My basic system

[davidstcldfl]

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

[Brier]

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]

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

[samtheman]

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]

Blues make it in Orlando as long as the pond is deep enough.