@@thegreatergood6648 another one of these guys. We actually don't have any trouble understanding metric for obvious reasons and where it matters, we're already metric (sciences n such). It's you that can't handle empirical. Keep up
@@trouncerrredits except you have 2 different length miles (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile#U.S._survey_mile), your legal length of an inch is described as a metric measurement, you mean imperial not empirical and neither are correct, you use US measurements not imperial which is why you pay for 55 gallons and it gets delivered in a 44 gallon drum, your claims that you don't have trouble understanding metric are not supported by you crashing a mars destined space mission into mars because you got the conversion wrong. The added complexity of a system that is not consistent within a measurement type, much less across measurement types leads to the majority of your population not knowing how much anything should be without spending great amounts of time studying it ( how many cubic inches in a gallon?) ,and then once they have learnt it, if they want to pursue any of the sciences they still have to learn the metric system, time better spent on learning something useful. So hold onto your antiquated system of measurements, it is your god given right under your constipation!!!
Thanks for watching folks & don't forget to click the subscribe button if you found the video to be helpful. Share the clip around with family & friends if you think they'll find it useful too. 🐟 🌱🍅 Cheers all & have a top one. 😊 Rob
Rob Bob's Aquaponics & Backyard Farm can you tell me a good way to set up the fish tank and pump system for vertical towers? How many fish per tank size and how often to pump water into the towers?
Rob Bob's Aquaponics & Backyard Farm hi I would like to ask if I want to produce 2000 heads of lettuces every single day how much fishes I should take care.
Finally someone willing to talk the numbers. So many youtubers doing DIY say "just copy me and all will work out fine". Anyone with half a brain should know better. Much thanks and g'day mate.
Mate, how many goldfish you reckon might be safe for an IBC system. I've got an aquaponic system with Duckweed at the bottom with rocks and watercress growing on top? Thanks mate, love your videos.
Hey mate & sorry for taking so long to respond. You'd still work on weight with goldfish. Some varieties can get up to 2lb/1kg given the right circumstances so I probably wouldn't add more than 12-15 in a chop & flip to start off. If the variety you get don't put on a lot of weight, you could probably add in a few more at a time until you're happy with the level of nutrients you're getting. I'd also add on some sort of solids filtration to keep the bed as clean as possible. Cheers.
Thanks for this video. I work in a shop selling aquaponics materials and we have been using reservoir size and warning customers that it was a generalized rule of thumb since it wasn't that exact. This is much more specific and makes sense.
Very good information..I am planning to move to the state of Vermont and I would like to farm fish and vegetables and also herbs. The fish will be very welcomed for I love fish. I am glad to catch your video and I will be watching some more of then right now. Thank you again. Peace :)
Want to learn more about Aquaponics? 🐟 🍓🥬🍅 Now you can with Rob's "Backyard Aquaponics for Beginners" Guide for only $19.95. You can see the guide in action on my website, ► www.bitsouttheback.com/aquaponics-guide Or, buy directly here, ► robbobaquaponics.retrieve.com/g/XL0J6T2P#/content/90525 Don't forget to hit that subscribe button if you want to be notified when new videos are posted to our channel. Cheers all & happy growing. 🐟 🍓 🌱
Awesome videos. I subscribed a while back. Your video shows fairly mature fish in the tank. How does it work when the fish are first introduced as fingerlings, like the video that shows a clear plastic bag of fish? Even a large number of those little ones won't weigh very much and won't produce much nutrients for the plants. In my mind I can envision a system with more than one fish tank: one for tiny fish, one (or more) for small-to-medium, and one (or more) for larger fish. Then as you harvest the larger fish, the fish are moved according to their size, or the now-empty tank gets a new batch of fingerlings. Any thoughts? Thanks.
Hi mate. It does take a while for the fish to increase in size & as a result for there to be enough nutrient in the water to be able to feed a fully [planted out system. That's where I think testing comes in so you know when there is excess nitrate in the system so you can start to add in more plants to take it up. 👍 We planed to do the 2 tank system here with ours so we could keep some fish on the grow at all times with smaller fish taking over from the harvested fish. Unfortunately, I never got the timing right. Cheers
It is based on biomass more than anything as the feed rates & therefore the amount of food/protein used to feed the fish is calculated on their total weight. So that makes it 12 x 500g fish or 6kg of biomass if that helps you any Abe. Most folks grow table fish so that's what the rule of thumb is based around. Hope that helps. 👍
I believe I'm going to simplify this for myself. 1 cubic foot = 1 fish. ( 1 cubic foot = 7.4 US gallon) This is slightly less then your way. But it makes it simple for me. Also since I'm talking. Here is some ideas I have. 12 volt bilge pumps from boats. If you reduce the output from 3/4 inch to 1/2 inch they can lift the height of two ICBs. These pumps can be found in sporting goods departments for around $30. They are rated at 600 gallons per hour. BUT that is not counting heights with reducer. This will be for an off grid system. Going to give this a try. May not work for fish. I also need to find a rock source. Long story short. My rock is limestone and now I know why nothing was groaning. Lol. Another thing that you oh so slightly touched on. I need shade clothes. Think im going to try bed sheets. See if that works.
just to confirm, 1 fish to 5.5 gal. and 12 fish for each ibc bed would be about 66 gal tank for 12 fish for each ibc bed. Is that right? you mention no more than 50 fish in an ibc tank, how many gallons do you get from the ibc tank? aprox264? if the ratio is 12fish:66gal:1ibcbed i should be ablr to multiply that out to say 120 fish, 660 gal, 10 beds? Thanks for any and all help with this
Sorry I missed this mate. 1 fish per 6.6 gal of media in the grow bed & water in the fish tank is what I like to work with. An IBC has about about 265 gal so that means you can keep 40 fish in an IBC. Thats enough to service 3-4 grow beds as I've shown in the clip. Hope that helps & sorry again for taking so long to respond.
Hi Rob... Big question after watching this clip. I had a bunch of 5mm-8mm rounded river gravel available which I used in my gravel bed. Have I buggered up??
Hey again Peter. Being lazy & going to cut & paste my reply from the email if you don't mind. 😉 I've seen folks use the finer rock/pebbles & it will still do the job of converting ammonia through to nitrate + give the roots something to hold on to. It can cause slight flow issues & also collect more solids than the larger stone though. Might just be a case of keeping an eye on it to see how it goes. Cheers mate. "
Hello Rob-- I have a question? I have 1638 liters of wet grow bed which by your calculation is 65 fish. Is there a minimum and a maximum volume of water for the fish? I currently have 100 small Tilapia in 8700 liters of water
Hi Philip. The minimum I would use is about 25L / 6.6gal of tank water per fish. As for a maximum, I haven't really thought about that as folks are normally trying to over stock their systems. I have seen a system with 10 fish at about the 1lb / 500g mark in a 1000L IBC. They were servicing 2m² of grow bed with no real nutrient deficiency issues. In saying that, I have no idea what other nutrients were being added by the owner. Hoppe that helps some.
Great video! I cringe every time I see people saying to go by water volume. This method is sound, so if you want to raise a larger quantity of fish, purchase a hydro-pure system or you'll be replacing fish constantly... OR grow more green stuff! LOL
I have a bottom half of a water tank that will hold 700 gallons and haven't started yet. Trying to learn as much as possible. Please some tell me if this is a good starting system. Fish tank to Solids to Swirl tank (100 gallons) to (Mineral tank) 55 gallon than to plants then to sump tank than back to Fish tank. This is what I have on hand to use now and all will be in a Green House. Please tell me if I am on the right track of order. I am new and would like any and all help. Thank you
Just so I understand your terminology, do you mean, Fish tank ►Solids settler (I'd recommend a radial flow settler) ► Biological filter ► Grow beds ► Sump ► back to fish? If so, that sounds like a fairly standard set up Daniel & should work well for you. 👍 Hope that helps some mate. 👍
I work on 20-25L of water per fish I want to grow out to 500g. With 300L of media you'd be looking at 10-12 fish which is about 41-50L per fish. Cheers mate.
The clay I use is from Canna hydroponic supply company. Can get rather expensive if you need a lot. www.canna.com.au/aqua_clay_pebbles Hydroponic supply stores sell them & they generally give you a few bob off if you buy bulk. Hope that helps.
G'Day, Rob! Can you recommend a low maintenance fish for growers that want to focus on vigorous plant growth and not necessarily the meat? Thanks, mate!
Hi Mate. Sorry I haven't replied here yet. I did use your question in a recent live stream Q&A video & it will be used in tomorrow's main video for the week as well. 👍 If you want a larger system with IBC sized grow beds I'd go with some sort of carp like goldfish or koi if you can keep them in your area. If you decide to breed them you may even recoup some of your running costs. 👍 If you want to run a smaller glass fish tank style system, I'd ask at the local aquarium store to see what fish they would recommend for your climate. Hope that helps a little.
How many plants can you put in a grow bed? I know it probably depends on the size of the plant. But for example, how many heads of lettuce could you grow in the bed you used in this example?
I would plant them out at the recommended density Laura. I've seen smaller varieties planted out at 24+ in a 1 X 1M² IBC style bed. Larger varieties may need a bit more room so the density will drop a bit. Hope that helps.
