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Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on December 16, 2013 at 4:45pm

A great pic (used with permission) from Jay Burgher his his take (and a good one I might add) on the tilapia egg incubator/tumbler detailed in the paper below. If you have also given it a try, please send pictures ;-)

Here is the link to the paper: http://bit.ly/ZESh8I

Comment by Jim Troyer on December 15, 2013 at 3:08pm

@ DJ

Welcome aboard.  Beautiful country there!  Nice skiing is pretty close at Brian head so cold weather is defanatly a concern there.

I think the only reasonable method is to bury the fish tank in an insulated hole.  Use any foam board but I think 2" thick is your best bet.  You will need to fashion an insulated cover as well. 

You didn't ask; but I were starting over:  I would probably skip the IBC and just dig a 3-4' deep hole and use a pond liner attached to a (red)wood frame around the deck area.  This would allow you to increase your system's water from the 250 gallon limiting factor of the tote.  I would shoot for 700-1000 gallons of water, with a separate IBC sized sump, plan 70-100 cubic feet of grow bed in a winter greenhouse and use 15 gallons of water per fish (safety buffer) not the 5-10 gal per fish density many report fish die-offs from. (You need sufficient nutrients, but nobody ever says "nutrient density"), a radial filter before the grow beds is not necessary but is a good feature.  Volcanic cinders (cheap and light) work fine for media, be sure to make the GBs a full 12" deep.  I prefer timed pump cycles, others like constant flow, and then still others like bell siphons; they all work.  

You will need winter coverage for the grow beds in your climate but not in the summer as everything seems to do fine with shade cloth here in the summer except strawberries.  My neighbor Matt posted his winter hoop house arrangement photos about 5 pages back.  He covered his summer shade cloth structure with greenhouse plastic just as our first cold snap hit the valley.  I don't recall hearing his results but it should work out well. 

If you area home owner I would seriously consider getting this thing right the first time, it is expensive to redo things all the time.  With that in mind, check out the earth respiration cycle it sure seems like the way to go in a cool climate if you have a clean sheet of paper. 

all the best,

Jim

Comment by Chris George on December 15, 2013 at 11:54am

@Dr. Brooks....thanks for sharing Mark's videos on the Rhibafarms operations.  I've toured the original location numerous times and just marvel in their successes.  I sure would like to tour the Ranch House though....I left a message on their service asking if they are doing tours at the RH yet....I'll let you all know what I find out.

Comment by DJ Wambach on December 15, 2013 at 9:25am

Living is St. George UT our weather normally is hot (110*F) in summer and cool (30*F) in winter. I will be using IBC tote for a fish tank. How do you recommend keeping water temp under control?

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on December 14, 2013 at 8:20pm

A couple of interesting videos from Rhiba Farms

 

Pt. 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGz85wRfkH0

Pt. 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl2cZEsgoFs

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on December 13, 2013 at 12:36am

There are a number of wild populations scattered about the valley that have become cold tolerant and have demonstrated the ability to survive our winter. Kiwanis park for example. Perhaps the park administration would let you net some in the spring or summer.

Comment by Jim Troyer on December 12, 2013 at 3:53pm

Just to set the record straight:

I had tilapia fatalities below 50 degrees! not at 55 degrees.  More like 48 degrees at the surface if were are trying to have full disclosure.

Also, the Hybrids I purchased because they were reportedly more temperature tolerant weren't apparently...

My in-ground pond is considerably warmer to the touch compared to the jacuzzi system but I don't have values, sorry.

Knowing I had a problem, I caught the fish in above ground jacuzzi system. This week, I had a few fish die that I couldn't collect from the jacuzzi system, the remaining 200 or so are now in the house aquariums enjoying 400 gallons of  balmy 70 degree water.

I purchased foam to insulate the sides of the jacuzzis when I realized it was going to get cold before thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, I bailed on doing the work in the rain and everything survived.  Then I was out of town for the holiday.  I got back just as it got cold again last week and the thermal mass was already too cold to rebound in the cloudy weather.  So I lost some fish and some of the veggies too.  Guess I'll work on the insulation project this weekend.

FYI: I turned the pump on for the jacuzzi system for the first time in several days at 1:00 today and was surprised at the warmth of water flowing from the 1000' solar system.  I jammed the thermometer into the outflow and recorded 95 degree water at 1:00 today with 71 degrees ambient and bright sunshine on most of the collector. An hour later the solar discharge temp is 62 degrees and the surface of the first jacuzzi is up 10 degrees to 58 and the (shaded) sump is 56 degrees.  Now I just have to retain all that heat. 

Comment by Pat James on December 11, 2013 at 3:02pm

I do not know if any of my tilapia survived the cold but I do know that not all died at the same time. Some seemed to survive colder temps a few weeks longer than the majority. I pulled a couple of floaters in my growbeds where I saw none a short time ago. I had hoped that the 11 ft depth of my swimming pool might keep the temps up but it did not. Measured 6 ft down the temps are.46 degrees at least according to the electric thermometer.

I ran a scoop net over the bottom in the deepest part to see if I had any dead fish there but nothing came up. I'm hoping a few might have survived and if they did, I'll try to over-winter a few in my garage next year.

Comment by John Malone on December 11, 2013 at 12:44pm

@Robert Rowe

Your research backs up all that I have read too, which is why I was pleasantly surprised that my fish survived sub-50.   Obviously they are more cold tolerant than is considered normal.  So either I'm fortunate, or there is something else impacting their survival.  

Being an absolute novice at fish-keeping (I didn't even have a goldfish as a kid), I'm working on a trial and error approach and take a pragmatic view on the whole situation.   The worst that can happen is the fish all die, I fill my freezer, and wait until Spring.

My goal is not of a high-production fish farm, but more focused on a low-cost backyard garden.

Comment by Robert Rowe on December 11, 2013 at 9:55am

@ John Malone - Thanks for sharing. I am going under the assumption that Silvia is correct on temperature range for Tilapia at 60-95 Deg. F.. Jim Troyer report fatalities at 55 Deg. F. I lost a fingerling at about 57 Deg this month.The fact that Tilapia survive our winter temps. in the Gila river near Buckeye and in the Arizona canal, could be an adapted Tilapia variety.

What I take away from this discussion;is, that maybe I am being to conservative in running my swirl filter. I will run it today for short intervals and see what happens to the turbidity.

Thanks again.

I measure my FT Temps Dailey High and Low via a thermometer which measures 3" below the surface. I also check my approx (8 am and 5 PM) bottom temp. manually; which, normally is 5 degrees higher at least in the winter.  My experience last winter with my red comet gold fish, was that same 5 Deg difference between the surface and the bottom.

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