Ammonia dosing

[Wayne]

I just want to make sure my math is correct.

To dose a 1000 gallons to 2 PPM you add 1.6 teaspoons or around 1/4 ounce. Is this correct?

If someone could please verify. Seems kind of low to me.

[TCLynx]

yep, 50-60 bluegill sound about perfect for your current 600 gallons of grow beds.  Feed them some fairly high protein crumble to start (I've been grinding my Aquamax 400 grower pellets through my grain mill to break them up smaller for the fingerlings.)  I think I may need to get a smaller pellet size for grow out for the bluegill than the Aquamax 4000 that I've been feeding my catfish.  I've heard that 3000 might be a smaller pellet size but otherwise the same formula and so better for fish with small mouths like bluegill and tilapia.

 

A few minnows in the raft tank should help make sure you don't get mosquitoes.  I don't know about growing redclaw, they are not legal here in FL without the proper aquaculture permits and an inspected location.

 

As to getting the catfish later, you might talk to the people at the fish farm and find out when would be most appropriate for getting the different fish.  You want to make sure you don't have little fingerlings too late in the fall or they may starve over the cold months when it's too cold for them to eat.  Both bluegill and tilapia can survive cold but you have to make sure the fish are big enough before that cold happens or they won't have the reserves to last out the dormant period.  I once got tiny catfish fingerlings in late December and we had a cold winter and only about half of them survived for me.

 

[Wayne]

I live in North Carolina so it gets a little cooler here. While the beginnings of my scrapped together system is the ugliest I have ever seen, I have taken in to account the inevitable cold weather.

The building the fish tank is in is very well insulated (refrigeration panels left over from cold storage building) and has multiple heating sources. A green house will be constructed to be able to keep at least some of the growbeds healthy during winter.

I am assuming from what I have read here that with cooler temps the fish will eat less and thereby need less filtration. 

 

If the water is kept above 70 degrees will they continue eating as usual, or does the shorter days factor on there feeding habits? With the tank inside their days will be as long as we decide to make them right?

 

Sorry for all the questions but I would like to get advice from the "been there done that crowd" before I screw things up.

[TCLynx]

If you can keep the water over 70 they will think there is no winter, just spring summer fall spring summer fall etc.

The fish will eat the most and require the most filtration and aeration when the water is up over 80.  While the water is between 70 and 80 they will still be eating and I expect your plants will be doing even better.  My catfish feeding slows down a little with water below 70 and below 65 F you have to be careful not to over feed.  At about 59 degrees they will not be eating much and I shut the feeders down completely when the water is below 55.

 

So if you let the water drop down into the 60's during winter then you won't need as much filtration but if you keep the water over 70 F the fish won't slow down too much so you will still need quite a bit of filtration.  I must admit that I did very well growing things this past winter without the greenhouse and letting things cool off a bit.