Great video. My 12 year old son wants to start a system for a project he is doing, and we have learned a lot from your channel. Since we are starting small, we will probably start with goldfish that won't grow to the size you are talking about here. How do we adjust the formula to account for smaller fish?
Hi Clay. Sorry I missed this this. It all goes on total bio/body mass of the fish. Basically 500g of bio mass per 25L of wet clay will is what you'd use. 👍 Hope that helps mate & the build goes / went well. Rob. .
Hi. Have you ever tried 1 fish for every 10L (in 300L you would have 30 fish)? This is a suggestion from Murray Hallam's video th-cam.com/video/HYR9s6chrI0/w-d-xo.html, interesting.
I have helped MANY folks that have taken his advice & added 100 fish into a 1000L IBC. They generally start to lose fish at about the 3-4 month mark as they don't have enough biofiltration to process the waste as they start to grow. This was filmed when Murray was still starting out with only a few years of experience as I understand it. I think if you'd ask him now he would state that you need more biofiltration in the form of grow beds or a stand-alone biofilter, at least I hope he would.😉 Removing his video & re-editing it with a better explanation would help stop a lot of folks lose fish. I hope that helps some.
That depends on the amount of biofiltration you have. Sounds like your more a commercial scale so would suggest to contract a consultant to help. Hope the venture gores well for you.
How do you get iron into the system? Most plants need a little iron in there somewhere! Also how is your PH? Do you make adjustments or is it balanced out naturally? Keep up the great work! Excellent!
Hey OddBall1958. I add in iron to our system using DTPA iron chelate. 👍 Posted a clip a while back about testing for & adding iron if that helps some. th-cam.com/video/Kcls73bI5fg/w-d-xo.html Hope that helps some. Cheers.
Rob, I'm building a second system and need some help. I will be using 2 ibcs for 60 fish and 2 55gal drums one for a moving bio filter and the other for a filter. System consists of a 15 dutch buckets
Haven't had much experience with Dutch buckets in aquaponics sorry. I'd say that you'll have WAY more nitrates than you need for 15 buckets with 60 fish so it might pay for you to scale back the fish side or add in some extra beds. Hope that helps some.
Rob this was so kind of you to do all this figuring for your subs. Very generous of you to take that time. For me my head would explode! 🤯 LOL I don’t have aquaponics myself but love your channel and always watch. Plus one never knows what the future holds and having good information is never a bad thing. Thanks again. Take care, my best to your family & God Bless! ~Lisa
Come to think of it?! i just took a peek at your list of videos and I am impressed. Ginger farming and how about; Ginseng, and Saffron. WOW! That would be pretty tricky , But I have faith in these videos. Peace :)
The plastic used in pools sometimes isn't of food-grade material & can leach toxins into the water. It's best to stick yo HDPE plastic, Fiberglas or stainless steel as all have food grade options. 👍
Hi Rob. How about if I don't have a grow bed? I only use Deep Flow Technique, but I do have a biofilter with around 4kilos of K1 media. Is there a formula I can use to compute Fish to plants ratio?
Most will base fish to plants on the amount of feed to growing area Renzo. I work on 30-60g of feed per 1m² for greens & 60-100g of feed per m² for fruiting plants if that helps you any.
Depends on the type of plants & how much feed the system is getting Marta. A rough rule of thumb I work on is 30-60g of feed per 1m² for greens & 60-100g of feed per m² for fruiting plants if that helps you any. As for plant spacing, I try to keep them a bit tighter than in a soil bed but again it depends on the plant itself. For instance, it wouldn't take long row the root system of 4 large tomato plants to start clogging the media in a 1x1M bed so may only plant 1 in there & probably remove it if I noticed water flow issues. Hope that helps a little.
Most folks will do salt baths for fungal infections & lesions to the body. Anything other than that it's best to get advice from a vet or aquaculture specialist.
Rob, Thanks so much for your videos! I wanna build my first aquaponics system and you are answering every question I have had so far! Subscribed and thank you again from the states. :-)
Hi Rob, First, let me say a big Thank You for making this so much easier to understand, and second, if my numbers are correct, then trying to figure the nutrient input/feed ratio for say a species like trout, which has a FCR { feed conversion ratio } of 1.5%, would I be in the ball park of 24 oz's of feed per day for 36 1 lb fish in your example?
Hi John. Feeding rates for Rainbow trout is 1.5% when the water temp is between 64-63°F & the fish weigh 1lb each. For 36lb of fish that works out to be 0.54lb or 8.64 oz. The PDF from SRAC will help you out some. aqua.ucdavis.edu/DatabaseRoot/pdf/223FS.PDF Cheers mate.
Hi Sir!!! Good day..thank you for your video I learn a lot..my question is how about the floating raft calculation regarding the amount of fish.because in this video you talk about the grow beds..thank you sir
Hi Michael. Generally speaking you need a separate biofilter to run a floating raft to process the ammonia & nitrites. The calculations for the amount of media needed there are based on % of protein in the feed, amount of fish in the system, water temperature through the season, type of bio media used & a few other factors. Might get around to do a clip on that one day after I set up my raft system. Cheers
Hi Charles & thanks 👍 It really does depend on the variety you're using in the system & the climate you're living in. I've had some Jade perch up to 500 grams in 10 months while most take about 12. The silver perch took about 18 months to reach 500 grams. I have heard folks say they get their trout up to size in 6 -8 months but it's a bit too warm to keep them here even through winter. Hope that helps some.
Sorry I missed this & thanks👍 for the sub. The bacteria are in the air all around us so it's a case of build it & they will come. Cheers & have a top one.
I think I showed both the Silver & Jade perch in this clip Dade. The Jades are the ones with the black patches on their skin. 👍 Cheers & have a top one mate.
Great video, thanks, subbed. I have never tried aquaponics, just researching some atm. Is it possible to make the system more self sustaining by letting the fish breed? Do people do that? Are there any breeds of good tasting AP fish that do not eat their young in a system like this? (I am in Texas atm). Or maybe you would need a breeding tank, then a tank for the babies? Thanks!
There are some species like tilapia that will happily breed in a system like this. It's probably best you contact local hatcheries as well as fish or aquaponics groups & see which species they'd recommend. Sorry it took sop long to reply Bubba.
Cool set up dude - from my Year 11 Aquaponics Studies class in WA. We watched your video and did some calculations for our setup. We love your videos and they have really helped us with the setup of our tank.
All great information. I really appreciate the work and experience that went into making this video. How would this translate to an NFT system? Or do I need to implement a biofilter bed even for that?
Very good videos Rob. I am building my aquaponic system 16 M2 media beds. My question is how do I have to fill up my system with water so I do not get any overflow.My fish tank holds 1000 gls. Thank you for your advice. From COLOMBIA. Jose
Hey Joze. I just responded to your other comment so will post that response here as well. It depends on if it's a flood & drain or constant flow. If it's a constant flow fill all the tanks & beds up & away you go. If it's a flood & drain system, you fill up the fish tank & any filters you may have as well as the sump tank, then turn the system on. DO NOT fill up the grow beds as they will over flow the sump when they drain. When you're wanting to top up the system up with water, you remove the stand pipes from the siphons in the beds & fill up the sump until its at the level you want it. Then you can replace the stand pipes & you will have no issues with the sump over flowing. Hope that helps some. Rob.👍
Allo, if I have a biofilter, through which the ammonium water goes through, and then that water goes to the plant beds can I still use these rules of thumb? Will they change since the dedicated biofilter converts most of the bad stuff into the good and the plant beds don't do as much work? Would I have to stock a bit more fish? Pls help
Hello Rob, thank you for the useful videos. Just a quick question, since plants needs various nutrients, meanwhile the fish mainly only produce Nitrate (Nitrogen) how do you make sure that the both the other macro nutrients & micro nutrients are well supplied thru the fishes? Do you use special fish feed? How much protein in percentage you use? Thank you Warmest regard from Indonesia!
The most abundant nutrient is ammonia/ammonium but there is also a lot of other nutrients in the water & solids that aren't assimilated by the fish. The main nutrients that need to be supplemented are iron, calcium & potassium. I use Ridleys native fish feed which from memory is a 389% protein feed. Cheers.
Hello Rob! Thank you for being kind enough to answer my question! I'm sorry can you say that again? The protein is 389%? you mean 38-39? or 389? Is there an organic way to add these substances into the system? Iron, Calcium & Potassium?
Sorry about that 29% protein. I use Chelated iron which I'm not sure is certified organic but as it's a base element I can't see any issues using it. Garden lime can be used for calcium which you can buy certified organic as it's basically ground limestone. For potassium, I use a kelp product that contains 16% potassium & is certified organic. Hope that helps Cheers.
@@RobsAquaponics Dear Rob, Wouldnt lime stone will raise the PH of the system? CaCO3 isnt it? Can we use egg shells? Kelp = processed seaweed? Can I also quickly ask, do you use duckweed to feed your fishes? Thanks heaps!! Cheer mate
You can use eggshells but they need to be finely ground I found. You also need more than most folks have access to once the system matures. Kelp powder is a processed seaweed. 👍 I did at one point but gave up after the uneaten portion caused issues with clogging pipes. Will grow it again though but probably more for the chooks & worms.
aren't you missing out feeding ratio in the equation though? You could over feed those fish and the bed wont be able to deal with their ammonia output.
