Aquaponics

[SheepDog]

I am considering doing some aquaponics in the future and am researching the proper way to do it. Is anyone using this symbionic method to raise fish and plants in a "closed" loop environment?

 

[Meerkat]

Can you use youtube? Anyway I know a couple good places to get started if they are still open . Will you do the container or make your own fish pool? We used a fish pond . Or you can buy swimming pool liner and dig a hole. But if you don't want frogs driving you insane then it has to have 2 foot wall around it. We actually couldn't hear each other speak over the 1000 of frogs coming from far and wide. Laying eggs galore too.

 

[Meerkat]

You will have to find a way to get potassium, calcium and iron to the plants . Some iron chelating compounds are toxic to you and fish so plan to find which one to use, I forgot or I'd tell you. But this man was very helpful to us.
Some use things like rusty nails but those are not a good source.

 

[TMT Tactical]

MeerKat. thanks for the video. I added the channel to my prepper links. I will try and find time to watch all his videos. One question I have is how to raise the fish and keep a constant supply available. Water flow and temp and ph can be monitored by controls but how to have a stable and renewable supply of fish is not clear to me. Any suggestions along these lines?

 

[Meerkat]

MeerKat. thanks for the video. I added the channel to my prepper links. I will try and find time to watch all his videos. One question I have is how to raise the fish and keep a constant supply available. Water flow and temp and ph can be monitored by controls but how to have a stable and renewable supply of fish is not clear to me. Any suggestions along these lines?

Are you going to want to harvest fish for food? If so it will take a lot more effort to keep them healthy because the kind you eat are picky. According to which fish you also have to be careful with heat or cold, some like it hot others like it cool. How will you feed the fish ? This can be fairly expensive. We tried raising Duckweed , didn't work fro us.

We used gold fish and koi because we just wanted fertilizer and you can't kill these fish in freezing weather or hot. Catfish are also easy to keep but still have to be careful to keep tank clean . Not sure if cats can take cold that well though?
Circulating water is best, air stones help some to clean water. Cleaning filters are needed too, we used lava rocks, a charcoal filter in a circulating water reservoir. Cleaning filter is a must. We used well water and goldfish, koi so never had PH problems at all.
We never got to the point of setting up a crop system for food only pond plants. But this is what we learned when planning to use Aquaponic's. Most people do very well with aquaponics so good luck. :thumbs up:

 

[SheepDog]

I definitely want to raise food, both fish and plants, or it is just a waste of time. When it comes time to put it together I am going to contact the university extension office to see what help they can provide.
I would like between 1 and 2 fish a week so that means 104 fish a year and it takes 3 years for fish to mature so at any one time I need between 156 and 312 fish alive and well. I will need a breeding system as well because I do not want to continuously buy fish - like the garden it has to be sustainable without a market place. This will be a big project and I may have more than one variety of fish but they have to be able to coexist. Trout and or salmon (they can mature is fresh water too) along with another cold water fish...??
The garden will supply veggies the year around as well as herbs for cooking. I figure it will take about an acre of water and garden. The garden will be solar heated and the water will be cooled to 55F or less all year long. Feeding them can be done with worms, crickets or other insects that can be raised on the waste from the veggies.
It's going to be a big project but it should be doable without too much work after the system is tuned.

 

[Meerkat]

An acre is a lot of water to control nutrients in. This guy raised plenty of fish in a IBC container,food grade.

 

[SheepDog]

According to his videos he grows 12 1 pound fish for each bed of veggies. That equates to 13 beds for my minimum number of fish and 26 beds for the higher number. It doesn't take into account the hatchery or growth area for fish production. I believe he buys his fish young and grows them to a pound or so when he harvests them. I need a breeding group that are likely to be 2 to 3 pounds each and an area separate from the other tanks so the eggs and fry will survive. The same water has to circulate throughout the tanks to keep the stress level down on the young fish. The eggs and fry also need more oxygen in the water to be healthy. So if I use his formula for the number of fish per unit of garden I will need at least 78 beds to support the entire population of fish from eggs to mature and ground cooling the water may not be enough to keep the fish happy. He is also growing tilapia which like warm water and I will be raising cold water fish. That way they will survive the winters without heating the tanks.
Each species of fish have different requirements and I have a lot to learn before I start building a system. I continue to research and study the topic.

 

[*Andi]

Anyone have a systems up sand running?

 

[Cnsper]

You also have to deal with your states fish and game. They definitely do not want any non native species. Trout are predatory fish and will eat smaller fish. I am looking into lake perch.too cold here for things like tilapia. Plus they would be considered non native invasive species.

You can also look into raising saltwater shrimp for food but not aquaponics. Easier to get them approved since fresh water will kill them

 

[Meerkat]

More info on the subject

 

[Meerkat]

Hows its coming with the aquaponics @SheepDog or anyone else?

 

[SheepDog]

Well, I have a lot of information but I need a bunch of room before I draw up plans and start building.