Trout Growers
Aquaponists who are growing their plants with trout
It's getting cold, should I keep feeding the trout?
I have a 1000 gal system, with the fish tank 3' in the ground within my hoop house. That being said there is no heat added to the structure so it's getting cold in there. The current water temperature is about 35 F - this is Canada eh!.
I have 9 Rainbow Trout each is about 8" long at the moment along with some gold fish that I can't seem to catch.
So my question is, should I keep feeding the tout at these low temps? Is there a cutoff temp when I should stop feeding them?
Thanks for your input 
Brian Rogers
Nov 8, 2013
Jim Fisk
Hey Bart, How about heating that hoop house with a wood stove? We are hitting about 25F tonight but my wood stove heats the air and the water (using a ss 1" pipe in the firebox.) I try not to let the water get below 50F as the bacteria and plants will go dormant or freeze to death. Here's a pic of my home made wood gasifier using cheap scrounge:
And the ss coil inside:
Keeps things pretty happy all winter.
Nov 8, 2013
Bart
This is definitely on my radar Jim, but not for a few years. I have too many other commitments for my time and money at the moment. Not sure I will do wood since I don't have a supply and the cost of natural gas here makes it hard to justify going with anything else when it comes to heating anything - I heat my 2000 sq ft house for just over $1000 per year and that includes hot water requirements. So you figure the bacteria are done at anything less then 50F? I'm pretty much SOL then - glad I only invested in 9 fish for this adventure LOL.
Jim Fisk said:
Nov 8, 2013