This video was kept simple to help the most folks out that are looking to get into backyard aquaponics. It is based on the amount of feed given to a fish that gets to 500g in size. I could have covered the % per g of body weight that the different species require at different stages as well but then the video gets too long & to be honest, most folks at the hobby level click off videos that get too long. 😉 For that reason, I tried to make it as basic as I could while helping folks not to kill fish. 👍 If this was meant for folks looking to go commercial then a whole lot more information would be required like optimum water temperatures, retention times in biofilters for a start. Cheers & have a top one.
@@DeanJonesWA High phosphate isn't an issue in aquaponics as far as I know Dean. You might need to enquire in a pond group or forum & see what folks are recommending.
Hi Rob, Greetings from Austin, Texas! Thanks so much for posting these videos; they’re great! I’m in the process of learning as much as possible and as soon as we move into our new house, I’ll be setting up shop. In the meantime, a couple questions...How many plants can I cram into a grow bed (about the size in this video)? Can I use the same pool of fish and add a verticals tower also? And how do you work harvesting your fish? Do you trickle smaller fish in as you harvest the bigger ones? Thanks again for sharing
Hi Kristine & sorry it's taken so long to get to your post. The amount of feed that the fish get really dictates the number of plants you can grow. There are a few different ratios given but I like to _* roughly*_ work on 30-60g of feed per 1m² for greens & 60-100g of feed per m² for fruiting plants. That works out to be about 1-2 oz of feed per 10½ft² (about the size of an IBC bed) for greens & 2-3½ oz of feed per 10½ft² for fruiting plants if that helps you any. Protein level of feed will also come into play as well so that why I said _* roughly*_ above. 😉 You can use verticals as well as long as here's enough nutrient in the system to service them. We tend to batch harvest & add more fingerings in once the last of the fish are in the freezer. I find we have more than enough nutrient built up in the beds to service the plants until the new batch pick up the slack. Another way to go is to have a smaller tank on the side just for the fingerlings & move them over once the main tank is harvested. Hope that helps you out some & the move to your new home went well. Cheers.
@@kristineoppenheim1163 Thanks Kristine. 😁 Don't forget that you can ask questions via the guide. I check through them a few times a day to make sure I don't miss any. 👍
How do some people come up with the figures of 88 Tilapia per 1000 Liter tank? I see that formula everywhere, yet here and elsewhere seem to come up with significantly less.
You could run at that level if you know what you're doing Talyn. I prefer to recommend folks start with less fish their first time out if they're new to aquaponics. You can always tweak the basic system to make it capable to sustain more as you gain knowledge.
@@RobsAquaponics Thank you very much, man. I am planning on doing a cop and flip in the fall, but need to run it from my basement since I get -40 winters where I am. This summer I am just doing hydroponics to get a feel for it. Honestly though, your videos have definitely inspired me to try this. One more question, if you do not mind? Can you do a second or third (shallower) media bed without a sump and keeping the chop and flip size? or is that just a no go?
@@talyn3932 Hey Talyn & sorry for taking so long to get back to you. You can do extra beds to get extra grow surface area. It would be best if they were shallower though so you don't expose the pump or stress the fish out too much. Cheers.
Thank you for this information, would you kindly tell me the 100g of feed im supposed to give the fishies should it be at once or in 3 times during the day?(morning-noon-night) and the fish i'm putting in, you said that 12 fish but what are their masses? do you put them as babies? or as full grown up when you said the biofilter can cleanse that much. And the thing im most confused about is how many plants should i put in the growbed?
It's best to check with the hatchery where you got the fish for feeding rates at different stages of growth. 👍 1 fish you want to grow out to 500G/1lb from fingerling size per 25L of water is what I mentioned in the clip & still stand by that. As for plants per bed, that can vary depending on feed rates, types of plats as well as who you ask online. 😉 I stick to the 60-100G of feed per 1m² for fruiting plants & between 15-30g per 1m² for greens & herbs. Hope that helps some.
If they were any shorter I'd have to leave out information. Then I get folks complaining that I leave bits out & ask for longer ones. I find the sweet spot is about 10-15 min so I aim for that. TH-cam gives you the option to watch them in double speed as well if that helps. 😉
Thanks so much, for all you’ve done. I love gardening and am spearheading an aquaponics experiment in my biology class. Your videos have helped a lot!!
Hi Mahmound. I would suggest you start with more grow beds to act as the biofilter if you're just starting out. You could also look at adding on a stand alone biofilter that is used in deep water culture (floating raft) growing and aquaculture. 👍 That will allow you to add more fish but you will also need to add more plants to be able to use up the nitrates that the system will produce. Cheers.
If you want to do a lot of fish, you might not to be able to go with a balanced system with everything cycling around. You may need to be like many aquarium systems where water is removed as nitrates build up and replacement water added. That wouldn’t mean you are necessarily throwing it away. You could use the water as irrigation water to water conventional plants. If you were going to do that, you really need to set up to regularly test the water. Realize too there is a limitation in any media on it’s ability to convert the fish waste, and that too would be a limitation that would affect the design. You could reduce the needed conversion if you removed more solids and so there is a lot to consider. Wanting lots of fish means right from the start you are not designing a balanced system, you would be designing a fish farm with some plants.
I love you brother man, THANK YOU for breaking it down to inches for us. You took a little extra time for those conversions. You are the best. great video.
Adding any form of bio filtration like a trickle filter will reduce the need for grow bed space. You will also need to be removing the nitrates from the system still as they can affect the health of the fish if left to build up. Cheers.
Moving bed filters are self cleaning to a point & as the media has contact with the water at all times. With trickle filters, the water is only contacting part of the media at all times & it's my understanding that they don't do as great a job as a bio filter than a MBBF. It could all come down to design though & it may pay for you to ask a professional designer their opinion. Cheers.
In a correctly run system the only issue would be NO3 as the NO2 has to be converted very quickly as it's toxic to fish. When the system is running properly there would be under 20mg/l of NO4 in the system. My guess is that the majority of intensively farmed pond culture fish we buy from Asia & South America would have levels FAR above these.
Loads of folks use trout as their main fish. Helps to be in a cooler climate as they can start to fall off the perch once the water temp get much over 24°C/75°F. Folks in the southern states of Australia will keep them through winter & run another species through the warmer months. Hope that helps a little.
@@RobsAquaponics Thank you, I am in South Africa and will run trout through Winter then and Tilapia in summer then? As far as I know our climate is very similar to down under
Good video, but a bit complex... I forget which university came up with it, but it was one of the big agri-uni's here in the USA that figured out that you can have as many fish in a system as will eat 60-100g of food in 2 minutes per square meter of grow bed. and that 60-100g of food is a daily amount, so if you half it and feed twice a day, you need to take that into account as well. Thinking of things in this way makes it easier to plan your grow beds.
Hi mate. What depth are they talking about when it comes to the media as that with have a huge impact on the amount of BSA for the bacteria to colonise. Have seen folks say use m² as well but then give no account for the depth & total volume which most likely will cause issues if there's not enough media volume. I dare say they are doing fairly much the same as I mentioned here after doing the feed rate calculation on the bed I covered in this clip. I'm just making folks work it out for themselves to hopefully give them a better understanding. 😉 Cheers.
For the "How Many Fish" question, the volume is far less important than the area. Most of the time, as long as you've got the area, you're going to have sufficient volume. I mean, you can't do a 4" deep bed, but anything from about 6" to 18" is going to be fine. I'm all for making people figure stuff out, within reason of course, but I also figure that when a PHD college professor says "Yeah, that's too complicated, use this simple formula instead" that's likely the better way to go... :)
It's the media & it's total volume that provides the BSA for the bacteria to process the waste. 4" of grow bed will have a lot less bio filtration than a 12" deep one. I think you'll find folks like Dr Leonard Wilson recommends surface area to feed ratios but also stipulates the depth of the bed in his explanation. www.aquaponic.com.au/calculators.htm Cheers.
