John, There are different approaches to aquaponics. The one that we have adopted is that once water is discharged from the system, it never returns. It is not wasted but is used as fertilizer for plants. We believe that the fish and plant systems should be viewed as 2 completely separate units. When stocking densities are raised, it is hard enough to get it right without confusing the two. Thanks for watching, Steve.
Awesome! You could solve a lot of filtering problems (ammonia, nitrate) by running a line out to an aquaponics garden. You might have to have a huge garden to handle all of that but it would help for sure and you would get a lot of veggies. Always learn from your videos. Great work.
wow, that is awesome! I am studying water quality engineering; Ive been reading a lot on aquaculture and have really been blessed by your efforts! Keep it up, Steve!
John, Only the one pump actually runs. The smaller black one is strictly a back up. The pump just sucks out of the bottom of the sieve and then pumps directly to the sand filters. Steve.
Aaron, you have read my mind. I think I have enough room above the glass tanks to do that. Tractor Supply has some feed bunks that are about 24" wide x 10' long and 6" deep. This is on my to do list which is always long, but I'll get there at some point. Good call, Steve.
Paul, At this time we are not breeding any fish. In the beginning, we were breeding the Blue tilapia but decided to experiment with different varieties. So when we commit one , then we'll start again. Steve.
Endo. There are different approaches to aquaponics. The one that we have adopted is that once water is discharged from the system, it never returns. It is not wasted but is used as fertilizer for plants. We believe that the fish and plant systems should be viewed as 2 completely separate units. When stocking densities are raised, it is hard enough to get it right without confusing the two. Thanks for watching, Steve.
Thankfully, no disease so far. We have about 150 pounds in the freezer right now and eat it regularly. I know what you mean by "off flavor". When I buy Tilapia from the grocery store, you can pretty much count on that muddy taste a big percentage of the time. I can honestly say that our fish NEVER have that muddy taste. Steve.
you really did a good job.iam looking this every day. iam very enterested to built one becouse i seen the aquaponics its awasome. thank you so much for sharing to us.
Fantastic project. Your video tour made my day. Pls could you kindly highlight on the filter media you are using ,how often do you backwash the filters.Awaiting your feedback ASAP .
The primary goal so far is to educate myself and my son about raising fish in a recirculating system. Operating costs are secondary right now so I really don't track them as close as I should. Thanks for watching.
We haven't seen any PH spikes. Ours runs steady @ 7.6 - 7.8. What we do notice is that when you start feeding the amount per day that we are, there seems to be an awful lot of filler in the feed which overloads our filters but we really don't have any other brand of feed to compare to yet. I think we may try feed from Cargil on the next batch. Only problem is you must buy by the skid load which means a lot of money up front. Steve.
No problem Jon, ammonia (.25 to .5), nitrite (.25 to .5), nitrates ( I try to keep on the chart at 80) and ph hangs right there at 7.6. Thanks for your interest, Steve.
You are right, we planned on removing the bucket filters with the addition of the extra sand filters. They were a real pain to clean twice a day. About you drain line question, PaddyO1963 above , answered it perfectly. The hatchery has been displaced by fish tanks and filters for now but will return at some point.
Tom McCosh WOW where are you and anyway I could come see first hand what you have done ....it looks awesome..my son and I are wanting to build a system....thanks
that is very awesome setup. I have couple of questions for you if you do not mind. in one of the videos, you talked about a sensor for the water level. where do you have that sensor installed? Can you share the link to it? Thanks. Also, what happened to the micro filters that you had in one of the videos? you moved them to the other room? How do you go about buying IBC totes? they are very expensive. is there a reasonable source that you can share? thank, and again, very inspiring videos.
I'm still using the water tank elements (3 @ 1500 watts each). They are very dependable and work very well but are expensive to operate so I'm considering an alternative for next winter (waste oil). For installing the elements, I just used a 1" x 1.5" PVC fitting in a Uniseal. This was very easy but the elements are very close to melting the PVC. A better plan is to sandwich the tank wall between two galvanized flange fittings but harder to do and more expensive. Steve.
humm... so is it the pressure of the water in the totes that "pushes" the water into the sump? if so what happens with the power goes out, i would think the sump/sieve would over flow. sorry for all the questions, i like your setup but am haveing trouble figuring it out.
