Murray Hallam's videos

[flienlow]

I’ve seen a few systems in your area powered by trout

I thought about that. I talked to a trout supplier yesterday. He says you can keep trout in a small captive pond. but in the summer time you will have problems keeping them cool. I not sure how to do that economically? You would also need to keep them from freezing in a small container in the winter time as well.

[Madmax478]

http://torrentz.eu/search?f=aquaponics

what are the experience of folks in the northern states/canada? I imagine CA,AZ,TX and FL is a no brainer for year around crops.

Thank you!

I live in Abilene TX and believe me we have our problems too... In the pass 12 months we have had 3 1/2 months of +100 F weather and 3 weeks of 20F and a week of 5 F weather. I'm catch it from both sides. Maybe not as long as you do on the cold side but I still have to deal with it. The way I look at it Tank heaters are a lot cheaper than tank coolers or using Ice like I have been doing. Beside you could build a solar tank heater. How would you build a solar tank cooler?

My Poor fish have had to survive +100 F water several times. I'm running gold fish ATM not Tilapia. I figured I get thru the learning curve on gold fish before I switched to tilapia. Boy has it been a learning experience.

Between the ammonia spikes in the beginning the temp and the PH swings I'm amaze that my fish are still alive at all.
The Ammonia problem settled down after about 2 months and then I was hit with the temp problem. I started using filter tap water instead of RO water boy was that a mistake. Now my PH is thru the roof. Play hell get it back down without killing the fish. Getting kinda of attach to those tough little guys. They been thru so much that should have killed them.

We all have issues we have to deal with just different ones...

[JCO]

Research the pioneer history of your area and see what they did to raise their food and how they perserved it through the winter before there were grocery stores. Canning and a root celler are fine ideas and they work great being originally from Missouri, that's the way my Grandparents did it.

As for the fish, unless you are going to keep them at sustainable temperatures, Tilapia are out and they are the only self-probagating species viable in Aquaponics in a small operation. Otherwise, you are looking at catching local species and putting them in the fish tank (got to be able to feed them whatever it is they eat locally in the wild) or buying fingerlings of catfish or hybrid stripped bass and feeding them commercial food.

The hybrid stripped bass will put on a fraction more fillet weight than Tilapia in the same time frame and actually sell for more in the stores.

As for the small fancy commercial setup for mucho bucks, you can build that yourself. All it is...is a few 2x4s, a fish tank and a plastic pan; a pump and some tubing. If that's what you want to do, I'm sure someone on this forum has the plans and would be glad to share them. However, if you are going to build something, take the same concept a little further and design it to have a lager growbed because frankly that commercial setup grow bed is too small for the amount of water in the fish tank.

To take care of your dog...boil a couple old leather shoes with a big soup bone and give the bone and the shoes to him. Will actually help remove tartar build up from his teeth and freshen his breath Life is tough

[urbanfarmer]

http://torrentz.eu/search?f=aquaponics

I just finished watching aquaponics made easy. The one thing that is sticking in my mind is that Mr.Hallam is from sunny Australia. Even in the winter they have sun down there. I live in Seattle where even in the summer it rains. Hence:
How can you grow veggies in the winter?
How well do they grow in the summer?
What kind of fish would do well in our cold/warm climate?

I'm sure I could buy or make one of these small systems like this:
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Earth+So ... x=92&ty=76

and keep it inside, but that wouldn't feed my dog let alone my family. Perhaps the gardening would be seasonal much like it normally is, and the secret is to can veggies and use root cellars? If that is the case, how do you winter your food fish?

what are the experience of folks in the northern states/canada? I imagine CA,AZ,TX and FL is a no brainer for year around crops.

Thank you!

Definitely build it yourself!!! As usual, you can probably build it for 10% to 15% of the price...

[Madmax478]

Research the pioneer history of your area and see what they did to raise their food and how they perserved it through the winter before there were grocery stores. Canning and a root celler are fine ideas and they work great being originally from Missouri, that's the way my Grandparents did it.

As for the fish, unless you are going to keep them at sustainable temperatures, Tilapia are out and they are the only self-probagating species viable in Aquaponics in a small operation. Otherwise, you are looking at catching local species and putting them in the fish tank (got to be able to feed them whatever it is they eat locally in the wild) or buying fingerlings of catfish or hybrid stripped bass and feeding them commercial food.

The hybrid stripped bass will put on a fraction more fillet weight than Tilapia in the same time frame and actually sell for more in the stores.