I'll definitely be looking at that tool later, but I think that the point that the guy I was listening was making was that as long as your beds aren't too shallow, they will naturally provide enough volume for the bacterial colonies to do their thing and convert the fish byproducts into plant nutrients. IIRC, anything over about 8" (6" of cycled media with a 2" cap to prevent algae and mosquitoes) is going to provide all the volume you need. More isn't going to hurt anything, and can be useful in some situations, but the minimum filtration necessary was hit at about that 8" depth. Of course, there are plenty of other things that can be done to improve the system's filtration, from fluidized media to just a tub full of green scratchies and sponges. but if you have the 60-100g of food per day per sq.m. of growing area, you'll naturally have enough volume due to needing enough depth for roots to grow. You'll never go deeper than that because growing media is expensive. You can't go shallower than that because the plants need that depth for their roots. Makes total volume a non-consideration, only thing that matters is the area and how much you're feeding your fish each day which is what determines their output. Input determines output which determines bed volume, but depth is determined by the realities of the plants, so area is what is determined by that output value. May the Force be with you, always. :)
I'm not trying to be a picky dick but comments like "you can have as many fish in a system as will eat 60-100g of food in 2 minutes per square meter of grow bed" is one reason some systems fail. As you said in the last comment "anything over about 8" (6" of cycled media with a 2" cap to prevent algae and mosquitoes) is going to provide all the volume you need." which is the bit some folks will leave out when talking to new comers. You need enough biological surface area for the bacteria to colonise to act as a biofilter, so that 60-100g of feed worth of TAN can be processed. If not it is quite likely you will run into problems down the line. The 1 fish per 25L of wet media rule of thumb is tried & true one that allows for stuff ups that's why I have recommended it in this clip. Some beginners have no knowledge other than what they watch on TH-cam & I'd rather them have a positive experience with aquaponics & not end up with a bumper crop of fish emulsion for the lawn. By laying it out in steps & explaining the reason behind the calculations will help deepen their understanding in how the aquaponic ecosystem works. May the schwartz be with you. 😃😉
Good afternoon, Sir! We have a problem, and we need advice. (And we're also slightly panicking inside.) We introduced 2 catfish into our system and after an hour, one started attacking the other one, which is now badly injured. (Note: 23.9 liters of tank water for 620 grams for the 2 fish together.) We separated the 2, but we have several concerns: 1) Will the blood negatively affect our plants? 2) Does that mean they're hungry? 3) How do we take care of the injured fish?
Hi Isabella & I'm sorry I missed this post when you commented. The blood shouldn't be an issue. as to why they would biff, I'm not to sure. Did they end up settling down?
@@RobsAquaponics Sadly nope. We separated the two to keep them from hurting each other any further. It was a complete disaster, though. 😅 Somehow one of them escaped into a nearby canal, and the other one didn't survive long. We did some research and turns out the catfish we used were a pretty aggressive species, which would explain why they would attack one another. We just didn't expect it since they seemed to be living perfectly fine and docile when we bought them from a tank with about 10 of them living in there. (0-0)
😁No but it has been suggested I post a clip about gurus that want to be the be all & end all of the aquaponics discussion. Not really my style though. 😉 Cheers mate & have a top one.
Both work well but extra filtration is needed tor deep water culture beds. Not on'y biological but also solids to help the roots & base of the bed stay clean. Cheers.
thanks Rob. When starting with fingerlings and you only use say 40 in a 1000L ibc, would they produce enough nitrate to provide nutrients for 3 x 1m2 growbeds? Or should you increase the fingerling numbers or decrease the growbed size initially until you have adult fish?
Is best to progressively plant out the beds so the plants won't starve. That's one reason I think it's a good idea to test frequently for nitrates. As you see the nitrates climb you add in more plants to take up the load. Hope that helps mate. Cheers.
36 Fish at 500g means 18kg total. Is it logical then to stock in total 18kg of fish regardless of the population and "thin" them out as they grow? Kinda like we'd do with carrots, for example.
Rob - Getting ready to set up a first go here in the States - I'm planning on using a 150gal RubberMaid stocktank I've already got on hand for the the fish and building a draintable over it using wood and Dura Skrim. It seems to me that the volume of the table is going to be very close to the IBC tub you used in your other video based on the volume of the IBC Fish Tank so I'm guessing I could use the IBC numbers without much alteration? If I'm right that 150gal tank can support up to 10 1lb (500g) fish?
The grow bed from the chop & flip clip is 300L or 79 gal in volume. After you account for the lip & the dry layer on top I'd say there's 250L or 66 gal of wet media in there that could process the wates from 10 x 1lb fish. 👍 Hope that helps some Clyde.
Hello,, I have a doubt, in the beginning fishes are small size ,for example thilapia 1" long ,, if I put 50 fishes in 1000 litre tank,, at the time is it enough to support 1250 litre volume of wet grow bed area?
You won't have enough nutrients being made to plant out the entire system. Most folks will start off with a few plants (leafy greens or herbs are the best to start with) & monitor their nitrate levels. As they see the levels rise they will start to add more plants to the system. Cheers.
@@arulraja835 The water in the fish tank should be cycled through the biofilters/grow beds at lest 1.5 times an hour. That means there should be at least 1500L of water being pumped into the fish tank.
I've motioned it in passing a bit but don't have a dedicated video for it sorry. 20-50g per m² for greens & 50-100g per m² is a general rule of thumb used by a few folks. Obviously it's a bit more nuanced than that when it come to commercial growing. Hope that helps some.
So it's approximately 12 lb worth of fish. I already have an IBC system running, along with DWC,, can I just add hundreds fingerlings total 12 lbs? Of course, I will take out some fish regularly to make the total weight remain constant.
I would like to say that I really appreciate how you always give dimensions and volumes in both standards. It really helps us states weirdos.
Is no problem at all Adam.
Cheers & happy growing mate. 👍🌱🌱
Hey USA weirdo's, switch over to metric its a lot easier. Even the dysfunctional UK has had a metric construction model since the 1970's !
@@thegreatergood6648 another one of these guys. We actually don't have any trouble understanding metric for obvious reasons and where it matters, we're already metric (sciences n such). It's you that can't handle empirical. Keep up
@@trouncerrredits except you have 2 different length miles (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile#U.S._survey_mile), your legal length of an inch is described as a metric measurement, you mean imperial not empirical and neither are correct, you use US measurements not imperial which is why you pay for 55 gallons and it gets delivered in a 44 gallon drum, your claims that you don't have trouble understanding metric are not supported by you crashing a mars destined space mission into mars because you got the conversion wrong.
The added complexity of a system that is not consistent within a measurement type, much less across measurement types leads to the majority of your population not knowing how much anything should be without spending great amounts of time studying it ( how many cubic inches in a gallon?) ,and then once they have learnt it, if they want to pursue any of the sciences they still have to learn the metric system, time better spent on learning something useful. So hold onto your antiquated system of measurements, it is your god given right under your constipation!!!
@@thegreatergood6648 No, we left the them for a reason. That wasnt it but we left them just the same
Thanks for watching folks & don't forget to click the subscribe button if you found the video to be helpful.
Share the clip around with family & friends if you think they'll find it useful too. 🐟 🌱🍅
Cheers all & have a top one. 😊
Rob
have you ever used daphnia magna to convert algae to fish food in your system?
Rob Bob's Backyard Farm & Aquaponics good job
Rob Bob's Aquaponics & Backyard Farm can you tell me a good way to set up the fish tank and pump system for vertical towers? How many fish per tank size and how often to pump water into the towers?
Rob Bob's Aquaponics & Backyard Farm hi I would like to ask if I want to produce 2000 heads of lettuces every single day how much fishes I should take care.
allohhaha hoo hoo bob rob. 🍆🍆🙏👍🥒🥒😁😁
Finally someone willing to talk the numbers. So many youtubers doing DIY say "just copy me and all will work out fine". Anyone with half a brain should know better. Much thanks and g'day mate.
Hope it helps you out with your system Joseph👍
Mate, how many goldfish you reckon might be safe for an IBC system. I've got an aquaponic system with Duckweed at the bottom with rocks and watercress growing on top? Thanks mate, love your videos.
Hey mate & sorry for taking so long to respond. You'd still work on weight with goldfish. Some varieties can get up to 2lb/1kg given the right circumstances so I probably wouldn't add more than 12-15 in a chop & flip to start off. If the variety you get don't put on a lot of weight, you could probably add in a few more at a time until you're happy with the level of nutrients you're getting. I'd also add on some sort of solids filtration to keep the bed as clean as possible.
Cheers.
Thanks for this video. I work in a shop selling aquaponics materials and we have been using reservoir size and warning customers that it was a generalized rule of thumb since it wasn't that exact. This is much more specific and makes sense.
Glad the clip has helped you out some Mike. 👍
Are you here in Australia?
Cheers
Very good information..I am planning to move to the state of Vermont and I would like to farm fish and vegetables and also herbs.
The fish will be very welcomed for I love fish. I am glad to catch your video and I will be watching some more of then right now. Thank you again. Peace :)
Oh ok by the way Thank you for explaining in detail.Your video was assigned to us by our school in an online task
Nope, just like to help folks out where I can.
Cheers & have a top one SG.
Hi brooo what do you feed the fishes with???
Commercial fish feed mainly. I also toss in a bit of greenery from the garden & a few bugs from time to time as well.
Want to learn more about Aquaponics? 🐟 🍓🥬🍅
Now you can with Rob's "Backyard Aquaponics for Beginners" Guide for only $19.95.
You can see the guide in action on my website,
► www.bitsouttheback.com/aquaponics-guide
Or, buy directly here,
► robbobaquaponics.retrieve.com/g/XL0J6T2P#/content/90525
Don't forget to hit that subscribe button if you want to be notified when new videos are posted to our channel.