With how much fish you are raising, too have an effective aquaponics setup, you would have to install a lot of grow beds, zip towers, and/or NFT channels. You could grow a lot of veggies with how much fish you have. Check out Bright Agrotech's Channel. Its a commercial AP setup. On the flip side, turning your system into an AP system would take a lot of time and money. Keeping them separate would simplify the systems. Food for thought.
Your video is fantastic. I love your project. That's why I signed up on your channel. As I understand it you will now build a greenhouse. You will use water fish to feed your plants. Is it? Now you'll use hydroponics?
Awesome project! I would love to see it but live in Louisiana. Anyway I have 2 questions. Have you had any fish disease? If so how did you treat it, also, have you eaten any of the fish and do they have an "off flavor"? Thanks for making this video.
Great system! I am just setting up a smaller system for aquaponics, and I am looking for a source to purchase k1 media inexpensively. can u give me any suggestions?
You can run your water from your aquaculture through grow medium in the greenhouse and run it back to the fish tanks. It will eliminate your nitrate problems and add another level of filtration. Your tanks will clear up considerably if you use continous flow instead of flood and drain.
How do you match your return pump pumping from you sieve sump to your sand filters. Looks like you have 2 pumps, 1 pumping waste to your sieve then another pumping from your sump to your sand filters. This seems like it would be hard to get an exact flow rate between the two
We have only recently been successful at harvesting ANY fish. If this batch turns out the way we hope, there should theoretically be (1000 fish x 1.5 pounds per fish) 1500 pounds of live fish or (1500 x .3 pounds per fillet) 500 pounds of fillets. The numbers are never perfect so throw in Murfey at 20% and we should (hopefully) yield about 400 pounds of fillets in 9 to 12 months (by the end of the year). Steve.
Yes, the sand served as mechanical and biological filtration. The system is no longer in operation. It didn’t perform very well because all the fats in the fish feed plugged the sand very quickly. Steve
Currently, no fry. No time, no room but will in the future. We attempted to breed hybrids and got sidetracked for over a year. We had no luck at all with them. Yeah, we ate the breeders. Steve.
Hey brother next time consider a food grade 55 gallon barrel (peppers are shipped in these) with an aeration tower. Soon after install good bacteria grows and filters the water better than I've ever seen in any other system. Takes much less power to operate as well. I've built and sold these making some happy people where before their ponds were thick like pea soup. Crystal clear in a few days.
Have you figured up what your operating costs are on a monthly basis? Seems like you electricity would start to add up with all the pumps, filters and lights. I'm curious, because I have several times considered something of the same caliber. I will likely pursue the aquaponics though, or at least put the fish tanks in the greenhouse to provide extra thermal mass, and to benefit from the natural lighting. It certainly is an impressive setup you have!
Those sand filters are standard on most above ground swimming pools. You can get them cheap and sometimes free on craigslist/ebay when someone is getting rid of a swimming pool. They are expensive if you buy them new.
Nice quality fish. They are not timid demonstrating their health. No signs of defects showing either. I would actually buy from you if I liked eating Tilapia.
Just started watching your channel, So if I ask something you have already covered please forgive me. What are your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and PH levels?
I grow water lettuce and hyacinths, they have deep thick roots and filter the water very well. They are used a lot in water treatment plants in Florida and gulf coast states. For the duck weed you can use much shallower containers.
THANK YOU FOR VIDEO AND EXPLANATION, however boldly decision to accept and prominent RESULTAT, put a great video if possible, good luck in your business.
Hi Steve, great video! Can you tell me the size of these three new filters, a supply house where I can buy them from, and the name of the filters? Thank you in advance ))))
hi. right now i have personal tank with few tilapias for my own use. i think in the future going to more commercialized tilapia farm. just looking for orientation what type of filter is good for small industrial system. let said about 1500 gallons of water. also please and sorry for to many questions. i buy my food with premium fish food. but i would like tag my fish organic and they don't sale organic tilapia food. do you know where can find the good tilapia food? thank you for your help in advance.
