Bioritize System Progress

[Madmax478]

"I believe I will need a tank I can let the fish grow out in, I am debating on the 150 gal rubbermaid tank with 3 (50 gallon) of the rubber maids for the grow beds. Prolly have under $1000 in a system like that and enough room to grow out 50 fish or so.

Anyway thanks for all your help guys. Any thoughts on my fish and their life cycles here would be appreciated, I do not think it will be ok for all of these guys to stay in this 40 gallon tank."

Bet you can build that for less than a 1000.00....The 40 gal tank would be ok I think for a breeder tank.
I was thinking of tying 3 100 or 150 gal rubbermaid stock (fish) tanks together with proper amount of grow beds. And starting with 25 to 35 fish in one tank and adding 25 to 35 in the next tank three months later and so on. Harvest 9 month old fish every three months. I don't want to grow more than we can eat and have it all ready to harvest at one time. What do you guys think. see any problems with that idea?

[davidstcldfl]

Having different tanks, for different size fish is as great idea Madmax...
Like you said....have plenty of grow beds to support that many fish.

[Madmax478]

I been reading about the amount of grow bed per size of fish tank and I getting different answer from different groups. I been using one gallon of fish tank to one gallon grow bed. But I'm hearing a different point of view. The other one I'm hearing is one sq foot of grow bed per one pound of fish in the system. So a 100 gallon system with 2 fifty gallon grow bed that I'm looking at has about 16 sq foot of grow space. That would come out to max of 16 pounds of Fish. The reason I was considering running three different tanks setup slave together were the tank with the smaller fish would have extra filtering available as the tank with the larger fish would be maxing out it filtering capacity.

[stucco]

I follow a five gallon media per fish rule.

[Bioritize]

I was under the impression that it was a 1:1 ratio for grow bed to fish tank based on the gallon capacity. Then the other ration was 1 lb of fish : 3 gallons of water. I believe that is more like a 1 fish per : 3 gallons grow bed.

So in my 40 gallon tank I could grow about to 2.5 lbs each or so. I think that is about what I had in mind using this as a breeder. I could keep four good females in here and pop and male in everyonce and a while to say

[urbanfarmer]

I was under the impression that it was a 1:1 ratio for grow bed to fish tank based on the gallon capacity. Then the other ration was 1 lb of fish : 3 gallons of water. I believe that is more like a 1 fish per : 3 gallons grow bed.

So in my 40 gallon tank I could grow about to 2.5 lbs each or so. I think that is about what I had in mind using this as a breeder. I could keep four good females in here and pop and male in everyonce and a while to say

It's even more complicated than that... you have fish producing waste, microbes converting the waste into non-toxic and/or plant available products, and you have plants absorbing these products... but there are simplified ratios that only involve the grow bed space and the fish tank space at 1:1 or 1:2 ratios...

[Madmax478]

I was under the impression that it was a 1:1 ratio for grow bed to fish tank based on the gallon capacity. Then the other ration was 1 lb of fish : 3 gallons of water. I believe that is more like a 1 fish per : 3 gallons grow bed.

So in my 40 gallon tank I could grow about to 2.5 lbs each or so. I think that is about what I had in mind using this as a breeder. I could keep four good females in here and pop and male in everyonce and a while to say

I heard the 1:1 ratio to and up to 1:3. A lot of that has to do with number of Fish you want to stock. Also is you main focus Fish, Plants or Both. I'm not looking to go super high on either to much time required to do that. But that being said I would to get the most I can with the least amount of effort. I have found that general rules are just that general rules you tell people that don't want to understand more about what is really going on. That why people with higher stocking densities have more grow beds. It all about how much filtering you need to keep your water clean. That involves how many fish how many plants and how well you can use or remove the solids. It is a lot easier to make decisions on how to set thing up in the first place if you understand how and why they come up with these rules of thumb as applied to the way you intend to run your system.
A 300 gallon IBC tote system with 3 16sq foot grow beds with 100 tilapia isn't a problem until you have over 48 pound of fish in it. There assuming that about the time some of them will be big enough to start eating. 100 one pound tilapia will exceed the filtering capacity of this system in a very short time. If you do like they say and start harvesting fish as soon as they reach the 1 pound or plate size Fish this shouldn't be a problem. I just felt like I need to understand how they come up with there numbers and why. One detail I have found out from all my reading is Fish and Plants can be replace relative quickly but the bacteria can not. So when your thinking about whats best for the fish or what best for the plants DO NOT FORGET what best for the bacteria without these unseen guys NOTHING HAPPENS.

