A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Arizona Aquaponics

Information

Helping each other to learn and grow big nutritious plants and fish to help feed the world.

Location: Phoenix
Members: 230
Latest Activity: Aug 7, 2024

Thank you all for joining my group, I hope to do a lot with all anyone interested. Please
tell me any event suggestions you would like us to do.

Started by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. Mar 21, 2019. 0 Replies 0 Likes

Started by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. Jan 4, 2018. 0 Replies 0 Likes

Started by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. Jan 4, 2018. 0 Replies 0 Likes

Comment

Comment by James Wilson on June 6, 2015 at 12:45pm: Its a great time for Tilapia. they love the heat. I think however they will eat all your guppies if put together. catfish and plecos should be fine. not sure size of yoyo loaches so cant say if they will be safe. If you need help with acquiring tilapia let me know. my brother has about 12,000 atm.

Comment by Arlene Baker on June 6, 2015 at 12:12pm: Would it be safe to get some blue tilapia right now? I mean, fingerling size, since we are headed into the heat, or should I wait til the summer ends. I currently have lots of guppies, a few albino catfish (tiny), 4 plecos, and 4 yoyo loaches in the tank. I don't they they are producing enough 'poo' to make my plants grow like they should.

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on June 6, 2015 at 12:08am: Thank you to Valley Leadership Class 36 Class Project Group 6, and author Sean Holahan for this wonderful book to educate children and others about the genius and sustainability of Aquaponics. "Who Knew It Grew from Poo" is brilliant. Thanks also to Professor Whitaker whose prose I paraphrased

http://www.valleyleadership.org

Photo by Professor Matt Whitaker

Comment by Don Cole on June 4, 2015 at 4:41pm: Thank you for the help. I have had salt water aquariums before so this shouldn't be a big issue.

Comment by Jeff S on June 4, 2015 at 4:26pm: I have Blue Tilapia. I think they are the most common. If you were closer I'd give you some. They breed for something to do.

API test kit is $20-$25 on Amazon. That's all you'll need. You have to know ammonia, pH, Nitrites, and Nitrates to know when your system has cycled. Then you mostly check pH and ammonia.

Comment by Don Cole on June 4, 2015 at 3:49pm: I guess I need to get a good test kit for the water.

Comment by Don Cole on June 4, 2015 at 3:48pm: Jeff,

Thanks for the reply! I have seen a lot of different strains (?) of tilapia. Which type do you have?

Comment by Jeff S on June 4, 2015 at 11:35am: I have Tilapia. They are extremely tolerant to water issues. Everyone says big changes to temperature, pH, etc. will stress/kill your fish but trust me that's not the case with mine. I've had off the charts ammonia, big fluctuations in temp and pH and no fish issues (except once when the temp was below 55 for an extended time and I lost 2 of 4 fish in a tank). BTW everyone talks about fish and plant pH levels but something I didn't get for a while is that real low pH kill of your bacteria so keep that in mind.

Comment by Don Cole on June 4, 2015 at 11:06am: Hi, I am new to this and really close to getting fish in my system. What type of fish do you use and why?

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on May 20, 2015 at 8:36pm: Just 4 seats left for this fall's section of AGS-166 aquaponics at Mesa Community College.