Cheers all & happy growing. 🐟 🍓 🌱
Awesome videos. I subscribed a while back. Your video shows fairly mature fish in the tank. How does it work when the fish are first introduced as fingerlings, like the video that shows a clear plastic bag of fish? Even a large number of those little ones won't weigh very much and won't produce much nutrients for the plants. In my mind I can envision a system with more than one fish tank: one for tiny fish, one (or more) for small-to-medium, and one (or more) for larger fish. Then as you harvest the larger fish, the fish are moved according to their size, or the now-empty tank gets a new batch of fingerlings. Any thoughts? Thanks.
Hi mate. It does take a while for the fish to increase in size & as a result for there to be enough nutrient in the water to be able to feed a fully [planted out system. That's where I think testing comes in so you know when there is excess nitrate in the system so you can start to add in more plants to take it up. 👍
We planed to do the 2 tank system here with ours so we could keep some fish on the grow at all times with smaller fish taking over from the harvested fish. Unfortunately, I never got the timing right.
Cheers
Normally you use a non toxic seaweed extract to get the plants growing while the fish catch up on providing nutrients needed.
So 12 fish for on IBC bed. What breed of fish. I. In the south island NZ and planning to grow in my garage. Would I need to heat as well?
It is based on biomass more than anything as the feed rates & therefore the amount of food/protein used to feed the fish is calculated on their total weight.
So that makes it 12 x 500g fish or 6kg of biomass if that helps you any Abe.
Most folks grow table fish so that's what the rule of thumb is based around.
Hope that helps. 👍
I believe I'm going to simplify this for myself.
1 cubic foot = 1 fish. ( 1 cubic foot = 7.4 US gallon)
This is slightly less then your way. But it makes it simple for me.
Also since I'm talking. Here is some ideas I have.
12 volt bilge pumps from boats. If you reduce the output from 3/4 inch to 1/2 inch they can lift the height of two ICBs. These pumps can be found in sporting goods departments for around $30. They are rated at 600 gallons per hour. BUT that is not counting heights with reducer.
This will be for an off grid system. Going to give this a try. May not work for fish.
I also need to find a rock source. Long story short. My rock is limestone and now I know why nothing was groaning. Lol.
Another thing that you oh so slightly touched on. I need shade clothes. Think im going to try bed sheets. See if that works.
Hope it's going well for you mate.
just to confirm, 1 fish to 5.5 gal. and 12 fish for each ibc bed would be about 66 gal tank for 12 fish for each ibc bed. Is that right? you mention no more than 50 fish in an ibc tank, how many gallons do you get from the ibc tank? aprox264? if the ratio is 12fish:66gal:1ibcbed i should be ablr to multiply that out to say 120 fish, 660 gal, 10 beds? Thanks for any and all help with this
Sorry I missed this mate.
1 fish per 6.6 gal of media in the grow bed & water in the fish tank is what I like to work with.
An IBC has about about 265 gal so that means you can keep 40 fish in an IBC. Thats enough to service 3-4 grow beds as I've shown in the clip.
Hope that helps & sorry again for taking so long to respond.
Hi Rob... Big question after watching this clip. I had a bunch of 5mm-8mm rounded river gravel available which I used in my gravel bed. Have I buggered up??
Hey again Peter. Being lazy & going to cut & paste my reply from the email if you don't mind. 😉
I've seen folks use the finer rock/pebbles & it will still do the job of converting ammonia through to nitrate + give the roots something to hold on to.
It can cause slight flow issues & also collect more solids than the larger stone though. Might just be a case of keeping an eye on it to see how it goes.
Cheers mate. "
Hello Rob-- I have a question? I have 1638 liters of wet grow bed which by your calculation is 65 fish. Is there a minimum and a maximum volume of water for the fish? I currently have 100 small Tilapia in 8700 liters of water
Hi Philip. The minimum I would use is about 25L / 6.6gal of tank water per fish. As for a maximum, I haven't really thought about that as folks are normally trying to over stock their systems. I have seen a system with 10 fish at about the 1lb / 500g mark in a 1000L IBC. They were servicing 2m² of grow bed with no real nutrient deficiency issues. In saying that, I have no idea what other nutrients were being added by the owner.
Hoppe that helps some.
Hello, I am Aslam from Bangladesh. I have 10000 liter water tank...my question is how many stone need for 10000 liter fish tank?
That depends on how many fish you'll be using as I mentioned in the clip 👍👍
Great video! I cringe every time I see people saying to go by water volume. This method is sound, so if you want to raise a larger quantity of fish, purchase a hydro-pure system or you'll be replacing fish constantly... OR grow more green stuff! LOL
Cheers John. 👍👍
I have a bottom half of a water tank that will hold 700 gallons and haven't started yet. Trying to learn as much as possible. Please some tell me if this is a good starting system. Fish tank to Solids to Swirl tank (100 gallons) to (Mineral tank) 55 gallon than to plants then to sump tank than back to Fish tank. This is what I have on hand to use now and all will be in a Green House. Please tell me if I am on the right track of order. I am new and would like any and all help. Thank you
Just so I understand your terminology, do you mean,
Fish tank ►Solids settler (I'd recommend a radial flow settler) ► Biological filter ► Grow beds ► Sump ► back to fish?
If so, that sounds like a fairly standard set up Daniel & should work well for you. 👍
Hope that helps some mate. 👍
Hi rob, do you think it is possible to run an nft style hydroponic table
I presume you would be aware of the Gt 901 - but would love to discus further
I've seen hydro folks do it but must aquaponics growers will just run DWC in large troughs. If they want to use NFT they use the tubes.
Cheers Jude.
How much water does each fish need? I have a 300L media bed but only 500 L fish tank
I work on 20-25L of water per fish I want to grow out to 500g. With 300L of media you'd be looking at 10-12 fish which is about 41-50L per fish.
Cheers mate.
Can I ask I'm new here and can I ask what's the brown stone called? where can buy some ? can you give an idea thanks Bob.
The clay I use is from Canna hydroponic supply company. Can get rather expensive if you need a lot.
www.canna.com.au/aqua_clay_pebbles
Hydroponic supply stores sell them & they generally give you a few bob off if you buy bulk.
Hope that helps.
Rob, are there any books on aquaponics you recommend?
Not really any I'd recommend over others sorry NM. Most will give you the basics knowledge.
Sorry it took so long to get back to you.
I only came to catch some extra fish that the plants couldn't cope with :)
👍👍
G'Day, Rob! Can you recommend a low maintenance fish for growers that want to focus on vigorous plant growth and not necessarily the meat? Thanks, mate!
Hi Mate. Sorry I haven't replied here yet. I did use your question in a recent live stream Q&A video & it will be used in tomorrow's main video for the week as well. 👍
If you want a larger system with IBC sized grow beds I'd go with some sort of carp like goldfish or koi if you can keep them in your area. If you decide to breed them you may even recoup some of your running costs. 👍 If you want to run a smaller glass fish tank style system, I'd ask at the local aquarium store to see what fish they would recommend for your climate.
Hope that helps a little.
Hey,thanks for the videos, I now have 2 ginger sprouts coming up to put in my first chop and flip barrel
Nice one Jackie. Have you harvested them yet?
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.
Cheers.
i love your videos but has anyone ever told you that you look like Fidel Castro?
🤣 Nope..... 😬
Cheers BK.
how much time needed for bacteria to convert ammonia to nitrate
They should do it in a matter of minutes in a system that has been up & running for a while Ral 👍👍
Thank you for sharing the measurements in inches. After watching the math, I wish we used the metric system in the US.
No Problem Kei Ko.
Cheers. 👍
How many plants can you put in a grow bed? I know it probably depends on the size of the plant. But for example, how many heads of lettuce could you grow in the bed you used in this example?
I would plant them out at the recommended density Laura. I've seen smaller varieties planted out at 24+ in a 1 X 1M² IBC style bed. Larger varieties may need a bit more room so the density will drop a bit.
Hope that helps.
Great video. My 12 year old son wants to start a system for a project he is doing, and we have learned a lot from your channel. Since we are starting small, we will probably start with goldfish that won't grow to the size you are talking about here. How do we adjust the formula to account for smaller fish?
Hi Clay. Sorry I missed this this.
It all goes on total bio/body mass of the fish. Basically 500g of bio mass per 25L of wet clay will is what you'd use. 👍
Hope that helps mate & the build goes / went well.
Rob. .
Hi. Have you ever tried 1 fish for every 10L (in 300L you would have 30 fish)? This is a suggestion from Murray Hallam's video th-cam.com/video/HYR9s6chrI0/w-d-xo.html, interesting.
I have helped MANY folks that have taken his advice & added 100 fish into a 1000L IBC. They generally start to lose fish at about the 3-4 month mark as they don't have enough biofiltration to process the waste as they start to grow.
This was filmed when Murray was still starting out with only a few years of experience as I understand it. I think if you'd ask him now he would state that you need more biofiltration in the form of grow beds or a stand-alone biofilter, at least I hope he would.😉 Removing his video & re-editing it with a better explanation would help stop a lot of folks lose fish.
I hope that helps some.
Thank you, appreciated.
In my aquaponics 40000 litters of water capacity. So how many tilapia I can grow?
That depends on the amount of biofiltration you have.
Sounds like your more a commercial scale so would suggest to contract a consultant to help.
