A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

In greenhouse or not?

I am a complete newbie, near Gainesville. Here to learn. Trying to decide where to place small DIY starter setup. Probably Talapia. In greenhouse would be convenient, but I'm afraid it would get too hot in July-August. On the deck is second option, but then there are space and predator issues. Any thoughts? Thanks, Robert

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Permalink Reply by TCLynx on May 21, 2011 at 8:07pm

A small system is likely to have temperature issues during summer in a greenhouse or out here in Florida, I would recommend going for 300 gallons for temperature stability here. And during winter, unless you heat it, even in a greenhouse tilapia probably would not survive winter in Gainesville. I'm down in Mt Dora and even in a system with 900 gallons in a greenhouse, I had to resort to running water from the hot water heater into my system to keep the tilapia alive two winters in a row. I now grow bluegill instead of tilapia. (I've grown channel catfish all along but they don't do well in small tanks.)

Permalink Reply by Ron Thompson on May 22, 2011 at 3:15am

I have kept my tank (a 600 gallon kiddie pool) in a fenced dog pen with no issues. It did mean buying a heater for the winter months. The cold problem can also be overcome by using Channel Catfish or Bream (Bluegill). I'm am now running a mix of Tilapia and catfish, the two get along fine. The mixture gives me some insurance against a die off.

Michael Cosmo keeps his fish in a greenhouse. However he has covered it with Alumanet shade cloth in the summer to control overheating. That is more for the plants than fish though.

Permalink Reply by Izzy on May 22, 2011 at 6:33am

Tilapia do best between 80-86 degrees Fahrenheit with even 90 degrees still reported as good. Why do you think it would be too hot? Remember, water has a very high heat capacity. It would take a LONG time for it to heat up and a LONG time to cool down the more water you have. If the night time temps drop down, it should be more than OK. If not, you can always add a large mass of water outside the greenhouse and plumb it so it circulates. It would not only give you a larger mass of water, but the water outside would stay cooler and the total water would also stay cooler.

As far as winter, you can definitely heat it using solar water heaters. These can be made cheap and they work quite well. I'm not as far North as you, but my tilapia and goldfish survived this last winter (strangely the bluegill died, but I only had a few so it might have been something else). I have about 1000 gallons in the ground. I did not heat it at all.

Just a few thoughts...

Permalink Reply by Robert McClellan on May 22, 2011 at 7:19am

All excellent suggestions. I am now leaning towards a larger volume of water - at least 300 gallons, and will experiment with some water temp controls. I think I will put a few barrels and stock tanks of water in the greenhouse and monitor the temps of the various containers. It is already 95F here, and will get hotter, but it can also get below freezing come Jan/Feb. I won't be ready for fish until September anyway, but want to build a well planned system over the summer. Thanks. All advice is welcomed.

Permalink Reply by TCLynx on May 22, 2011 at 7:22am

I noted that he said a small system. And if it is a flood and drain media bed system, temperatures can swing pretty extreme. Now I've got a couple 300 gallon tank systems and so far during the hot spring I don't think either one has gotten over 90 F but I expect if I had say a barrel ponics system going out in the full sun here, I would already have seen water temps in it get to 95 F seeing as it's been over 100 F in the shade here a few times already this spring. The water will not move in temperature all that rapidly on it's own but if there is only 40 gallons and you are running it through a flood and drain gravel bed in the sun, well flood and drain gravel makes a very effective heat exchanger with the air and well any fish you keep in a system with only a small amount of water in the hot season here, well they better like a hot tub.

More water will help, shade will help. I'm not all the keen on greenhouses any more for Florida personally. Definitely only use a greenhouse if it can become more open like a shade or screen house in summer.

Permalink Reply by Izzy on May 23, 2011 at 1:01am

Ya, green houses are not really needed in Florida. They have their advantages, but FL is a natural greenhouse most of the year anyway... shade houses are far more popular, but also not needed in an adequately designed yard or growing area.

As a general rule of thumb, it's easier to work with nature than against it!

TCLynx said:

I noted that he said a small system. And if it is a flood and drain media bed system, temperatures can swing pretty extreme. Now I've got a couple 300 gallon tank systems and so far during the hot spring I don't think either one has gotten over 90 F but I expect if I had say a barrel ponics system going out in the full sun here, I would already have seen water temps in it get to 95 F seeing as it's been over 100 F in the shade here a few times already this spring. The water will not move in temperature all that rapidly on it's own but if there is only 40 gallons and you are running it through a flood and drain gravel bed in the sun, well flood and drain gravel makes a very effective heat exchanger with the air and well any fish you keep in a system with only a small amount of water in the hot season here, well they better like a hot tub.

More water will help, shade will help. I'm not all the keen on greenhouses any more for Florida personally. Definitely only use a greenhouse if it can become more open like a shade or screen house in summer.

Permalink Reply by Robert McClellan on May 23, 2011 at 4:29pm

Thanks again. I am scrounging around the property gathering pieces and parts. Will plan and build system over the month of June, but won't stock it until the fall.

Permalink Reply by Ron Thompson on May 23, 2011 at 6:25pm

I can't help but wonder why you are going to wait on stocking?

Doing so earlier will give your fish a better chance at getting through winter. It will also get your cycle completed earlier.

Robert McClellan said:

Thanks again. I am scrounging around the property gathering pieces and parts. Will plan and build system over the month of June, but won't stock it until the fall.

Permalink Reply by TCLynx on May 23, 2011 at 7:24pm

Well I would support not stocking till fall if you were going to fishless cycle through July and August. Sounds like a perfectly reasonable option to me. But I'm a big fan of fishless cycling.

Permalink Reply by Robert McClellan on May 24, 2011 at 6:35am

TC, Ron:
Yes, I will cycle the system fishless in July and August. I'll be in and out of town most of that period, and won't be able to give the fish the attention they need when they are first introduced to the system. Also, remember that in this part of Florida we have relatively mild winters, with only a few freezes per year, usually Jan/Feb for a few days each.

My wife insists that I plan and execute this project -- unlike many of my previous "seat of the pants" endeavors!

Permalink Reply by TCLynx on May 24, 2011 at 6:45am

Planning is good, as long as you actually start the project before you run out of time.

Permalink Reply by Ron Thompson on May 24, 2011 at 3:12pm

And plan a way to heat the water.. Tilapia can't survive the cold. I'm just south of Ocala and the water in my frontyard garden pond (not part of the aquaponics) dropped into the upper 40's and stayed there for weeks.