Definition of aquaponics Aquaponics /ˈækwəˈpɒnɨks/ is a sustainable food production system that combines a traditional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics. So, Zach, Different approaches do exist. In my system the fish are the primary objective instead of the plants. That may change at some point but not anytime soon. Steve.
Idea - why not take a couple Tanks cut then down to make 2 - 1' beds, use your waist water to grow duckweed outside. This is only a summer time thing - but 2 - 3'X4' beds can grow a LOT of duckweed for food.
Great videos! How frequently do you estimate all the water in the system gets processed through and cleaned? I've read that it's good standard practice for all the water in a RAS system to cycle though once an hour. Do you know about how often your does?
Joshua Meadowcroft Josh, I try to maintain between 8 and 10 GPM returning to the tanks. 10 GPM X 60 Minutes = 600 GPH. the tanks hold 250 gallons so I'm doing roughly 2 water changes per hour. I find that the higher the flow rate, the faster the waste is removed from the tanks and the faster it gets filtered out of the system.
You should build a raised floor down the center of your tank room. Put that plastic draining floor stuff on it, and make it in small panels that way you could lift them up to get at the plumbing.
Nazareth, I have not kept records of my costs. I can tell you that it has been very expensive because of all the experimentation and wasted PVC. When I finally prove that this system actually works I'm planning an E-book that will show how to duplicate it and the costs involved. Steve.
It all depends on your ability to filter and provide oxygen. The rule of thumb for a simple system like mine is .5 lb of fish per gallon of water. That means 125 lbs in my 250 gal. IBC or 83 1.5 lb fish. Right now we are feeding 15 lbs of feed per day and it is definitely taxing the system. Steve.
1 of 2 It doesn't really depend on how high the tank is or the size of the drain line attached, be it 2" or 4". It's all dependent of the speed or rate of flow through the pipe. You need to put back the same amount of water you remove to maintain the water level & each tank only has a 1" supply line & the water drains off at the rate it is supplied. To move the poop, you would need a huge supply line & a massive pump to generate a flow rate fast enough that would move the poop in a 4" pipe.
John, There are different approaches to aquaponics. The one that we have adopted is that once water is discharged from the system, it never returns. It is not wasted but is used as fertilizer for plants. We believe that the fish and plant systems should be viewed as 2 completely separate units. When stocking densities are raised, it is hard enough to get it right without confusing the two. Thanks for watching, Steve.
Man, you have the coldest setup I've ever seen. I cant believe you aren't doing aquaponics with this! This looks amazing!
Awesome! You could solve a lot of filtering problems (ammonia, nitrate) by running a line out to an aquaponics garden. You might have to have a huge garden to handle all of that but it would help for sure and you would get a lot of veggies. Always learn from your videos. Great work.
FANTASTIC!! The hard work & thought process to do all the plumbing "Blows the Mind" Thank you for taking the time to share all 11 Videos.
wow, that is awesome! I am studying water quality engineering; Ive been reading a lot on aquaculture and have really been blessed by your efforts! Keep it up, Steve!
This is the best operation I've seen on youTube for the small guy or gal, just starting out.
Looking forward to your E-book.
John, Only the one pump actually runs. The smaller black one is strictly a back up. The pump just sucks out of the bottom of the sieve and then pumps directly to the sand filters. Steve.
- have watched all your vids, they were all very interesting and excellent, looking forward to the next one! THANKS
Aaron, you have read my mind. I think I have enough room above the glass tanks to do that. Tractor Supply has some feed bunks that are about 24" wide x 10' long and 6" deep. This is on my to do list which is always long, but I'll get there at some point. Good call, Steve.
Paul, At this time we are not breeding any fish. In the beginning, we were breeding the Blue tilapia but decided to experiment with different varieties. So when we commit one , then we'll start again. Steve.
I'm still enjoying and learning, thank you very much for sharing
You have a good setup
I'd love to see an aquaponics system you would design. I bet it would rock.
Endo. There are different approaches to aquaponics. The one that we have adopted is that once water is discharged from the system, it never returns. It is not wasted but is used as fertilizer for plants. We believe that the fish and plant systems should be viewed as 2 completely separate units. When stocking densities are raised, it is hard enough to get it right without confusing the two. Thanks for watching, Steve.