Hope the venture gores well for you.
How do you get iron into the system? Most plants need a little iron in there somewhere! Also how is your PH? Do you make adjustments or is it balanced out naturally? Keep up the great work! Excellent!
Hey OddBall1958. I add in iron to our system using DTPA iron chelate. 👍
Posted a clip a while back about testing for & adding iron if that helps some.
th-cam.com/video/Kcls73bI5fg/w-d-xo.html
Hope that helps some.
Cheers.
Rob, I'm building a second system and need some help. I will be using 2 ibcs for 60 fish and 2 55gal drums one for a moving bio filter and the other for a filter. System consists of a 15 dutch buckets
My first was/is a nft system with iavs
Haven't had much experience with Dutch buckets in aquaponics sorry.
I'd say that you'll have WAY more nitrates than you need for 15 buckets with 60 fish so it might pay for you to scale back the fish side or add in some extra beds.
Hope that helps some.
Rob this was so kind of you to do all this figuring for your subs. Very generous of you to take that time. For me my head would explode! 🤯 LOL I don’t have aquaponics myself but love your channel and always watch. Plus one never knows what the future holds and having good information is never a bad thing. Thanks again. Take care, my best to your family & God Bless! ~Lisa
Hi Lisa & thanks. 🙂
Will help a few folks out I think & is more in depth than the cut & past explanation I normally forward on.
Cheers & all the best.
Come to think of it?! i just took a peek at your list of videos and I am impressed. Ginger farming and how about; Ginseng, and Saffron. WOW! That would be pretty tricky , But I have faith in these videos. Peace :)
Thanks Francis.
Not sure we have the best climate for saffron here but it would be a great plant to grow.
Cheers.
Why cant a person use a old pool as a pond for the fish?
The plastic used in pools sometimes isn't of food-grade material & can leach toxins into the water. It's best to stick yo HDPE plastic, Fiberglas or stainless steel as all have food grade options. 👍
Great videos, thank you very much!! I do have a question though, does the addition of the solids filter change the ratio of fish to growbed?
Solids filtration won't but bio filtration will Michelle. 👍👍
Sorry it took a while to get back to you.
Hi Rob. How about if I don't have a grow bed? I only use Deep Flow Technique, but I do have a biofilter with around 4kilos of K1 media. Is there a formula I can use to compute Fish to plants ratio?
Most will base fish to plants on the amount of feed to growing area Renzo.
I work on 30-60g of feed per 1m² for greens & 60-100g of feed per m² for fruiting plants if that helps you any.
@@RobsAquaponics thank you. This helps alot for me. More power to you Rob!
Thinking the "states" should start to use matric...
Metric*
Hay rob, how many plant in one M2 bed.
Depends on the type of plants & how much feed the system is getting Marta.
A rough rule of thumb I work on is 30-60g of feed per 1m² for greens & 60-100g of feed per m² for fruiting plants if that helps you any. As for plant spacing, I try to keep them a bit tighter than in a soil bed but again it depends on the plant itself.
For instance, it wouldn't take long row the root system of 4 large tomato plants to start clogging the media in a 1x1M bed so may only plant 1 in there & probably remove it if I noticed water flow issues.
Hope that helps a little.
How do you deal with fish if they get sick?
Most folks will do salt baths for fungal infections & lesions to the body. Anything other than that it's best to get advice from a vet or aquaculture specialist.
Rob, Thanks so much for your videos! I wanna build my first aquaponics system and you are answering every question I have had so far! Subscribed and thank you again from the states. :-)
Is great to hear they've helped you out some. 👍
Happy growing 🌱🌱
Hi Rob, First, let me say a big Thank You for making this so much easier to understand, and second, if my numbers are correct, then trying to figure the nutrient input/feed ratio for say a species like trout, which has a FCR { feed conversion ratio } of 1.5%, would I be in the ball park of 24 oz's of feed per day for 36 1 lb fish in your example?
Hi John. Feeding rates for Rainbow trout is 1.5% when the water temp is between 64-63°F & the fish weigh 1lb each. For 36lb of fish that works out to be 0.54lb or 8.64 oz.
The PDF from SRAC will help you out some.
aqua.ucdavis.edu/DatabaseRoot/pdf/223FS.PDF
Cheers mate.
Hi Sir!!! Good day..thank you for your video I learn a lot..my question is how about the floating raft calculation regarding the amount of fish.because in this video you talk about the grow beds..thank you sir
Hi Michael. Generally speaking you need a separate biofilter to run a floating raft to process the ammonia & nitrites. The calculations for the amount of media needed there are based on % of protein in the feed, amount of fish in the system, water temperature through the season, type of bio media used & a few other factors.
Might get around to do a clip on that one day after I set up my raft system.
Cheers
Hi can you please came and show me how much
Do you want to know how many fish Gillian?
How long does it take to get that 500 gram fish? By the way, I love your stuff.
Hi Charles & thanks 👍
It really does depend on the variety you're using in the system & the climate you're living in.
I've had some Jade perch up to 500 grams in 10 months while most take about 12. The silver perch took about 18 months to reach 500 grams.
I have heard folks say they get their trout up to size in 6 -8 months but it's a bit too warm to keep them here even through winter.
Hope that helps some.
Like it that you provide dimension on both imperial and metric.
No problem mate. It saves answering all the questions I'd be getting later if I just include them. 😉
Cheers Lukas.
I really like your hat. Keep the hat.
Still have it, although it looks a bit more battered now.
Cheers.
Hi just subscribed today, how do you get these filter bacteria in your growth beds? Are they the result of those rocks you mention in the vid?
Sorry I missed this & thanks👍 for the sub. The bacteria are in the air all around us so it's a case of build it & they will come.
Cheers & have a top one.
Awesome vid, what are your target nitrate levels , for healthy fish and optimal plant growth?
Thank you for converting the Metric system to the Imperial system so we American can understand it. By the way, what kind of fish are those?
I think I showed both the Silver & Jade perch in this clip Dade. The Jades are the ones with the black patches on their skin. 👍
Cheers & have a top one mate.
Great info ✊🏾 Does this mean if you’ve added a bio filtration to this setup, you can increase the number of fish?
It does but at the same time you need to have more plants to help remove the nitrates as well. 👍
The link to the PDF is now dead.
Thanks for letting me know. Will get it sorted out when I hop back on the computer later. 👍
Great video, thanks, subbed. I have never tried aquaponics, just researching some atm. Is it possible to make the system more self sustaining by letting the fish breed? Do people do that? Are there any breeds of good tasting AP fish that do not eat their young in a system like this? (I am in Texas atm). Or maybe you would need a breeding tank, then a tank for the babies? Thanks!
There are some species like tilapia that will happily breed in a system like this. It's probably best you contact local hatcheries as well as fish or aquaponics groups & see which species they'd recommend.
Sorry it took sop long to reply Bubba.
@@RobsAquaponics thanks for getting back to me!
@@extendedp1 No problem mate. 👍👍
Cool set up dude - from my Year 11 Aquaponics Studies class in WA. We watched your video and did some calculations for our setup. We love your videos and they have really helped us with the setup of our tank.
All great information. I really appreciate the work and experience that went into making this video. How would this translate to an NFT system? Or do I need to implement a biofilter bed even for that?
5:56 If you put it in decimeters, it's 12*10*2.5, so 300 cubic decimeters or 300 liters (I find it easier that way)
Very good videos Rob. I am building my aquaponic system 16 M2 media beds. My question is how do I have to fill up my system with water so I do not get any overflow.My fish tank holds 1000 gls. Thank you for your advice. From COLOMBIA. Jose
Hey Joze. I just responded to your other comment so will post that response here as well.
It depends on if it's a flood & drain or constant flow. If it's a constant flow fill all the tanks & beds up & away you go.
If it's a flood & drain system, you fill up the fish tank & any filters you may have as well as the sump tank, then turn the system on. DO NOT fill up the grow beds as they will over flow the sump when they drain.
When you're wanting to top up the system up with water, you remove the stand pipes from the siphons in the beds & fill up the sump until its at the level you want it. Then you can replace the stand pipes & you will have no issues with the sump over flowing.
Hope that helps some.
Rob.👍
Great Rob, I thank you greatly and wish you the best. From the land of best coffee. COLOMBIA
Nice man thankyou
No problem 👍
Happy growing.
What do you feed the fish?
I feed them pellets made by Ridley Aquafeeds, a local Aussie mob.
Cheers.
Allo, if I have a biofilter, through which the ammonium water goes through, and then that water goes to the plant beds can I still use these rules of thumb? Will they change since the dedicated biofilter converts most of the bad stuff into the good and the plant beds don't do as much work? Would I have to stock a bit more fish? Pls help
Hello Rob, thank you for the useful videos.
Just a quick question, since plants needs various nutrients, meanwhile the fish mainly only produce Nitrate (Nitrogen) how do you make sure that the both the other macro nutrients & micro nutrients are well supplied thru the fishes? Do you use special fish feed? How much protein in percentage you use?
Thank you
Warmest regard from Indonesia!
The most abundant nutrient is ammonia/ammonium but there is also a lot of other nutrients in the water & solids that aren't assimilated by the fish.
