A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners
Inexpensive tank?
So I now have a fairly successful tilapia breeding system set up for my aquaponic system. I have two grow beds with 60 gal tanks for the fingerlings, one 55 gal tank only system for the breeding colony, and one 20 gal tank for female isolation when carrying fry or eggs.
I think I am going to start selling the fingerlings locally, but I would also like to raise some of them for food. I know that the fish will only grow to the size allowed by the tank. The question is, if I want a tank to hold about 25 fish for personal consumption, and I want them to get to a fairly large size, how big does my tank need to be? I live in DC so I can't have an outdoor system year round. I also don't have a lot of money to buy a huge aquarium tank from a store.
Would like to get some ideas from the community on how to go about doing this.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by TCLynx on
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I don't know if I would recommend growing out 25 fish to plate size in one but a 100 gallon stock tank would probably do you for growing out somewhere between 12-25 tilapia to eating size while still being a small enough tank to fit though doorways. Remember for growing out 25 fish to eating size, you should probably have close to 25 cubic feet of grow bed, do you have space for all that?
For growing out fish to plate size (usually estimated at about a pound) you want about a cubic foot of media bed (around 7.5 gallons) to filter per fish. Now I suppose if you went constant flood and were willing to do some water changes to keep up with nitrates if they get too out of hand in an indoor growing environment you could probably hook up one 100 gallon rubbermaid stock tank as your fish tank and then have two of those same tanks hooked up as grow beds and that should be enough filtration to support about 25 fish. You would probably have to put the two grow bed tanks up on one layer of concrete blocks to get a little fall so the water flow back to the fish tank could give you a tiny bit of aeration. I would strongly advise additional aeration beyond that though if you have 25 tilapia growing out in a 100 gallon tank.
100 gallon rubbermaid stock tanks can usually be found at Tractor Supply for between $75-$85 and they are sturdy enough to support gravel. The tuff tubs are cheaper but I don't think I would trust them to support gravel but they would work for a fish tank I think.
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Permalink Reply by Windy Elliott on
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Actually, I already knew I don't have room for this to be an aquaponic system. I don't have the room in my basement. I am just looking for a regular fish tank set up that I can use to grow a subset of my tilapia to full size in. I can't afford to pay for a 300 gallon fish tank with the filters and lights and stuff. Maybe it just isn't possible.
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Permalink Reply by BenHehle Beamz on
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have you thought about an IBC tank, enough for 25 tilapia....and in my area you can get them for under 50 bucks. but maybe to big for your basement. just a thought....
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The 90 gallon one looks promising. I will contact them.
Chi Ma said:
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I was thinking of trying to build an IBC system for the back yard in the spring, but I don't think I have enough room in the basement for an IBC.
BenHehle Beamz said:have you thought about an IBC tank, enough for 25 tilapia....and in my area you can get them for under 50 bucks. but maybe to big for your basement. just a thought....
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