Hi! From Saratoga CA!

[Chi Ma]

Hi Everyone! My name is Chi. I live in CA.

One day I asked some of the kids I work with if they knew where their
food comes from. Their response was the super market. I said "really?"
So I asked where did the super market get it from? All I got was a
shrug. It inspired me to make my own system to show the kids that food
doesn't magically appear at the super market.

I noticed a lot of systems are a lil um "3rd world" looking for the
lack of a better term. This is v1.0 for me to get all the plumbing
squared away. It is made with a 200 gallon tote, 4" ABS pipe for the
grow beds. 500 gph pump. Right now it is all running on house power but
in the spring when the storms are over will switch to solar. Also it
will get some cedar paneling around it so it will be more presentable.
Fish will be a mix of tilapia and channel catfish. I think I might need
to add a settling tank but I'll see how it goes.

Any suggestions to improve the system are welcome.

Design Goals:
1. Compact
2. Clean
3. Portable
4. Expandable

A little vid: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=494750945609

Beginnings:

[Conrad Chin-Yee]

Chi, Thanks!

Chi Ma said:

Conrad,

Yep they are my clean up crew. They clean the intakes to my pumps, eat left over food and the occasional dead fish. You should be able to raise them in your IBC totes as long as you provide enough hiding places for them. When the breed I would isolate the females in another tank to have their babies.

[Conrad Chin-Yee]

Chi,

Can I breed redclaws and also breed tilapia? I need to decide wether to attempt to breed redclaws in with my tilapia breeders or with my tilipia and bluegills in my growout IBC.

Conrad

Chi Ma said:

Conrad,

Yep they are my clean up crew. They clean the intakes to my pumps, eat left over food and the occasional dead fish. You should be able to raise them in your IBC totes as long as you provide enough hiding places for them. When the breed I would isolate the females in another tank to have their babies.

[Chi Ma]

Conrad,

My tilapia and red claws are breeding right now in the same tank. Only thing is that you will have to remove the red claws when they are berried. You can tell the females are berried when they walk around with their tails tucked in.My tank is only 2 feet deep so they are easy to see. Don't put redclaws in with bluegill unless you want fat bluegills.