01-27-2009, 07:33 AM
Here is the jist of it I copied from a previous post. Grean beans never did do well, peas did alright, my toms got wiped out from powdery mildew brought home on some home depot plants. Herbs do well.
Now that my fish population is down to 40 or so I might shut down half the grow bed area until it warms up and I get more fish.
Here is the previous post from Sept., if you use the search you will find some other posts.
""I am into my second month with 60 tilapia in a 300 gal tank and also have a 150 gal tank which in another month or so I will populate with another 60 fingerlings. This all pumps thru about 60 sq. ft. of 12 inch deep raised gravel/lava mixture grow beds. The advantage of using the gravel grow beds you shouldn't need to have filters because the gravel becomes a bio filter. The floating bed styles usually requires big messy filters, which they failed to mention.
It takes about a month to get the bio filter action going, but you can speed this up if you have an aquarium with a bio filter by rinsing off in you grow beds. This bio filter bacteria changes the bad nitrites from the fish poo to nitrates that plants love. I will some times bury a banana in the gb, add some lime, and a little epsom salts to get some trace minerals in there. You have to careful of what you add.
Right now I have toms, peppers, celery, peas, radishes, and lettuce, all doing well, but looks like I may have to replant the beans. The beans were planted from the start and are stunted.
All this is being pumped by one 750 gph pond pump and a small aerator. The aerator probably isn't needed because the grow beds slowly drain back into the fish tank with a foot drop which should provide enough oxygen. I run the pump half hour on, hour off.
A good system would be three or four tanks, about 500 gallons each, that way you could have different stages of fish. Maybe use one for an isolation salt bath tank for new stock.
I would be interested in knowing how much they are selling fingerlings for.
Take care,
Scott ""
Now that my fish population is down to 40 or so I might shut down half the grow bed area until it warms up and I get more fish.
Here is the previous post from Sept., if you use the search you will find some other posts.
""I am into my second month with 60 tilapia in a 300 gal tank and also have a 150 gal tank which in another month or so I will populate with another 60 fingerlings. This all pumps thru about 60 sq. ft. of 12 inch deep raised gravel/lava mixture grow beds. The advantage of using the gravel grow beds you shouldn't need to have filters because the gravel becomes a bio filter. The floating bed styles usually requires big messy filters, which they failed to mention.
It takes about a month to get the bio filter action going, but you can speed this up if you have an aquarium with a bio filter by rinsing off in you grow beds. This bio filter bacteria changes the bad nitrites from the fish poo to nitrates that plants love. I will some times bury a banana in the gb, add some lime, and a little epsom salts to get some trace minerals in there. You have to careful of what you add.
Right now I have toms, peppers, celery, peas, radishes, and lettuce, all doing well, but looks like I may have to replant the beans. The beans were planted from the start and are stunted.
All this is being pumped by one 750 gph pond pump and a small aerator. The aerator probably isn't needed because the grow beds slowly drain back into the fish tank with a foot drop which should provide enough oxygen. I run the pump half hour on, hour off.
A good system would be three or four tanks, about 500 gallons each, that way you could have different stages of fish. Maybe use one for an isolation salt bath tank for new stock.
I would be interested in knowing how much they are selling fingerlings for.
Take care,
Scott ""