Originally posted on Cold Weather Aquaponics

The response and feedback from my recent talks make it apparent to me that - more than anything else - everyone loves a story.

The most popular kind of story, it seems, is…

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I guess I will just begin.  This is the first time I am blogging, the first time I am attempting an aquaponics system, and the first time I am going to try to be (and stay) involved in social media.  I am 27 and have not really been part of the internet social media scene.  In fact, I have had a facebook account for over 8 years and probably used the account a total of 12 hours (hard to believe but it's true).  So I guess there is no better place to start than here, and no other time to…

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I found 1 catfish floating yesterday. I was hoping that would be the only one and my levels would start coming down. Today I found 2 more dead so I tested the water and levels were no better. I started a water change and found several more dead at the water intake and under rocks for a total of about 9 catfish and 1 goldfish. Hopefully the aggressive water change will help things bounce back. Very disappointing but hope the others will survive.

 

Steve

I made fishfood and am testing it on trout.  This was gross but they love it--I took a large pack of whole anchovies (6-8") and 3 whole crab.  4 cups whole wheat flour.  2 cups bulgar wheat.  4 eggs.  4 cups compressed duckweed.  2 cups corn meal.  Water.

 

I blended the fish and crabs  --Dan Ackroyd --ronco Bass Amatic on SNL  smelled great.

took a few goes to get that smooth texture.

 

then mixed it up like a cake with a hand mixer.

 

spread…

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I made fishfood and am testing it on trout.  This was gross but they love it--I took a large pack of whole anchovies (6-8") and 3 whole crab.  4 cups whole wheat flour.  2 cups bulgar wheat.  4 eggs.  4 cups compressed duckweed.  2 cups corn meal.  Water.

 

I blended the fish and crabs  --Dan Ackroyd --ronco Bass Amatic on SNL  smelled great.

took a few goes to get that smooth texture.

 

then mixed it up like a cake with a hand mixer.

 

spread…

Continue

The Florida Wildlife Commission recently provided me a list of commercial fish hatcheries. I thought I'd share the link below for any of my fellow Florida aquaponic enthusiasts that are interested:

 

http://myfwc.com/media/131389/Freshwater_FishStockingList.pdf

 

Unfortunately, most of them do not have websites for additional research. I guess we'll have to resort to the old stand-by --…

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It feels good to type this, because one of the biggest parts of goal setting and goal achievement is to write them down.

I've been researching aquaponics via Google searches for more than 3 years, but I have not yet built my first system.  I compost with worms and sell my extras on Craigslist for $17 per half pound and $30 per pound. I grow vegetables in above ground beds. I even have a very simply designed deep water hydroponic grow bed made from an 18 gallon Rough Tote plastic…

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I found out in one night that minnows may not be suitable in my system. I found seven dead little fish this morning. They didn't even get a chance to float. I can think of many reasons as to why they may have perished. Temperature, stress, differing water quality than the fish store, etc... In the end what ultimately matters is minnows are too fragile for my aquaponic system. I take every fish death as a lesson. I haven't lost a fish in a few days before these new ones. I see that as an…

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I have purchased 30 new community fish. The fish are floating in their store baggies as I write. I decided to stick with inexpensive fish until I can prove my worth as an aquaponicist. This time I bought the fish from a different store than the previous ones. The 30 fish are a mix of red minnows as well as small and medium comet goldfish. I think this is a good choice for me as a hobbyist. The goldfish seemed to not be the best fit for my system until I re-evaluated the cost of typical…

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Greetings AP Community,

Let me begin by expressing my gratitude for the education and inspiration this community has provided me. A heart-felt thank you to all who have taken the time to share their knowledge and experience. I have found your content to be invaluable in the planning of my AP system. 

There are a few design concerns that I would like to submit to the online brain-trust here for some feedback:

• Fish Density and Nutrient…

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An outstanding short presentation illuminates the insanity of our current agricultural model... and a place where it's done differently. Continue

I am far from an expert on the aquarium side of aquaponics. There are certain kinds of tasty freshwater fish that school together. Arctic char, for instance. The problem is, I don't have a clue as to how many fingerlings I would need to get before they clump together and act like a school of fish.

This will probably not be my first tank I build, but it's good to know what options are out there.

I thought I would do a little test to see if Spanish Moss might be a suitable media.



I put six small catfish fingerlings in a small tank and a basket of Spanish moss under the inflow to the tank.



I started the test on June 12. Well on June 20 I discovered one of the six catfish looked like it's tail was all chewed up. Not knowing if it was a case of illness brought on by the Spanish moss or if perhaps there was fighting going on. I removed that fish from the tank and into an… Continue

I have grown Blue Tilapia but am no longer growing them. I found it too

much trouble to keep them warm through the winter without using

electricity to heat the water.



Here are excerpts of the article I wrote on them for the Backyard Aquaponics Magazine (Full article with

the pictures is available in the 6th issue of the Magazine.)

Tilapia, Blue Tilapia, Oreochromis…

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Channel Catfish are currently my only fish species in my aquaponics systems.



Here are excerpts of the article I wrote on them for the Backyard Aquaponics Magazine (Full article with the pictures is available in the 5th issue of the Magazine.)

Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus

Facts

Two to four…

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Something that most people with fish tanks exposed to bright light are going to have to deal with is algae. Now if you are talking about a display aquarium or an ornamental fish pond, you may need to resort to chemical or UV means of killing algae along with cleaning it out of the system, however, in an aquaponics system we have to avoid chemical methods and we really don't require the high tech of UV sterilization just to get rid of algae.



There is a really simple method of… Continue

Well Here is the blog post I promised about the BIG catfish. We had this girl for a little over two years and she was definitely an advanced fingerling when we got her. This one was from our very first batch of fish that we put in the system in March 2008. We harvested this fish March 31 2010.

This one was two feet long.



And she was so heavy that the kitchen scale couldn't hold her so we had to get creative and use the luggage scale… Continue