Really kool, you're the first person I've seen with a workable filter, most online fish growers use pool filters, and they have problems with them, yours is large enough to do the job, I'll have to remember said filter system.
Good work on the filter design. I have almost finished building my new system using three IBC for the fish tanks. I was going to connect the drains at the bottom like you have, but then I was concerned about the young fish being able to exit the tanks via the drains. So I am using 3" SLOs for my drains. How are the bottom drains working for you and how do you keep the little buggers from escaping their tanks? Thatnk. JW
I like the way you used the trap adapters as bulkhead fittings, that is how I make my pond filters and I am currently working on a nft with 6 3" pvc pipes.
Hi Greg what brand of filter pad did you use and how often do you need to clean them? Do they ever float and block the outflow? Thanks in advance for your reply
Hi Greg I have a 4 tote system so I bought the Active aqua air pump, my question is , do I need to have all the air stones at the same depth in each tote for the pump to work well and does the length of the tubing matter?. Thanks in advance for your response.
+malisia2mic I never had a problem with the lines being different lengths. I used 5 lines off the bulkhead with an adjustable flow splitter (metal) and it worked with all the flow adjusted to full open and the unused line being turned off. All of my air stones were at the bottom of the 4 totes and just off the bottom of the bio-filter.
+Mineral Springs Tilapia Oh, the reason all the air stones are at the bottom of the totes is because that gets more air dissolved into the water and the dissolved oxygen in the water is what allows the fish to metabolize their food properly and convert it into body weight.
I was wondering if there is any calculation that you use or know about to determine how big to make your bio-filter? I'm considering 600 gal tank and up to 1/2 lb/ gal density
Perhaps I asked before, but do you have any insight as to how much water you lose to evaporation in a given day or week? I'm designing my system very similar to yours, but I kept the tops of the totes closed with lids fashioned out of the cutout piece, with the main focus in retaining moisture and preventing evaporation. Is that really necessary? The lids are rather cumbersome.
Tom Brueggen Hey Tom, I don't really see that as a problem in my system but I do know that there is some evaporation. Because of the bio-load in this system, I have to do water changes (about 250 gallon out of 1000) every 10 days or so. I could probably do less and just clean out the solids filter and then only drain the tanks out about 10% then refill, but my fish really like the new water. The main reason I opened the top completely is that when I need to get fish out I have a lot more room to work the net. The bad part is that it allows the fish to rocket out of the tank when they are being chased by the net and land in another tank I don't want them in or on the ground or behind the totes which is a real issue for me. With the top cut out it allows me to scrub the scum that forms at the water line and makes a brown rim around the inside of the tote. It also allows me to see well inside the tote. I do a dead fish check (DFC) each morning and if I find a dead one I try to figure out how and why it died.....sometimes an indication that something is not right with the water Like I said, I think you will be changing water before evaporation becomes an issue, especially if you have a lot of fish in the system. Thanks for the comment.....Greg
Mineral Springs Tilapia Thanks for the detailed response. I was going to ask about jumpers, but you answered it for me! I'm planning on running an internal net in the tank, like what you see at garden centers sometimes, or what big fisheries use to keep fish off the bottom. Not so much so I can keep them off bottom, but so when I want to catch them I can just pull the slack out of the net and start grabbing! Man, you're running through a lot of water it seems. Any use for the surplus waste water? I'm trying to make my system as hands-off as possible, as I don't have much time to be hands-on. I'll either have to find a way to automate water changes or minimize them. Ideally minimize them!
Tom Brueggen Hey Tom, the only ways I can think to minimize water changes is to go with a more sophisticated filter system so that is a cost/benefit situation. The other is to not have the kind of bio-load I have in my system. My load is" 16ea 1pound + fish, 100 4 to 7 inch fish, and 500+ 1 to 3 inch fish.
Mineral Springs Tilapia I think my system will be similar. I have 3-330 gallon totes compared to your 4-275 gallons. I also will have 4 bbls in my filter: swirl, bio, and two for sumps, so that will make my overall capacity technically 1210 gallons. Obviously it won't be topped full, so call it 1000 gallons for easy numbers. Right now we have 300-400 fingerlings that we need to move into bigger tanks. We have them spread out across a few 10 gallon tanks. Craziest thing, we have three of the fingerlings that are monsters compared to the others. Must be some good genetic glitch best I can figure. We're going to try to keep them isolated so we can use them for breeders. They are from our second batch of fry, a month younger than the others, but 3-4x the size! We are using rolling K1 in our bio filter. Are you familiar? Not sure how it lines up against your lava rock but it's supposed to be the best of the best as far as surface area for the beneficial bacteria to live on.
Tom Brueggen Well, 300 fingerlings is not a lot in 1000 gallons, and the bio-filter will be able to easily handle that kind of load and with the K1 you have plenty of surface area for the bacteria to grow on. Also, the bacteria will grow on every surface of your system. As your fish grow, and as you increase in numbers of fish, the bio-filter should grow right along with the load..I think you should be OK for quite a while. As far as the fish that are outgrowing the others, that will happen more often than not. Typically I find that those fish are male which always grow larger and faster than the females. This is not to say that those are the only males in the brood, they are just more aggressive than the others when feeding and consequently grow quicker. What is the goal with what you are doing.....selling fingerlings? selling breeder colonies?, growing out to size for your own use? or all of the above or something else?
