fish in an aquaponics tank

[Tazz]

Hi i would like to know Appox. how many fish should i need to allow my holding tank that my fish are in to help with plant growth in my system. i have a small systen that i am working with right now ithas a 20 gallon fish aquirum that i am usuny thr planta seem to be growing but at a very slow rate. The ones that i have outside seem to be growing at a much faster rate then in my system. The plant that are outside haav started to get flowers and bloosoms  but the ones in my system are not. Any help would be appreciated thanks Tazz from Collins Missouri

[TCLynx]

How bout some pictures and details about the systems. 

How old is the system, and has the bio-filter finished cycling up?  (the plant growth will be slow until the bio-filter is up to speed to provide the nitrates the plants can use.)

 

Also, it sounds a bit like your system may be indoors.  It takes a lot of light to get indoor plants to grow as well as outdoor plants.  What kind of lighting are you providing?

 

How many fish do you have now?  And what do your water tests say?

Temperature

pH

Ammonia

Nitrite

Nitrate

If you have any nitrates showing, you probably have enough fish.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Tazz,

Try starting here. http://aquaponicscommunity.com/page/aquaponic-gardening-rules-of    If you read this and have any trouble understanding anything on this page, please let us know.

[Tazz]

Hi yes this is an indoor system a small one for now we homeschool our two grandkids and thought it woud be a good project for them. As for the bio-filter i think its finished cycling its been about three months now since up n running. Right now there are appox 25 gold fish in there. they seem to be doing ok. As for the reading of the water test that was done they are as follows ph:7.6 nitrites: .50 they say is toxic Ammonia: .25 they said is Toxic and the nitrates : 5.0 they said was good this test was done two weeks ago  There is an Aquarium light over the top of this looks kind of a purple color doesnt throw of any heat. not asure of the wattage of it  temp is around 78 degrees   I cannot for some reason it will not let me upload these on here for you to see. I can send them to our email address if thats is possible?

 

TCLynx said:

How bout some pictures and details about the systems. 

How old is the system, and has the bio-filter finished cycling up?  (the plant growth will be slow until the bio-filter is up to speed to provide the nitrates the plants can use.)

 

Also, it sounds a bit like your system may be indoors.  It takes a lot of light to get indoor plants to grow as well as outdoor plants.  What kind of lighting are you providing?

 

How many fish do you have now?  And what do your water tests say?

Temperature

pH

Ammonia

Nitrite

Nitrate

If you have any nitrates showing, you probably have enough fish.

[TCLynx]

An aquarium light is not going to be enough light to grow much in the way of veggies.  Florescent lighting to grow veggies you need the high color temperature light to have about the same footprint as the plant bed and you need the light tubes to be less than 3 inches from the plant's leaves.

 

I was able to grow lettuce under florescent T5 grow lights (was a 4' long fixture with 4 tubes in it) as long as I kept the light very close to the plants.  Basically I had the light as close to the plants as I could without the tubes actually touching the leaves.  Ya have to make the light movable (like with hooks and chains for hanging it.)

 

So, don't expect the plants indoors under that light to perform the same as plants out under natural sun.  It would not be fair to blame the poor growth on aquaponics either since the lighting is going to be the factor here.  For plants that will do better under lower lighting conditions you might try houseplants.  Golden Pothos and spider plants do well with minimal lighting and I've grown lots of aloe in aquaponics.  Otherwise you might bring in herbs from outdoors and keep them fresh for a time with aquaponics.  Things like basil go all droopy in the kitchen but if you can keep it alive in the aquaponics you don't have to worry about using it as fast, if it is already grown outdoors it will do ok for a while with minimal lighting indoors while you use it up.

[Tazz]

I am not blameing the system at all i wanted to see what possibly might be a reason as to y the plants dont seem to be growing alot more then i had thought that they would. Whata bout the water readings did they seem to be ok? you hadnt mentioned them So what you are saying is that my light needs to be closer to the plants ? i was concerned about it starting to burn the leaves like i mentioned they are growing just not as fast as i was expecting being in an Aquaponics systerm thats why i was looking to see what possibly could be wrong here.As for the fish do they seem adiquit for the system or is more needed to supply the plants with what they need to grow? Just concerned thats all thanks Tazz and i would like to send you some photos of my system but i cant download them on here for some reason. Could i send them to your email address so you could see this?

TCLynx said:

An aquarium light is not going to be enough light to grow much in the way of veggies.  Florescent lighting to grow veggies you need the high color temperature light to have about the same footprint as the plant bed and you need the light tubes to be less than 3 inches from the plant's leaves.

 

I was able to grow lettuce under florescent T5 grow lights (was a 4' long fixture with 4 tubes in it) as long as I kept the light very close to the plants.  Basically I had the light as close to the plants as I could without the tubes actually touching the leaves.  Ya have to make the light movable (like with hooks and chains for hanging it.)

 

So, don't expect the plants indoors under that light to perform the same as plants out under natural sun.  It would not be fair to blame the poor growth on aquaponics either since the lighting is going to be the factor here.  For plants that will do better under lower lighting conditions you might try houseplants.  Golden Pothos and spider plants do well with minimal lighting and I've grown lots of aloe in aquaponics.  Otherwise you might bring in herbs from outdoors and keep them fresh for a time with aquaponics.  Things like basil go all droopy in the kitchen but if you can keep it alive in the aquaponics you don't have to worry about using it as fast, if it is already grown outdoors it will do ok for a while with minimal lighting indoors while you use it up.

[TCLynx]

In general, if you have nitrate readings, then you probably have enough fish for the plants.  Of course if you get better lighting going for the plants, you may find that they use up all the nitrates and may need more fish/fish feed to provide more nitrates for them.

 

The goal in aquaponics is to have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and enough nitrates that the plants are happy (if the plants are not showing signs of lack of nitrate which shows as yellowing/dieing older leaves then even if the nitrate reads 0 it is ok.)

If the nitrates are 0 and the plants are showing signs of nitrate deficiency then you might need more fish and/or higher protein feed.