Keep more video coming..subbed !
Thank you. Steve.
Thankfully, no disease so far. We have about 150 pounds in the freezer right now and eat it regularly. I know what you mean by "off flavor". When I buy Tilapia from the grocery store, you can pretty much count on that muddy taste a big percentage of the time. I can honestly say that our fish NEVER have that muddy taste. Steve.
you really did a good job.iam looking this every day. iam very enterested to built one becouse i seen the aquaponics its awasome. thank you so much for sharing to us.
Thanks, Steve.
Fantastic project. Your video tour made my day. Pls could you kindly highlight on the filter media you are using ,how often do you backwash the filters.Awaiting your feedback ASAP .
Well done Sir.
Your PVC bins looked like the plumbing section at Home Depot, and I know how much all those fittings cost. Thank you for all your experimentation !!!
Mind blowing!
You really are a pro plumber
Thx for the video.
can't wait to see another update!
Gary, These are 18" Hayward filters. I got the first one from Craigslist and the other two I got on E bay. Steve.
Amazing setup!! you should use shallower trays for growing duckweed, you might be able to stack them and get double the growing area
Just keeps getting more awesome! I like what you have done with the arrows on the piping. Where are you selling your fish?
I am surprised you havent hooked your system to the green house already, it will be a great benefit to your plants and your filtration system.
The primary goal so far is to educate myself and my son about raising fish in a recirculating system. Operating costs are secondary right now so I really don't track them as close as I should. Thanks for watching.
We haven't seen any PH spikes. Ours runs steady @ 7.6 - 7.8. What we do notice is that when you start feeding the amount per day that we are, there seems to be an awful lot of filler in the feed which overloads our filters but we really don't have any other brand of feed to compare to yet. I think we may try feed from Cargil on the next batch. Only problem is you must buy by the skid load which means a lot of money up front. Steve.
No problem Jon, ammonia (.25 to .5), nitrite (.25 to .5), nitrates ( I try to keep on the chart at 80) and ph hangs right there at 7.6. Thanks for your interest, Steve.
looksgreat mate, do you have non-return valves on the discharge of your filters, if not how do you know which filter to clean
You are right, we planned on removing the bucket filters with the addition of the extra sand filters. They were a real pain to clean twice a day. About you drain line question, PaddyO1963 above , answered it perfectly. The hatchery has been displaced by fish tanks and filters for now but will return at some point.
Tom McCosh WOW where are you and anyway I could come see first hand what you have done ....it looks awesome..my son and I are wanting to build a system....thanks
that is very awesome setup. I have couple of questions for you if you do not mind. in one of the videos, you talked about a sensor for the water level. where do you have that sensor installed? Can you share the link to it? Thanks.
Also, what happened to the micro filters that you had in one of the videos? you moved them to the other room?
How do you go about buying IBC totes? they are very expensive. is there a reasonable source that you can share? thank, and again, very inspiring videos.
How often do you backwash the 3 filters? Do you have a problem with sand going into the system? Do you have a backup pump? Thanks for sharing.
Your welcome, Steve.
Thanks.
I'm still using the water tank elements (3 @ 1500 watts each). They are very dependable and work very well but are expensive to operate so I'm considering an alternative for next winter (waste oil). For installing the elements, I just used a 1" x 1.5" PVC fitting in a Uniseal. This was very easy but the elements are very close to melting the PVC. A better plan is to sandwich the tank wall between two galvanized flange fittings but harder to do and more expensive. Steve.
Thanks for the compliment. No sales yet.
Teally a nice setup Steve, I'm curious, where did you get the sieve you have? I looked on ebay but couldn't find anything. Bruce
Thanks
nice setup!, where did you find those connectors for the drain on the bottom of the tanks?
cant find anything that fits right on there... :(
Are you using an UVlight in your setup? Your water is quite clean. And what type of Tilapia are those?
humm... so is it the pressure of the water in the totes that "pushes" the water into the sump? if so what happens with the power goes out, i would think the sump/sieve would over flow. sorry for all the questions, i like your setup but am haveing trouble figuring it out.
super inspiration....