The main nutrients that need to be supplemented are iron, calcium & potassium.
I use Ridleys native fish feed which from memory is a 389% protein feed.
Cheers.
Hello Rob! Thank you for being kind enough to answer my question!
I'm sorry can you say that again? The protein is 389%? you mean 38-39? or 389?
Is there an organic way to add these substances into the system? Iron, Calcium & Potassium?
Sorry about that 29% protein.
I use Chelated iron which I'm not sure is certified organic but as it's a base element I can't see any issues using it.
Garden lime can be used for calcium which you can buy certified organic as it's basically ground limestone.
For potassium, I use a kelp product that contains 16% potassium & is certified organic.
Hope that helps
Cheers.
@@RobsAquaponics Dear Rob,
Wouldnt lime stone will raise the PH of the system? CaCO3 isnt it? Can we use egg shells? Kelp = processed seaweed?
Can I also quickly ask, do you use duckweed to feed your fishes?
Thanks heaps!!
Cheer mate
You can use eggshells but they need to be finely ground I found. You also need more than most folks have access to once the system matures.
Kelp powder is a processed seaweed. 👍
I did at one point but gave up after the uneaten portion caused issues with clogging pipes. Will grow it again though but probably more for the chooks & worms.
aren't you missing out feeding ratio in the equation though? You could over feed those fish and the bed wont be able to deal with their ammonia output.
This video was kept simple to help the most folks out that are looking to get into backyard aquaponics.
It is based on the amount of feed given to a fish that gets to 500g in size. I could have covered the % per g of body weight that the different species require at different stages as well but then the video gets too long & to be honest, most folks at the hobby level click off videos that get too long. 😉
For that reason, I tried to make it as basic as I could while helping folks not to kill fish. 👍
If this was meant for folks looking to go commercial then a whole lot more information would be required like optimum water temperatures, retention times in biofilters for a start.
Cheers & have a top one.
@@RobsAquaponics how do you lower phosphate in ponds or balance that out?
@@DeanJonesWA High phosphate isn't an issue in aquaponics as far as I know Dean. You might need to enquire in a pond group or forum & see what folks are recommending.
Hi Rob, Greetings from Austin, Texas! Thanks so much for posting these videos; they’re great! I’m in the process of learning as much as possible and as soon as we move into our new house, I’ll be setting up shop. In the meantime, a couple questions...How many plants can I cram into a grow bed (about the size in this video)? Can I use the same pool of fish and add a verticals tower also? And how do you work harvesting your fish? Do you trickle smaller fish in as you harvest the bigger ones? Thanks again for sharing
Hi Kristine & sorry it's taken so long to get to your post.
The amount of feed that the fish get really dictates the number of plants you can grow.
There are a few different ratios given but I like to _* roughly*_ work on 30-60g of feed per 1m² for greens & 60-100g of feed per m² for fruiting plants.
That works out to be about 1-2 oz of feed per 10½ft² (about the size of an IBC bed) for greens & 2-3½ oz of feed per 10½ft² for fruiting plants if that helps you any.
Protein level of feed will also come into play as well so that why I said _* roughly*_ above. 😉
You can use verticals as well as long as here's enough nutrient in the system to service them.
We tend to batch harvest & add more fingerings in once the last of the fish are in the freezer. I find we have more than enough nutrient built up in the beds to service the plants until the new batch pick up the slack. Another way to go is to have a smaller tank on the side just for the fingerlings & move them over once the main tank is harvested.
Hope that helps you out some & the move to your new home went well.
Cheers.
@@RobsAquaponics just bought your guide! Love the videos
@@kristineoppenheim1163 Thanks Kristine. 😁 Don't forget that you can ask questions via the guide. I check through them a few times a day to make sure I don't miss any. 👍
Subscribe from Tunisia. Thank you for this superb explanation.
Glad you enjoyed it Farhat. 👍
Cheers & happy growing. 🐟🌱🥦
How do some people come up with the figures of 88 Tilapia per 1000 Liter tank? I see that formula everywhere, yet here and elsewhere seem to come up with significantly less.
You could run at that level if you know what you're doing Talyn. I prefer to recommend folks start with less fish their first time out if they're new to aquaponics. You can always tweak the basic system to make it capable to sustain more as you gain knowledge.
@@RobsAquaponics Thank you very much, man. I am planning on doing a cop and flip in the fall, but need to run it from my basement since I get -40 winters where I am.
This summer I am just doing hydroponics to get a feel for it.
Honestly though, your videos have definitely inspired me to try this.
One more question, if you do not mind? Can you do a second or third (shallower) media bed without a sump and keeping the chop and flip size? or is that just a no go?
@@talyn3932 Hey Talyn & sorry for taking so long to get back to you. You can do extra beds to get extra grow surface area. It would be best if they were shallower though so you don't expose the pump or stress the fish out too much.
Cheers.
@@RobsAquaponics Awesome. Looking forward to setting it up. :) Thanks!
I like fish... 😉
🐟🐟
Thanks for the information 👍
No problem Jackie.
Cheers & have a top one.
Thank you for this information, would you kindly tell me the 100g of feed im supposed to give the fishies should it be at once or in 3 times during the day?(morning-noon-night) and the fish i'm putting in, you said that 12 fish but what are their masses? do you put them as babies? or as full grown up when you said the biofilter can cleanse that much. And the thing im most confused about is how many plants should i put in the growbed?
It's best to check with the hatchery where you got the fish for feeding rates at different stages of growth. 👍
1 fish you want to grow out to 500G/1lb from fingerling size per 25L of water is what I mentioned in the clip & still stand by that.
As for plants per bed, that can vary depending on feed rates, types of plats as well as who you ask online. 😉
I stick to the 60-100G of feed per 1m² for fruiting plants & between 15-30g per 1m² for greens & herbs.
Hope that helps some.
I love these videos but they could be more brief
If they were any shorter I'd have to leave out information. Then I get folks complaining that I leave bits out & ask for longer ones. I find the sweet spot is about 10-15 min so I aim for that.
TH-cam gives you the option to watch them in double speed as well if that helps. 😉
Thanks so much, for all you’ve done. I love gardening and am spearheading an aquaponics experiment in my biology class. Your videos have helped a lot!!
If i want to use a raft system, and not wet media, how will i now know how much fish im supposed to have?
I seen a waterfall system with fish at the bottom
Cant find it.
Is all good mate.
Cheers & have a top one.
The number of fish is very small
How can I increase this number
Knowing that I want to set up system in order to get fish
Hi Mahmound. I would suggest you start with more grow beds to act as the biofilter if you're just starting out.
You could also look at adding on a stand alone biofilter that is used in deep water culture (floating raft) growing and aquaculture. 👍 That will allow you to add more fish but you will also need to add more plants to be able to use up the nitrates that the system will produce.
Cheers.
If you want to do a lot of fish, you might not to be able to go with a balanced system with everything cycling around. You may need to be like many aquarium systems where water is removed as nitrates build up and replacement water added. That wouldn’t mean you are necessarily throwing it away. You could use the water as irrigation water to water conventional plants. If you were going to do that, you really need to set up to regularly test the water. Realize too there is a limitation in any media on it’s ability to convert the fish waste, and that too would be a limitation that would affect the design. You could reduce the needed conversion if you removed more solids and so there is a lot to consider.
Wanting lots of fish means right from the start you are not designing a balanced system, you would be designing a fish farm with some plants.
I love you brother man, THANK YOU for breaking it down to inches for us. You took a little extra time for those conversions. You are the best. great video.
Cheers mate. 👍👍
Can I reduce the volume of grow bed by adding a tricking filter in the system?
Adding any form of bio filtration like a trickle filter will reduce the need for grow bed space. You will also need to be removing the nitrates from the system still as they can affect the health of the fish if left to build up.
Cheers.
Thanks for your reply.Is moving bed bio filter better than trickling filter?
Moving bed filters are self cleaning to a point & as the media has contact with the water at all times. With trickle filters, the water is only contacting part of the media at all times & it's my understanding that they don't do as great a job as a bio filter than a MBBF. It could all come down to design though & it may pay for you to ask a professional designer their opinion.
Cheers.
Is It Healthy To Eat Fish And Plants From Aquaponics? since water contains high levels of no3 and no4
In a correctly run system the only issue would be NO3 as the NO2 has to be converted very quickly as it's toxic to fish.
When the system is running properly there would be under 20mg/l of NO4 in the system.
My guess is that the majority of intensively farmed pond culture fish we buy from Asia & South America would have levels FAR above these.
Very nice lecture as well as your hat.
Thanks Golam.
Cheers & happy growing. 🌱
Can i grow in rainy season openly on terrace without shade?
Rob, can trout be grown in an aqua ponic system?
Loads of folks use trout as their main fish. Helps to be in a cooler climate as they can start to fall off the perch once the water temp get much over 24°C/75°F.
Folks in the southern states of Australia will keep them through winter & run another species through the warmer months.
Hope that helps a little.
@@RobsAquaponics Thank you, I am in South Africa and will run trout through Winter then and Tilapia in summer then? As far as I know our climate is very similar to down under
@@GuyMcLaren I'd say that's the best bet as they're both fast growers.
