Hello from Tampa, Florida!

[FloridaChris]

Hey guys, just wanted to give you a little update. I planted these plants back on Saturday and they're still looking good, as of this morning. We have a little cold and wind going on, but don't think it's going to do to much damage. The tomato plant and the bell pepper plant were banging into each other from the wind and have a little leaf damage, but they should hold up.

[davidstcldfl]

"Houston, we have plants "....

[hawkiye]

Nice Job looking good... That what i should of done for starters...

[FloridaChris]

Hey guys,
Another update. Having some pepper problems, everything else is alive but stagnant growth. Going to add some Easter egg shells tomorrow. I am also going to pull the seeds placed in rock wool as there is nothing happening with them.



Took my first first water test too. The pictures are below. Everything looks normal for a 1 week old system. Please let me know if you find anything odd. I thought it was odd ammonia was low, but I only have 9 tiny feeder goldfish in the FT; left over from the original 20.



I am going to top up Monday. Tomorrow I am going to fill up two five gallon buckets so they can evaporate off all of the chlorine and chloramine in a day or so.

[FloridaChris]

Question, how many small feeder goldfish should I have in my system? Per some general rules I have read, one 1" fish per 1 gallon of water. I couldn't imagine this system needing 40 goldfish.

[badflash]

You need enough fish to provide the nutrients for the plants. Your test show nada, zip. I would go with fish worth something and a lot more. Goldies are cheap, but they stay cheap. In the same family are Koi and they can be valuable.

[FloridaChris]

badflash - I am thinking of doing tilapia, as they can handle more of my produce scraps then the goldies. Does the 1" per 1 gallno still hold true? How many tilapia can I fit in my system? The FT is a 55 barrel on it's side, I figure it's about 40 gallons.

[keith_r]

1" per gallon is an aquarium thing..
in aquaponics (or aquaculture for that matter), the fishload is based on the amount of filtration.. you'll hear several "rules of thumb"..
in a new system (first year) i'd go a maximum of 20lbs of fish for every 100 gallons of growbed..that's grown out size, so 20 fish that you would harvest at about 1lb... in a mature system i'd go 25-30lbs for every 100 gallons gb
if you add filtration you can stock higher.. but you always base your bioload on filtration

[FloridaChris]

So seeing my system is approx 50 gallons (a 55gallon drum halved), I should have about 10 tilapia, correct? So probably 15 fingerlings, anticipating some will die off.

[badflash]

Fish grow, so fish per gallon is a poor measure. 1 pound of fish per gallon of watter is a better fit, but there are also issues with space. In a 55 gallon tank you could have hundreds of fingerlings, but less than 25 2 pound adults. The fish need to be able to move and access food easily to avoid agression. Your system needs to be able to remove particulates efficiently. Be wary of table scraps. This can foul the water quickly depending on how it is handled.

The key to plant growth in nutrients. Start the fish first and let the nutrients get up to a good level before adding the plants. When harvesting, do so in small amounts and replant to not upset the balance.