With how much fish you are raising, too have an effective aquaponics setup, you would have to install a lot of grow beds, zip towers, and/or NFT channels. You could grow a lot of veggies with how much fish you have. Check out Bright Agrotech's Channel. Its a commercial AP setup. On the flip side, turning your system into an AP system would take a lot of time and money. Keeping them separate would simplify the systems. Food for thought.
Your video is fantastic. I love your project. That's why I signed up on your channel. As I understand it you will now build a greenhouse. You will use water fish to feed your plants. Is it? Now you'll use hydroponics?
Awesome project! I would love to see it but live in Louisiana. Anyway I have 2 questions. Have you had any fish disease? If so how did you treat it, also, have you eaten any of the fish and do they have an "off flavor"? Thanks for making this video.
Great system! I am just setting up a smaller system for aquaponics, and I am looking for a source to purchase k1 media inexpensively. can u give me any suggestions?
Can you elaborate on the plumbing down by the valves? I have purchased some IBCs and need to figure out how to get these set up properly.
You can run your water from your aquaculture through grow medium in the greenhouse and run it back to the fish tanks. It will eliminate your nitrate problems and add another level of filtration. Your tanks will clear up considerably if you use continous flow instead of flood and drain.
How do you match your return pump pumping from you sieve sump to your sand filters. Looks like you have 2 pumps, 1 pumping waste to your sieve then another pumping from your sump to your sand filters. This seems like it would be hard to get an exact flow rate between the two
wow, Steve! Awesome setup? What is your monthly/yearly yield of tilapia? I am interested in eating home grown fish, too!
I fed some tonight, thanks.
You sir are brilliant! How many lbs of fish are you harvesting a week?
Yes, a drain now but in the spring, the greenhouse.
We have only recently been successful at harvesting ANY fish. If this batch turns out the way we hope, there should theoretically be (1000 fish x 1.5 pounds per fish) 1500 pounds of live fish or (1500 x .3 pounds per fillet) 500 pounds of fillets. The numbers are never perfect so throw in Murfey at 20% and we should (hopefully) yield about 400 pounds of fillets in 9 to 12 months (by the end of the year). Steve.
Bruce, I really don't remember. Online somewhere. The brand name is Cetus and I'm sure if you Google that you will find several vendors for it. Steve
Good explanation there PaddyO. If you see any other places in my system that can be improved, don't hesitate to let me know. Thanks, Steve.
We are going to try a little of everything. No UV filter used right now.
Good day quick enquiry are you using sand in your filters?
What do you do with the fish after they are grown out? Do you sell them locally? Do fish distributors buy them? Great setup!
is the sand filter is also being used as a mechanical filtration ? how frequent you need to backwash the sand filter?
Yes, the sand served as mechanical and biological filtration. The system is no longer in operation. It didn’t perform very well because all the fats in the fish feed plugged the sand very quickly. Steve
Currently, no fry. No time, no room but will in the future. We attempted to breed hybrids and got sidetracked for over a year. We had no luck at all with them. Yeah, we ate the breeders. Steve.
where do you run your backwash through? a drain?
Hey brother next time consider a food grade 55 gallon barrel (peppers are shipped in these) with an aeration tower. Soon after install good bacteria grows and filters the water better than I've ever seen in any other system. Takes much less power to operate as well. I've built and sold these making some happy people where before their ponds were thick like pea soup. Crystal clear in a few days.
Have you figured up what your operating costs are on a monthly basis? Seems like you electricity would start to add up with all the pumps, filters and lights. I'm curious, because I have several times considered something of the same caliber. I will likely pursue the aquaponics though, or at least put the fish tanks in the greenhouse to provide extra thermal mass, and to benefit from the natural lighting. It certainly is an impressive setup you have!
Hello, is the green house going to a aquaponic green house or are you just going to use the fish water to water the plantsm do you use a uv filter ?
Those sand filters are standard on most above ground swimming pools. You can get them cheap and sometimes free on craigslist/ebay when someone is getting rid of a swimming pool. They are expensive if you buy them new.
Nice quality fish. They are not timid demonstrating their health. No signs of defects showing either. I would actually buy from you if I liked eating Tilapia.
