariums overflow do to them stopping when I wasn't checking on them often enough.

And mention of air pumps on separate circuits. Yes, good idea to have air in every tank! Also good idea to have it on a separate circuit. Even better, I've got my air on a battery backup if the mains power goes out, the relay trips and runs the air pump off of the inverter and battery power. I've got a good deep cycle battery and appropriate charger for it so I can run air for at least 20 hours before the battery is half depleted.

davidstcldfl
11-27-2009, 12:16 PM
Thanks TC for the link to the thread on drains. :)
Thanks Badflash for your input.


things that make you go....Hmmmmmm. :D

badflash
11-27-2009, 01:30 PM
Sorry this might not be appreciated much but I'm gonna link to a thread I started elsewhere

Great information is great information. Your other site is an excellent one, of which I am a member. No worries here. There is no rule against linking to great info in another forum, just against spamming.

TCLynx
01-14-2010, 06:52 AM
FYI

Tilapia don't like the cold. We had quite the cold spell here for Florida. A long cold spell with chilly days and many nights down near or below freezing. Even in my greenhouse the systems got down to 40 degrees F here in central Florida. None of the tilapia that remained out in the systems survived. I still have lots of catfish.
And so far even the really tiny new catfish I got that are out in the quarantine system which got down to 32 F are still surviving for the most part (though I'm a little worried that they don't have the fat reserves to survive too long without eating.)

Anyway, just an update.

badflash
01-14-2010, 03:45 PM
Sorry for your losses. Looks like tropical fish and tilapia were hit hard.

davidstcldfl
01-14-2010, 09:04 PM
Hi TC, sorry to hear about the tilapia.....glad the cats are well.
I bet you were cold....even though your only a little further north and up on the 'ridge'...you're usually a good bit colder then we are.

Take care... :D

TCLynx
06-29-2010, 06:06 PM
I'll say sorry I'm not as active over here as elsewhere, only able to keep up with so many web sites I guess.

Anyway, I've been busy with aquaponics as well as other things. The big system is doing well and we just pulled out the last of the original wood beds and are in the process of replacing it with two 100 gallon rubbermaid stock tanks. One is in the other just needs to be filled with stone.

I've built a new 300 gallon system that has a 300 gallon rubbermaid stock tank sunk in the ground as fish tank and then I'm pumping up to three 100 gallon tanks as grow beds, using an aquaponics indexing valve to sequence through those beds (I can sell those valves if anyone is interested in them) And also being tested on that system are some towers. Zipgrow towers. That system was only partially cycled up fishless and now I've added a heavy load of catfish fingerlings that are suffering through a bit of a nitrite spike. But I think that is about to come down as I see the pH is starting to fall naturally too (this system is NOT full of shells the way my other one is.)

I'm now onto trying to figure out how I should do a duckaponics system. I've got some muscovy ducks and I would love not to waste so much water keeping them in bathing pools.

dufflight
06-30-2010, 04:11 AM
duckaponics sounds interesting. Warm blooded animals may be a problem. Have you thought of using them to grow worms and generate castings. Make the ponds so they act like large swirl filters. A couple of 5000lpr circulation impellers don't use a lot of power and can be set up to run on solar. Any solids collected can be dumped into a worm farm. Or just pump to a gravel bed with some greens growing for the ducks.

I have a couple of the indexing valves and they are fun toys. :mrgreen:

TCLynx
07-03-2010, 05:36 PM
The Duckaponics won't be growing greens or root veggies for us.

I figure on growing trees (banana and papaya and perhaps citrus and others) as well as fodder crops for the ducks and chickens.

This should help insulate us from the possible pathogens of the warm blooded birds.

TCLynx
07-03-2010, 05:55 PM
And yes the indexing valves are great fun. I've got some new ideas to test them on too.

TCLynx
09-28-2010, 11:32 AM
Hay again. I know I don't pop in here much but some one mentioned to me that some here might be appreciative of me sharing this.

zrrQlxkwqX4

I finally broke down and did a video walk through of my Big system.
Sorry, didn't include any info on the fish feeders or the other systems so that will have to wait till I have time to shoot some more videos. This one was long enough anyway! This was my first attempt at video editing, I have been resistant to doing videos up till now.

r3tic
09-28-2010, 11:58 AM
Great video! What varieties of bananas do you have?

TCLynx
09-28-2010, 05:14 PM
What varieties, I really don't know.
There was one from a catalog that was supposedly a dwarf banana but they didn't give a variety name and that I believe is what is growing in the aquaponics system. I had figured a dwarf would be more appropriate to aquaponics but apparently aquaponics is just to good to stay small.

I have another variety that we got a pup from a neighbor near by but that one grows little bananas though the plant gets fairly big.

We have one other variety from some friends but that one hasn't fruited yet though the plant is getting quite large.

r3tic
10-01-2010, 07:55 AM
Most dwarf varieties of banana are in the 5' to 10' trunk height. The average normal size plants are 15' to 25'. If you want a small plant that produces fruit look for a SDC (super dwarf cavendish) It tops out at about a 4' trunk.

TCLynx
10-01-2010, 08:03 AM
Some time or another I might try some of the "Truly Tiny" variety a few places here in FL I've seen have them.

Otherwise, I'll see what we think of the fruit off this one. The fruit seem to be longer and thinner than the other variety we once has fruit for us which had the short fruit.

TCLynx
11-18-2010, 08:13 PM
Hi all
I know I haven't really kept up on this site, Sorry.
Anyway, I'm planning a free workshop where I'm going to expand one of my aquaponics systems and give others a chance to get a little hands on experience if they wish.
It is planned for December 11 and 12 from 10-4 with pot luck lunch. My place is near Mount Dora

TCLynx
05-21-2011, 10:18 AM
Hay I finally got a fish cam up online. I don't think I'm allowed to post a link to it though so here is a youtube video I captured from it.

Lg8G7-VXpL4

and another one I did after dark

ZPb99pqzWFo

If you want to see the live cameras you will have to search out my site and go to the Aquaponic Lynx Live Garden Cameras tab and chose what you want to look at.

OK I'm at a loss, how are you supposed to embed youtube videos here? I've tried several ways and I'm just seeing the code not the video? Ok I've simply put the youtube links in since the youtube code doesn't seem to be working.

urbanfarmer
05-21-2011, 12:06 PM
I think it's currently broken...