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Comment by Scott Hair on April 16, 2013 at 2:51pm

I agree! It's too many fish!  We are planning to courses of action currently. One is the building of our second system which will have a 3000 (800 gallon) liter tank. And the second is selling off the fish and/or stocking our large ponds on the property.

We are watching the numbers closely, by that I mean the amount of food going in daily as well as the water quality numbers. 

Currently our system requires approximately 85 grams (3 oz) of food daily to support the size growbeds we have. Actually it could probably go a little higher while it stores up the nutrients in the system. Fish tend to eat around 3% of the mass daily, so were are looking at approximately 2830 grams of fish or about 6.25 lbs. 

Or next system will require approximately 90-100 lbs of fish to run the 700 sq feet of growbed and DWC setup.

Currently we also have included a radial flow filter and remove solids out of the system weekly. We use them to create a fish poop tea and fertilize the fruit trees on our property with it. Judging by the amount of green around the base of the trees and the growth of the trees, I would say they appreciate it. Most of the trees are fruiting even through they were only transplanted three months ago. Everything we hear from the nursery says not to expect fruit for at least a year.

We will also use the solids in our raised beds. It is an extra step, but we are willing to do that until completion of our next system over the next month.

Comment by Sahib Punjabi on April 16, 2013 at 2:15pm

Nice :-)

That is a lot of Koi fish for a 275 gallon tank...unless yo have substantially increased your tank size. You only really need 15 to 20 Koi for such a tank. They grow so quick and give you prolific waste for your system that you will soon need a lot of oxygen as well as increased filtration.

Just my humble opinion.

God bless

Comment by Scott Hair on April 16, 2013 at 1:54pm

"Pretty Penny" is relative I think. I purchased my Koi from Blackwater Creek Koi Farms. They have a special Aquaponics stocking special of 125 Koi for $299 plus shipping. They are not prime Koi fish, but are perfect for driving an aquaponics system. They are growing fast, and I need to start selling some of mine off. Most were under 3 inches when I bought them, and in a month most are approaching 4 inches and some are 6 inches. We are planning on thinning the herd over time. We have a target of 90 lbs of fish for the next system we are building.

Comment by TonyP on April 16, 2013 at 1:16pm

I'm wanting to start my system off with Koi but it seems like you need deep pockets to buy them all at once. Did you have to pay a pretty penny for 125 fish or am i just shoppin in the wrong places?