Oh I think that would make for a Happy Male Fish.... hehehe

[urbanfarmer]

I was under the impression that it was a 1:1 ratio for grow bed to fish tank based on the gallon capacity. Then the other ration was 1 lb of fish : 3 gallons of water. I believe that is more like a 1 fish per : 3 gallons grow bed.

So in my 40 gallon tank I could grow about to 2.5 lbs each or so. I think that is about what I had in mind using this as a breeder. I could keep four good females in here and pop and male in everyonce and a while to say

I heard the 1:1 ratio to and up to 1:3. A lot of that has to do with number of Fish you want to stock. Also is you main focus Fish, Plants or Both. I'm not looking to go super high on either to much time required to do that. But that being said I would to get the most I can with the least amount of effort. I have found that general rules are just that general rules you tell people that don't want to understand more about what is really going on. That why people with higher stocking densities have more grow beds. It all about how much filtering you need to keep your water clean. That involves how many fish how many plants and how well you can use or remove the solids. It is a lot easier to make decisions on how to set thing up in the first place if you understand how and why they come up with these rules of thumb as applied to the way you intend to run your system.
A 300 gallon IBC tote system with 3 16sq foot grow beds with 100 tilapia isn't a problem until you have over 48 pound of fish in it. There assuming that about the time some of them will be big enough to start eating. 100 one pound tilapia will exceed the filtering capacity of this system in a very short time. If you do like they say and start harvesting fish as soon as they reach the 1 pound or plate size Fish this shouldn't be a problem. I just felt like I need to understand how they come up with there numbers and why. One detail I have found out from all my reading is Fish and Plants can be replace relative quickly but the bacteria can not. So when your thinking about whats best for the fish or what best for the plants DO NOT FORGET what best for the bacteria without these unseen guys NOTHING HAPPENS.

Oh I think that would make for a Happy Male Fish.... hehehe

Yep, the bacteria actually feed the plants

I have attached a document that is basic a calculator for all your backyard aquaponic needs! ENJOY!

[Bioritize]

THAT IS AWESOME!!! Thanks UF

My plan is to start a large commercial system to sell about 100 lbs of fish per month. I am in the process of moving to a place in Colorado where I can help my family setup a farm, using the Aquaponics as a year round revenue source as well as a possible fertilizer source for the rest of our endeavors.

But I will likely start smaller systems and build up to the larger system. The focus would be on the fish mainly but I would also likely offer lettuces and herbs, basil seems to do amazing in this system. I was also wanting to use these grow beds to quick start plants for outdoor planting in the spring to get a jump start on the process.

This first little system is just so I can get a handle on what is going on.

I suppose I need to do a bit more research on the bacteria and what things are needed to keep them alive. I know that they are what makes this thing tick, and to me is the proof positive that our planet will provide for those who pay attention and take care of her.

[Madmax478]

THAT IS AWESOME!!! Thanks UF

My plan is to start a large commercial system to sell about 100 lbs of fish per month. I am in the process of moving to a place in Colorado where I can help my family setup a farm, using the Aquaponics as a year round revenue source as well as a possible fertilizer source for the rest of our endeavors.

But I will likely start smaller systems and build up to the larger system. The focus would be on the fish mainly but I would also likely offer lettuces and herbs, basil seems to do amazing in this system. I was also wanting to use these grow beds to quick start plants for outdoor planting in the spring to get a jump start on the process.

This first little system is just so I can get a handle on what is going on.

I suppose I need to do a bit more research on the bacteria and what things are needed to keep them alive. I know that they are what makes this thing tick, and to me is the proof positive that our planet will provide for those who pay attention and take care of her.

Assuming you could grow out 100 tilapia to 1 pound in 6 to 9 months that would mean you would have to have 600 to 900 fish going at anyone time. More likely a 1000 fish going. I'd find the market before I spent the money to build a system that big. But thats me. Using grow beds on a system that big would be too labor intensive IMHO. That a lot of fish poop to deal with. Then your problem would be selling all the produce not the fish. I think I read somewhere they get 7 or 8 pounds of produce to every pound of fish they get out of the system. I think if I were want that kinda of production or better I would look at Deep water culture system and have at least one or two hire hand too, so I could have a day off every now and then. Can't leave a system that big with that much invested in the hands of a rookie.
If you build a system that big I'd love to come see it....