Aquaponics

This sounds amazing. Anyone in the PNW do this? Do I need to do it indoors?

Can anyone recommend a good starter site where I can learn how to set up?

massiveme said:

This sounds amazing. Anyone in the PNW do this? Do I need to do it indoors?

Can anyone recommend a good starter site where I can learn how to set up?

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You don't need to set this up indoors. Mine is outside in the back yard with the chickens and I've seen some amazing setups involving an in-ground pool. Information is all over the internet about this stuff. What I did was hit YouTube for some initial information and then kept chasing web sites till I thought I had enough in my head to get started.

RichnSteph said:

You don't need to set this up indoors. Mine is outside in the back yard with the chickens and I've seen some amazing setups involving an in-ground pool. Information is all over the internet about this stuff. What I did was hit YouTube for some initial information and then kept chasing web sites till I thought I had enough in my head to get started.

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What kind of fish do you have? What are you growing?

massiveme said:

What kind of fish do you have? What are you growing?

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I've got tilapia, large mouth bass and assorted perch in there along with a healthy population of snails and two plecos. Oh and a water snake that I can't seem to catch and get rid of. I'm growing several varieties of plants but only the cucumber is actually producing any fruit. This is my first attempt at it and I made several mistakes along the way.

massiveme said:

This sounds amazing. Anyone in the PNW do this? Do I need to do it indoors?

Can anyone recommend a good starter site where I can learn how to set up?

Click to expand...

I'm sure you can do this were you are but you will need fish that will thrive in your local temperatures. I know people that build simple hoop houses over their systems to keep everything warmer in winter. If it gets below freezing you will want to have it indoors, under a hoop house or green house so you can have plants and grow beds to keep the fish water cleaner.

I found this as a great resource. The IBC of Aquaponics. The nice thing about this is it shows so many different set ups that have worked for people in all sorts of climates each with their own challenges. It's a pretty big document and well worth the time to slog through all the info!

I found a local fish hatchery that sells red and gold tilapia! I came home with a couple of dozen fingerlings. I'm hoping they are at least as hardy as the Nile tilapia I've had. The husband and wife team that operates the hatchery used to raise and show Arabian horses and converted their horse barn into a fish hatchery. It was interesting to see the former horse stalls with fish tanks of all sorts housing tilapia, gold fish, and koi. They said when the economy bottomed they lost money on the horses but now turn a profit raising fish!

Sill said:

I found a local fish hatchery that sells red and gold tilapia! I came home with a couple of dozen fingerlings. I'm hoping they are at least as hardy as the Nile tilapia I've had. The husband and wife team that operates the hatchery used to raise and show Arabian horses and converted their horse barn into a fish hatchery. It was interesting to see the former horse stalls with fish tanks of all sorts housing tilapia, gold fish, and koi. They said when the economy bottomed they lost money on the horses but now turn a profit raising fish!

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Are you required to pay the annual duties on Reds and Golds? We went with Mozambique Tilapia due to the money it would have cost us for anything else. Outrageous fees, inspections of the holding tank, fees for the inspections, fees for the annual license and follow on inspections not to mention a rather stupid waste-water-abatement as if our pond was some sort of septic tank.

I understand the need for all the regulations as Tilapia are very invasive but dang they Department of Parks and Wildlife make it almost impossible to have any cool fish.

RichnSteph said:

Are you required to pay the annual duties on Reds and Golds? We went with Mozambique Tilapia due to the money it would have cost us for anything else. Outrageous fees, inspections of the holding tank, fees for the inspections, fees for the annual license and follow on inspections not to mention a rather stupid waste-water-abatement as if our pond was some sort of septic tank.

I understand the need for all the regulations as Tilapia are very invasive but dang they Department of Parks and Wildlife make it almost impossible to have any cool fish.

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No we don't have to do that here. What a pain to need to go through that!

We had another birthing in the AP tank this week. I dipped out about 20 fry last night and put them in the brooder inside. There were others in there but they were too small and slipped through the net. I'll try again in a couple days when they've done a little growing.

And...... we've already lost all but 5 of the fry. Our foot long Pleco in the indoor tank likes to splash the water at night and at some point he hit the brooder and knocked a bunch of the fry out into the aquarium where they were eaten by the other fish. This morning when I went to check on the remaining ones there were fewer in there than when I went to bed indicating that something (shrimp, aquatic frog, etc...) else in the aquarium had gotten in there and done some feeding. *sigh* We've got a larger and more secure brooder on the way hoping that this problem can be corrected. I really need more fish in the AP tank.