A Miller, Hi! from a fellow Missourian. I am near Kansas City and am interested in getting into Aquaponics. What sort of fish are you using? I was considering Tilapia but haven't checked with DofC about whether or not they are restricted from importation to MO. I am also curious about what sort of plants, growing media, etc that you are using. I haven't set anything up yet, but am considering building an earth contact GH, using a ground loop geothermal heat pump with a solar hot water heater, with a propane hot water heater back up/supplemental heat source. Any thing you can tell me will be greatly appreciated.
Kevin B.

Kevin - Tilapia are fine to keep in MO. S & S Aquafarms is in MO and they are a large commercial aquaponic greenhouse who raise tilapia so I know you can. I have ornamentals in my system now. I have used pea pebbles that I got from the garden center at WalMart. You should also be able to buy it by the truckload from your local concrete supplier. The link I have provided has lots of pics and info on aquaponics, I have found it very helpful. Your planned greenhouse sounds cool! I would like to have one myself....someday.

The growbed on top of my tank now has salad greens and strawberries in it that are doing really well. I have suffered some setbacks in my buckets (destructive puppy) but hope to have them back on track by the end of the week.

Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Aquaponics

Thanks for the info and the link A Miller. I was planning on using pea pebbles in two old bathtubs I removed from my rental house when I remodeled it. I am thinking of using some cheap plastic strainers from the Dollar Store to hold my plants in, lined with some soil barrier cloth and a growing media (maybe vermiculite and peat moss). When I get things going I am going to use some standard poly stock tanks that I can get from the farmer's exchange. They offer a round one that has a lot more capacity than the round end 5 foot Rubbermaid type you see so often. Well, lots of planning to get this going, and even more money to make it fly.
Kevin B.

Check prices on proper net pots before you assume that strainers from the dollar store are a good deal. It could be a false economy since the net pots you need might not be much more $$ than the strainers and the strainers might not last more than a season before the UV rays make them brittle.

good luck, let us know how it goes.

Thanks tclynx, but I don't think you can beat the price I got! (Even if they breakdown and need to be replaced.) The dollar store runs a "close out" sale every once in awhile here. I lucked into getting 15 of them for $2.00. They are about the size of a five inch pot, and the closest description I can give you, is that they are like the cutlery drainers used in commercial dish washers. I figure I can use the vermiculite/peat moss mix for a starting media in them, and the pea gravel will hold it all in place. The ph might run a little high, but I can balance it some with a little lime mixed in.

A. Miller, have you had any more luck with your lower plants or is the pup still destructive? I've got two inside cats, 6 or 8 outside cats and at least one raccoon that comes for regular visits. I'm afraid some of them might make off with the fish! Oh well, that is life.
Kevin

Mokevinb, You did get a great price. I suppose I was worried that you were paying like $1 each or something.

I'm trying my hand at a little aquaponics sort of. We put in a pond at my Mom's summer place in Northern Michigan several years ago and have had normal pond plants and goldfish surviving happily for a while now. One thing that bums us out up there is that you can't get the floating pond plants untill mid summer. I thought why not creat our own floating pond plants then (well sort of.) So now I have set up some baskets with media to grow lettuce and such up in the top of the waterfall and I rigged one up to float around in the lower level of the pond.

I figured lettuce would be a good choice since it likes cool weather. Also, this pond tends to stay pretty clean so something that is fine with weak nutrient levels is probably better than a heavy feeder.

We will see how it goes. I'm not up there much but I was told that the seeds are sprouting.

amiller, how is your aquaponics going? I really don't know much about it other than the plants are supposed to help clean the water and in doing so get their nutrients. Can some one share a little more in depth about how is usually works in practice?

Hi,

I'm researching doing a small scale hobby aquaponic system in Merced, CA. I've searched a number of garden web forums for posts on aquaponics, and this is the only place where I've seen posts pertaining to my current "concerns." So hope it's appropriate to post here!

Anyway... For the fish part of the system, I'm interested in tilapia and redclaw crayfish - neither of which can survive below 50 degrees and don't thrive at high temperatures. While it doesn't freeze too often in Merced it does get cold in the winter and can get very hot in the summer. The system as I envision it (at least for starters) will be in the backyard out in the open. I was thinking that in summer, I would shade the tank and bed, and the winter I would put a solar collector blanket on top of the fish tank (and have an aerator). I don't think these measures would be enough for year-round aquaculture for the tilapia and crayfish so I was wondering about diverting the water through a geothermal ground loop when the weather got extreme. I'm thinking about a 600 or so gallon tank with the sides insulated. Any suggestions on how to set up a ground loop system for this size tank to moderate temperates? Any ideas on how deep I need to place the loop and how many feet of loop might be required?

Thanks!
Anne

The site that A Miller gave is great, lots of info, and pics. Only thing is it is based out of Australia, but it has enough US members that you can get some good help from them.

A site I found can be found under a "google search" for freshwater shrimp. I found the site for the national association of freshwater shrimp producers. There is one member in the list who is from Arkansas and is raising both freshwater shrimp and the redclaw crayfish. While this member is interested in the commercial side of the business, I am sure you could gain some info from them.

The question about the heating of your tank/pond has been discussed a lot at the Backyard Aquaponics site. I think it might be able to give you some answers. The only problem is they talk in liters instead of gallons.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the information! I'll check out the resources you mentioned.

Anne

Anne,

I am in Yuba City, CA... as Kevin mentioned the Backyard Aquaponics Forum is a great resource. Also, I stsrted an aquaponics page on Myspace to showcase my system. Feel free to email me or catch up with me on the Backyard Aquaponics site for help.

Mike