As for the small fancy commercial setup for mucho bucks, you can build that yourself. All it is...is a few 2x4s, a fish tank and a plastic pan; a pump and some tubing. If that's what you want to do, I'm sure someone on this forum has the plans and would be glad to share them. However, if you are going to build something, take the same concept a little further and design it to have a lager growbed because frankly that commercial setup grow bed is too small for the amount of water in the fish tank.

Well I guess I'll deal with the temp then. Heck if I can keep gold fish alive in 105F water, Tilapia should be easy then, just crank the aeration up. I bet I could figure out some sorta solar heating method for the winter months so I would not have to rely on electric tank heaters.

As far as building a system from scratch it not a problem. Working on my third mini system ATM.
What I haven't done yet is build a system with a sump. How do you figure out the sizing for sump? Using river gravel and how is it different when using Hydroton. Looking at 300 gals of grow bed with river gravel my best guess is 99 gallons plus enough to keep pump submerged, With Hydroton it is 120 gallons plus enough to keep pump submerged. So I'm looking at about 150 gallon sump. Is this correct? The picture I have seen of other peoples set ups don't appear to have that large of a sump.

[wh33t]

Research the pioneer history of your area and see what they did to raise their food and how they perserved it through the winter before there were grocery stores. Canning and a root celler are fine ideas and they work great being originally from Missouri, that's the way my Grandparents did it.

As for the fish, unless you are going to keep them at sustainable temperatures, Tilapia are out and they are the only self-probagating species viable in Aquaponics in a small operation. Otherwise, you are looking at catching local species and putting them in the fish tank (got to be able to feed them whatever it is they eat locally in the wild) or buying fingerlings of catfish or hybrid stripped bass and feeding them commercial food.

The hybrid stripped bass will put on a fraction more fillet weight than Tilapia in the same time frame and actually sell for more in the stores.

As for the small fancy commercial setup for mucho bucks, you can build that yourself. All it is...is a few 2x4s, a fish tank and a plastic pan; a pump and some tubing. If that's what you want to do, I'm sure someone on this forum has the plans and would be glad to share them. However, if you are going to build something, take the same concept a little further and design it to have a lager growbed because frankly that commercial setup grow bed is too small for the amount of water in the fish tank.

Well I guess I'll deal with the temp then. Heck if I can keep gold fish alive in 105F water, Tilapia should be easy then, just crank the aeration up. I bet I could figure out some sorta solar heating method for the winter months so I would not have to rely on electric tank heaters.

As far as building a system from scratch it not a problem. Working on my third mini system ATM.
What I haven't done yet is build a system with a sump. How do you figure out the sizing for sump? Using river gravel and how is it different when using Hydroton. Looking at 300 gals of grow bed with river gravel my best guess is 99 gallons plus enough to keep pump submerged, With Hydroton it is 120 gallons plus enough to keep pump submerged. So I'm looking at about 150 gallon sump. Is this correct? The picture I have seen of other peoples set ups don't appear to have that large of a sump.

From my understanding, the sump is just the lowest point in the system where the pump resides. I believe the purpose for the SUMP is simply to collect heavy fish waste (correct me if I'm wrong) and that's it real only fundamental purpose. It aids with cleaning the system and such. So I don't think it necessarily matters how big it is as long as your pump doesn't pump water out of it quicker than water returns to it.

[keith_r]

with a sump, you can have more growbeds to fishtank volume, and not have water level fluctuations in your fishtank

[wh33t]

with a sump, you can have more growbeds to fishtank volume, and not have water level fluctuations in your fishtank

Oh yes of course, that too. Is the water level fluctuation bad for the fish? Mine seem to tolerate it pretty good, but that is something I've never really considered before.

[urbanfarmer]

with a sump, you can have more growbeds to fishtank volume, and not have water level fluctuations in your fishtank

Oh yes of course, that too. Is the water level fluctuation bad for the fish? Mine seem to tolerate it pretty good, but that is something I've never really considered before.

It probably depends on the fish. It doesn't seem as though Tilapia or Goldfish care. In fact, they seem to like it!

[wh33t]

with a sump, you can have more growbeds to fishtank volume, and not have water level fluctuations in your fishtank

Oh yes of course, that too. Is the water level fluctuation bad for the fish? Mine seem to tolerate it pretty good, but that is something I've never really considered before.

It probably depends on the fish. It doesn't seem as though Tilapia or Goldfish care. In fact, they seem to like it!

Your my favourite Excellent!