Hello from Kansas City, MO!

[davidstcldfl]

Hi Kellenw, welcome ! :) Looking forward to 'hearing' about your set up and 'seeing' some pictures too. David

[JCO]

Welcome to the show....sit down....relax awhile. New voices are always a welcome addition to our family..! I'm originally from Poplar Bluff, Mo.(big deal, right) :mrgreen:

[jackalope]

I'll update this thread with info about our system and also add info about our planned expansion shortly.

:)
Welcome to the forum kellenw glad to have you here!

Just one small request ..... This forum heading is for introductions only, so please tell us about your system(s) in a new thread ( a thread titled something like "Kellens Super-Duper Absolute Ultimate Aquaponics System", etc. or whatever it is you want to call it :lol: :lol: ) under the appropriate forum heading (i.e. "Back Yard Systems" or "Commercial Systems"), as most people will not find it here in the 'hello' forum heading under this thread. That will help out the newbies and visitors who come here searching for information, and will get you much more responses about your system. Once again, Welcome to the DIY Aquaponics Forum, where we are like a small Community of aquaponics enthusiasts on the 'net ;)

Thanks, Jackalope

[stucco]

Greetings and welcome! 8-)

[wolfracer]

Welcome and I look forward to some pics of your system.

[Breed]

Welcome to the Breeding grounds in Aquaponicsville!! Cute huh?
We live in cold Missouri so our set up will be in Spring. In the meantime we are raising our Tilapia in aquariums in the basement. We couldn't keep the tanks clean with regular filters, so we started a mini-aquaponics. We have 2 X 3' beds for the tanks. Three for a 125 gallon tank and one for each of three 55 gallon tanks. The water is so much cleaner and I don't have the fish poop to deal with. We use boat pumps and they work well. We are growing tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, cabbage, carrots, head lettuce, radishes, peppers, and strawberries. We haven't gotten any fruit yet, but our tomatoes are 18" high now. They are needing support. I planted several root crops to see if they will grow in water. Leaves are great and growing, but I don't have the carrot to prove it works yet.
Tilapia are really prolific - we have had 4 batches since Oct 26 - or about 1400 babies. We had to isolate Fred - he was having too much fun!!
If anyone needs Fry or up to 2" we have um! I think they will outgrown their tanks soon - or we may have to buy another tank!! I seem to need one for every age. We put some babies in a tank with their brothers - only a two week age difference - and the older ones ate the younger ones!! So now we have 2 - 10 gallon tanks for nurseries and the 55 - 125 tanks for outgrowth. It's a lot of work, but my husband is an electrician and he got us wired with timers for everything!

[stucco]

That sounds like a nice setup. :mrgreen:

[badflash]

Welcome!
I've had similar experience with tilapia. I keep babies no more than a week apart in a grow out tank. Once they get to be 2" they are safe to go in with bigger fish.

[Breed]

Badflash -
Thanks for that little tidbit of the fish being able to go into the larger tank at 2". I wasn't sure when I would put them in. I have some adult fish 6 and 8 inches long. They have pretty big mouths!

[badflash]

When they are sexually developed at around 4" they become vegetarians, more or less. They would suck up fry, but not fingerlings.