I've heard reports of the Purina aqua-max raising the PH level up to 8.4. Do you notice any change in water quality?
Just started watching your channel, So if I ask something you have already covered please forgive me.
What are your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and PH levels?
I grow water lettuce and hyacinths, they have deep thick roots and filter the water very well. They are used a lot in water treatment plants in Florida and gulf coast states. For the duck weed you can use much shallower containers.
It started out that way but because of the cost to heat the water, we felt that we should maximize the room. Its a vicious circle. Steve.
THANK YOU FOR VIDEO AND EXPLANATION, however boldly decision to accept and prominent RESULTAT, put a great video if possible, good luck in your business.
Yep, some people take advantage of it, by combining a fish farm & a hydroponic garden, for best space food-yield-to-space-required ratios.
Hi Steve, great video! Can you tell me the size of these three new filters, a supply house where I can buy them from, and the name of the filters? Thank you in advance ))))
hi. right now i have personal tank with few tilapias for my own use. i think in the future going to more commercialized tilapia farm. just looking for orientation what type of filter is good for small industrial system. let said about 1500 gallons of water. also please and sorry for to many questions. i buy my food with premium fish food. but i would like tag my fish organic and they don't sale organic tilapia food. do you know where can find the good tilapia food? thank you for your help in advance.
Definition of aquaponics
Aquaponics /ˈækwəˈpɒnɨks/ is a sustainable food production system that combines a traditional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics. So, Zach, Different approaches do exist. In my system the fish are the primary objective instead of the plants. That may change at some point but not anytime soon. Steve.
Idea - why not take a couple Tanks cut then down to make 2 - 1' beds, use your waist water to grow duckweed outside. This is only a summer time thing - but 2 - 3'X4' beds can grow a LOT of duckweed for food.
Great videos! How frequently do you estimate all the water in the system gets processed through and cleaned? I've read that it's good standard practice for all the water in a RAS system to cycle though once an hour. Do you know about how often your does?
Joshua Meadowcroft Josh, I try to maintain between 8 and 10 GPM returning to the tanks. 10 GPM X 60 Minutes = 600 GPH. the tanks hold 250 gallons so I'm doing roughly 2 water changes per hour. I find that the higher the flow rate, the faster the waste is removed from the tanks and the faster it gets filtered out of the system.
You should build a raised floor down the center of your tank room. Put that plastic draining floor stuff on it, and make it in small panels that way you could lift them up to get at the plumbing.
Who makes your seive?
Nazareth, I have not kept records of my costs. I can tell you that it has been very expensive because of all the experimentation and wasted PVC. When I finally prove that this system actually works I'm planning an E-book that will show how to duplicate it and the costs involved. Steve.
please tell me, Where did you get, information on how to do this? THANKS ADVANCE
do you still do water changes?
Jason, I honestly don't remember where I got it from. I just searched Google for as many dealers that I could find and chose the cheapest one. Steve.
It all depends on your ability to filter and provide oxygen. The rule of thumb for a simple system like mine is .5 lb of fish per gallon of water. That means 125 lbs in my 250 gal. IBC or 83 1.5 lb fish. Right now we are feeding 15 lbs of feed per day and it is definitely taxing the system. Steve.
Yes, we will use fish water.
How did you put the window in your IBC? Has it leaked on you? Will you be doing a 'how to' video on it? Thx!
I am interested also on the viewing window. What material and how it was installed.
1 of 2
It doesn't really depend on how high the tank is or the size of the drain line attached, be it 2" or 4". It's all dependent of the speed or rate of flow through the pipe. You need to put back the same amount of water you remove to maintain the water level & each tank only has a 1" supply line & the water drains off at the rate it is supplied. To move the poop, you would need a huge supply line & a massive pump to generate a flow rate fast enough that would move the poop in a 4" pipe.
What kind of water pump is that?
what kind of tilapia are in your tanks?
Is there a market here in Ohio for Tilapia? We are planning on setting up an aquaculture system in our barn here in southwestern Ohio.
You should try growing coontail grass in your fish tanks, low light no substrate needed and is a super serious nitrate mop
great videos, any progress with your E-book?
We are not breeding any fish right now. It has been such a battle to just grow them out that we just have not had the time.