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samtheman
09-07-2010, 02:58 PM
This is my 600 gallon pond, I have a 30 gallon mechanic and biofilter, I set up a timed flood and drain system on a 7' pvc post with 3" netted baskets with herbs and strawberries. I installed a 8' x 12' sunscreen to protect it from falling leaves. As I get more experience on this I will switch to blue tilapias, so I am trying to find a place near Orlando where I can get some tilapias for my pond. I am barely getting into aquaponics so I am open to any suggestions you may have.... 8-)


http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x295/elisamuels/my%20pond/100_3695.jpghttp://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x295/elisamuels/my%20pond/100_3694.jpghttp://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x295/elisamuels/my%20pond/100_3696.jpg

badflash
09-07-2010, 05:59 PM
Depending on how many fish you have, you probably need a lot more plants. Typically there is a 2:1 plant surface area to fish, but of cours it depends on the fish and the plants.

Oldandfound1
09-07-2010, 06:15 PM
Wow, what a good looking system Samtheman. With great potential for AP. You have great council nearby already. As near as I can tell I am the only person here from Washington State currently posting or who will admit being an AP'er. :mrgreen: Have had great guidance here at DIY when I asked, and otherwise read and re-read.
Dennis
Oldandfound1

davidstcldfl
09-08-2010, 02:29 AM
Nice samtheman... :D

samtheman
09-08-2010, 04:00 AM
thanks guys...I appreciate the comments 8-)
@Badflash - I am a little confused as to how many plants I can have without affecting my setup, a ratio of 2:1 plant surface area to fish sounds like a good idea for me to go by..thanks :)

badflash
09-08-2010, 08:28 AM
If you have too many plants it won't hurt the fish, just make the plants sickly. How many pound of fish per gallon do you have? Alternately, check the nitrate level. If it continues to rise you need more plants.

Brier
09-08-2010, 06:34 PM
A reasonable stocking rate per gallon would be somewhere around 1/4 pound of fish. This is conservative in the aquaculture industry, and can be achieved with low cost equipment. So 150 pounds of fish would be a nice number to shoot for. If your target weight is 1.5 pounds, you might want to stock about 110-120 fish, to account for any death loss. Next you need to size your filtration, use 25 square feet of surface area per pound of fish. Lets take your 30 gallon filter out of the equation, it really is doing much less than you might think. Pea gravel is about 95 square feet of surface area per cubic foot of volume. So to provide biofiltration for 150 pounds of fish, you need roughly 40 cubic feet of pea gravel grow media. So, to make this easy, imagine a 4 foot by 10 foot growbed with one foot depth of pea gravel. That is the overall potential of your current unit, give or take. I would always error on the conservative side. I am figuring this from a purely aquaculture standpoint, which does not account for root mass, adding additional square footage for bacteria to grow on. So this should be a fairly conservative estimate. Your other variables are flow, and aeration. Your growbed will function more efficiently as a biofilter if the flow rate is reasonably high. I have not seen any studies on growbeds specifically, but it would seem that if you flood your growbed 20 times per day, that you will get better biofiltration than if it only floods 6 times per day. The higher flow will provide a constant source of nutrients for your nitrifying bacteria, and allow for a heavier colonization. Higher flow will also go a log way for adding extra O2, as your growbeds will act as an aerator, and a degassing column. Of course, supplemental aeration is very important at these stocking densities, and a good air pump is a must. If your water flow suffers from clogging, or fails, your aerator will help pick up the slack. Take this all with a grain of salt, as I am really an aquaculturist, moonlighting as a aquaponicist(?). The principles should still hold true. Good luck, and BTW, you have a very nice setup, my wife even commented on the aesthetics.

samtheman
09-08-2010, 07:44 PM
:shock: Wow you guys are awesome!
The info I have gather from this forum in 2 days is priceless, I have alot to learn and make time to digest all this info :D
@badflash and @Brier - thank you for your wisdom, I will be happy to learn half of what you guys know.... :D

jackalope
09-08-2010, 07:56 PM
Nice ;) :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

samtheman
09-10-2010, 04:28 AM
Ok...As you guys know I am a rookie at this... :? I am not sure if I understand this correctly but according to the size of my pond (600 gallons). Is my 30 gallon bio-filter too small for it? Should I go bigger, maybe a 55 gallon barrel? Can I have like 15 or 20 healthy blue tilapias in my pond with my current system? Should I go with a different filter setup all together?

davidstcldfl
09-10-2010, 05:22 AM
Here's a link to sizing a bio-filter....of course this is for pond aquaculture, not aquaponics.

http://leisure.prior-it.co.uk/how-to-de ... lter.shtml (http://leisure.prior-it.co.uk/how-to-design-pond-bio-filter.shtml)

Brier
09-10-2010, 06:14 AM
There is an excellent listing of filter materials, and their specific surface areas in this article. Have to convert to standard measurements.

Sam, You would be able to keep a small number of tilapia. The pond size recommendations on those filters are for ornamental ponds. They assume light stocking rates. 30 gallons completely full is three cubic feet. , you can convert for fish weight. I have a 15 gallon pond filter, I would say from my experience that it maxes out at about 3 pounds of fish. It is on my 240 gallon aquarium, and wont even filter my tilapia breeding colony by itself. Tilapia make a lot of waste! If you harvested the tilapia at 1/2 of a pound, you might be able to stock 15-20 fish.

Your set up is fine if you want to keep production goals low. If you want more fish, and therefore more veggies, you have to add more filtration or better yet more grow beds. You can add on, and grow slowly, there is no real rule.

stucco
09-12-2010, 07:35 AM
I hope all of the fishies made it home ok. You will want to feed them a high protein food. You can also supplement your feed with duckweed which can be found in most of the waterways in your area. This link has a good chart to go by and their food is one of the best options out there. http://aquafarmsfishfood.webs.com/feedingchart.htm

:mrgreen:

samtheman
09-12-2010, 03:08 PM
thanks stucco, the fishes made it with no problem. I am going to try to get some duckweed on the meantime. The Aquafarms store is going to be close till the first week of October, when they re open i will place an order from them.

@davidstcldfl thanks for the link, it's got alot of info :)

@Brier My goal is to have around 15 blues in my pond, I am hoping that by having a 30 gallon bio-filter and the additional grow beds I am planning to have, hopefully will work out for me.

My only fear is how to keep the pond warm for winter, there have been times that in Orlando the temperature has drop to the middle 30s at night and I have been told that the tilapias won't survive at that temperature. I may have to ask Stucco and Davidstcldfl how they deal with this issue. :?

badflash
09-12-2010, 08:08 PM
Blues make it in Orlando as long as the pond is deep enough.