Maybe this is an odd question... floating poop

[Windy Elliott]

I have three systems (soon to be four) with tilapia of different sizes. The one that has my largest pennyfish is my best system in that the plants grow like crazy and the fish always seem happy. However, I have noticed that the fish poo tends to float on the surface of the water rather than sinking or being pulled into the filter. So every once in a while I take a net and skim it out and dump it on the top of my grow bed media.

I guess I was just curious if everyone has to do this. Should I not be putting it in my media? I was under the impression that it was part of the food my plants needed. Is my system missing something to help in taking care of this?

[Windy Elliott]

Every 8 hours? That seems like a long time for the little ones. How do I know if I am feeding them enough?

[TCLynx]

Well for the little tiny ones you would feed them more often but most of the feeds for the really tiny ones doesn't float (for long) anyway.  It is when they get beyond the eat each other stage and are on the larger floating pellets that you would want to space the feedings further apart.

[Windy Elliott]

At what size do I switch to the large floating pellets? Because I only use that for my breeders (oldest fish I have) and they don't much like it.

[TCLynx]

In your system all this might be kinda beside the point.  I think if you are trying to grow fish out fast then they usually feed the higher protein feed until the fish are probably 4 inches or so and they are probably careful to keep the fish graded and separated by size and they are trying to get the most fish growth per unit of fish feed given since fish food costs a lot for a fish farm.

[TCLynx]

Duane,  Many of us are doing Media bed aquaponics in which case the plant beds are also the solids filters as well as the bio-filters and worm homes at the same time and we want the fish waste to go there to break down and feed the bacteria and worms so that the plants can get the nutrients.

[Windy Elliott]

Yep, I am doing media bed aquaponics and I want the solids to get pulled into the bed. That doesn't happen if it floats. However, after all the discussions, I have decided it isn't a huge issue as long as the water quality is ok.