Hoppe the build goes smoothly mate.
Good video, but a bit complex... I forget which university came up with it, but it was one of the big agri-uni's here in the USA that figured out that you can have as many fish in a system as will eat 60-100g of food in 2 minutes per square meter of grow bed. and that 60-100g of food is a daily amount, so if you half it and feed twice a day, you need to take that into account as well.
Thinking of things in this way makes it easier to plan your grow beds.
Hi mate. What depth are they talking about when it comes to the media as that with have a huge impact on the amount of BSA for the bacteria to colonise. Have seen folks say use m² as well but then give no account for the depth & total volume which most likely will cause issues if there's not enough media volume.
I dare say they are doing fairly much the same as I mentioned here after doing the feed rate calculation on the bed I covered in this clip.
I'm just making folks work it out for themselves to hopefully give them a better understanding. 😉
Cheers.
For the "How Many Fish" question, the volume is far less important than the area. Most of the time, as long as you've got the area, you're going to have sufficient volume. I mean, you can't do a 4" deep bed, but anything from about 6" to 18" is going to be fine.
I'm all for making people figure stuff out, within reason of course, but I also figure that when a PHD college professor says "Yeah, that's too complicated, use this simple formula instead" that's likely the better way to go...
:)
It's the media & it's total volume that provides the BSA for the bacteria to process the waste. 4" of grow bed will have a lot less bio filtration than a 12" deep one.
I think you'll find folks like Dr Leonard Wilson recommends surface area to feed ratios but also stipulates the depth of the bed in his explanation. www.aquaponic.com.au/calculators.htm
Cheers.
I'll definitely be looking at that tool later, but I think that the point that the guy I was listening was making was that as long as your beds aren't too shallow, they will naturally provide enough volume for the bacterial colonies to do their thing and convert the fish byproducts into plant nutrients. IIRC, anything over about 8" (6" of cycled media with a 2" cap to prevent algae and mosquitoes) is going to provide all the volume you need. More isn't going to hurt anything, and can be useful in some situations, but the minimum filtration necessary was hit at about that 8" depth. Of course, there are plenty of other things that can be done to improve the system's filtration, from fluidized media to just a tub full of green scratchies and sponges. but if you have the 60-100g of food per day per sq.m. of growing area, you'll naturally have enough volume due to needing enough depth for roots to grow. You'll never go deeper than that because growing media is expensive. You can't go shallower than that because the plants need that depth for their roots. Makes total volume a non-consideration, only thing that matters is the area and how much you're feeding your fish each day which is what determines their output. Input determines output which determines bed volume, but depth is determined by the realities of the plants, so area is what is determined by that output value.
May the Force be with you, always. :)
I'm not trying to be a picky dick but comments like "you can have as many fish in a system as will eat 60-100g of food in 2 minutes per square meter of grow bed" is one reason some systems fail. As you said in the last comment "anything over about 8" (6" of cycled media with a 2" cap to prevent algae and mosquitoes) is going to provide all the volume you need." which is the bit some folks will leave out when talking to new comers.
You need enough biological surface area for the bacteria to colonise to act as a biofilter, so that 60-100g of feed worth of TAN can be processed. If not it is quite likely you will run into problems down the line.
The 1 fish per 25L of wet media rule of thumb is tried & true one that allows for stuff ups that's why I have recommended it in this clip. Some beginners have no knowledge other than what they watch on TH-cam & I'd rather them have a positive experience with aquaponics & not end up with a bumper crop of fish emulsion for the lawn. By laying it out in steps & explaining the reason behind the calculations will help deepen their understanding in how the aquaponic ecosystem works.
May the schwartz be with you. 😃😉
Hi Rob, Is the same calculation holdsgood for other type of aquaponic also?
Not sure what you mean there sorry Chethana. Do you mean different media?
Idk why but I really like you.
Thanks Abs.
Have a top one.
Good afternoon, Sir!
We have a problem, and we need advice. (And we're also slightly panicking inside.)
We introduced 2 catfish into our system and after an hour, one started attacking the other one, which is now badly injured. (Note: 23.9 liters of tank water for 620 grams for the 2 fish together.)
We separated the 2, but we have several concerns:
1) Will the blood negatively affect our plants?
2) Does that mean they're hungry?
3) How do we take care of the injured fish?
Hi Isabella & I'm sorry I missed this post when you commented. The blood shouldn't be an issue. as to why they would biff, I'm not to sure. Did they end up settling down?
@@RobsAquaponics Sadly nope. We separated the two to keep them from hurting each other any further. It was a complete disaster, though. 😅 Somehow one of them escaped into a nearby canal, and the other one didn't survive long. We did some research and turns out the catfish we used were a pretty aggressive species, which would explain why they would attack one another. We just didn't expect it since they seemed to be living perfectly fine and docile when we bought them from a tank with about 10 of them living in there. (0-0)
i feel like you did this video to piss off the guys you were blasting on facebook lol...
😁No but it has been suggested I post a clip about gurus that want to be the be all & end all of the aquaponics discussion. Not really my style though. 😉
Cheers mate & have a top one.
Excellent! Specific and simple. Thank you.
Thanks for your comments Travis.
Am glad the clips have helped in some way. 👍
Cheers & happy growing. 🌱🌱🌱
Right. nailed it for simplicity
Country please????? And fish name please cause i never watch this fish lively?????
I'm in Australia. The fish with the black patches are our native Jade Perch.
Cheers.
Great numbers and information shared sir. Thank you
Glad it was helpful!
Rob which system is best of aquaponic media based or dwc of the backyard?
Both work well but extra filtration is needed tor deep water culture beds. Not on'y biological but also solids to help the roots & base of the bed stay clean.
Cheers.
This is awesome idea, I didn't under stand the math but that's me I'm the kid in the class throwing pens in the fan, well done to you sir
No problem Shannon. Is fairly basic maths so wouldn't take long for you to pick it up. 😉
Cheers & all the best.
thanks Rob. When starting with fingerlings and you only use say 40 in a 1000L ibc, would they produce enough nitrate to provide nutrients for 3 x 1m2 growbeds? Or should you increase the fingerling numbers or decrease the growbed size initially until you have adult fish?
Is best to progressively plant out the beds so the plants won't starve.
That's one reason I think it's a good idea to test frequently for nitrates. As you see the nitrates climb you add in more plants to take up the load.
Hope that helps mate.
Cheers.
Rob Bob's Aquaponics & Backyard Farm thanks
💞💞💞💚💞💞💚
👍😁👍
my god metric is such a better way to do math.
36 Fish at 500g means 18kg total.
Is it logical then to stock in total 18kg of fish regardless of the population and "thin" them out as they grow? Kinda like we'd do with carrots, for example.
You can do it that way. I don't recommend it to newbies as life can get in the way & some fish can grow very quickly.
Rob - Getting ready to set up a first go here in the States - I'm planning on using a 150gal RubberMaid stocktank I've already got on hand for the the fish and building a draintable over it using wood and Dura Skrim. It seems to me that the volume of the table is going to be very close to the IBC tub you used in your other video based on the volume of the IBC Fish Tank so I'm guessing I could use the IBC numbers without much alteration? If I'm right that 150gal tank can support up to 10 1lb (500g) fish?
The grow bed from the chop & flip clip is 300L or 79 gal in volume. After you account for the lip & the dry layer on top I'd say there's 250L or 66 gal of wet media in there that could process the wates from 10 x 1lb fish. 👍
Hope that helps some Clyde.
It does! Looks like I as spot on in my estimate! Thanks!
the brief maths lesson highlights how arbitrary the imperial measurement system is.
Was worried it could get confusing for some. 😉
Cheers & have a top one.
Hello,, I have a doubt, in the beginning fishes are small size ,for example thilapia 1" long ,, if I put 50 fishes in 1000 litre tank,, at the time is it enough to support 1250 litre volume of wet grow bed area?
You won't have enough nutrients being made to plant out the entire system. Most folks will start off with a few plants
(leafy greens or herbs are the best to start with) & monitor their nitrate levels. As they see the levels rise they will start to add more plants to the system.
Cheers.
@@RobsAquaponics thank you,,,
For 1000 litre fish tank ,, with in how many hours the 1000 litre water should be recycle,,,
Then what will be the pump capacity ( how many liters per hour)
@@arulraja835 The water in the fish tank should be cycled through the biofilters/grow beds at lest 1.5 times an hour. That means there should be at least 1500L of water being pumped into the fish tank.
What about support of the plants? How much fish support x plant mass
I've motioned it in passing a bit but don't have a dedicated video for it sorry. 20-50g per m² for greens & 50-100g per m² is a general rule of thumb used by a few folks. Obviously it's a bit more nuanced than that when it come to commercial growing.
Hope that helps some.
So it's approximately 12 lb worth of fish. I already have an IBC system running, along with DWC,, can I just add hundreds fingerlings total 12 lbs? Of course, I will take out some fish regularly to make the total weight remain constant.
I wouldn't run the risk myself.
You share so much and I thank you,, sincerely Lisa
Cheers Lisa :)