I'm trying to get started with a back yard setup. I have fish and fish tanks, but I want to raise some fish I can eat eventually. chickens just are not my thing. I'm a water boy. I think I will have live tilapia next week. They're not easy to ger here. But at least I'm in the tropics so temp is not an issue for me. Also I will collect rainwater for when I need to do water changes. I'm trying to figure out all the tubing. I do have a 1/2 horse power pump and a good sump pump ready to get hooked up.
blackboy424 There is just under 1000 gallons of tank space and I grow fish to full size giving them 5 gallons/fish. If the system was used specifically for grow out, I would stock 50 fish/tote every three months and harvest a tote of fish every 3 months. Given that the average fish after one year of growth would be from 1.5 to 1.75 pounds (some larger, some smaller) on the low end I would be harvesting 75 pounds every third month. Enough for me and my family....and that was the original goal.
blackboy424 Comments are important. I'm sure other people would want to know the answer to that question. Thank you for taking the time to comment! Greg.
Hi, can you please tell me about the pipe at the bottom of the IBC totes? Is it 1.5" pvc pipe with holes drilled into it to let solids flow out and keep fish from being sucked out. What size male adapter do you use to connect to the tote's outlet? Thank you.
+Mac Townsend You are exactly right. The holes are 1/4" all the way around the pipe. What you have to do is sand the end that is inserted into the tote's drain hole to create a beveled edge in order to be able to get the pipes started. Put a bead of silicone about 1/2 inch from the beveled end then use a rubber mallet or a block of wood with any hammer and tap the pipe into the drain hole. The easiest way to connect to the 2 in pipe from the outside threaded drain is to use a 2" X 2" rubber boot with tightening straps (big 2" hose clamps) to tighten over the threaded drain of the tote and your 2" PVC .
David Brooks Hey David, I did not add any live bacteria to my bio filter, but I added fish slowly to the system so I wouldn't overwhelm the system and because I had so much water and so few fish it worked out fine. You could certainly jump start the filter if you wanted and probably should if you need to add a heavy bio-load quickly.
Mineral Springs Tilapia Thanks for the quick reply my mom and I are going to start with feeder goldfish to start the system with due to the cost of a breeder set of Tilapia Thanks again for the info David
Hey greg, do you have any idea if the material in the bucket water heater will effect the fish or water. I mean is it purely 100% stainless steel. I wanted to do the same but have heard that nickel in the heaters may harm the health of the fish?? Thanks much for so great information.
claudia gamino Honestly Claudia I don't really know for sure. However I do know that there has been no problem with the fish as far as their health and I have not noticed any difference in the flavor of the meat between summer grown fish and fish grown to eating size through the winter when the heater was in operation. I know this does not fully answer your question, it is only my own observations. I will try to do a little research and let you know if I find anything that will help you. Thanks for your comment, great question. Thanks, Greg
Thank you for all of your help so far. I have another question: What do they eat? Could I subsidize the feed by feeding them left over bread/ rice, etc?
Rogers Caribbean Rice, bread and other similar foods do not provide much nutrition, and will not make your fish grow very fast and remain health but I'm sure they would eat it. I you want to supplement their diet, chop up your salad greens like lettuce and feed them that. Better yet, get some duckweed and grow it at your place. They love duckweed and it is very good for them.
Very nice setup. a few questions as I'm considering doing something like this but for an auqaponics system indoors. 1. Does it smell? 2. do you use anything for a light cycle? day and night? or just leave it dark? 3. What is your food source? do you buy in bulk? if so where? Suggestion. I saw this on a different video with similar setup but no where near as neat and tidy as yours. On the solids waste separator, they installed a 3/4" ball valve as low to the bottom the tank and would cycle out about 3-5 gal of water a day to remove the solids that build up in the bottom. What do you do as an alternative?
+David Bonany Hey David, 1. There is very little smell, I always have a fan running and the fish house is well ventilated. 2. There is plenty of light infiltrating the ends and walls of the of the portable garage and I use artificial light when I need to work at night. 3. I buy my aquamax at my local coop, any place that sells purina foods should be able to order it for you in 50 pound bags. Since my barrels are elevated on the stand, I installed a line with a ball valve diirectly in the bottom of the barrel for drainage. Before, I would just use a syphon hose and remove the waste from the top. Hope this helps.
Hi, Greg, what kind of heater do you use? I am going to implement two tanks of 1000 litters each one and I need a heater, the higher one that I have is a Hagen of 300 watts, and this is up to 300 litters, but for more than 1000 litters what do you recommend ?
Hey Israel, I use a 1000 watt bucket heater in my big 1100 gallon system. If you look at the video called "Winter Water Heating", you will see the heater and the box it came in. Greg
Just a quick question, what size pump do you use for your system? I'm working on setting my system back up, and trying to figure out a pump to use... when Its all set up, it will have 6 IBC fish tanks, 4 55gal barrels for filters, 1 IBC for a sump tank, and then several growbeds... Previously I had been using a 220 gph submersible pump, but that is way to small, I picked up a free pool pump, but its an energy hog,.. 15 amps continuous. It pumps upwards of 4200 gph, I'm guessing I need something in the 1500 - 2000 gph range. or perhaps 2 different 1000 gph pumps. My system when all set up should hold about 2700 gallons, unless I decide to dig a bigger sump tank, or add the grow out pool.
Anthony Jensen Hey Anthony, I always try to size my pumps to turn over the total volume of water in the system at least once an hour. A little more or a little less should be fine. I would look for something a little more than 2700 gph because with all of the components in your system there is bound to be some "lift" involved.
I love what you are doing. Very easy system and understand. I am doing a 4000 gallons tank with a 5000 gallons water pump. (2) 200 gallons ibc tote biological filter. (1) 55 gallons drum swirl filter. Is the 55 gallons swirl filter be too small? The water pump will move a lot of water fast. What is best approach to this situation?
hello friend. I HV enjoyed your explanation of the flow through the system. Could u plse inform if you are using uniseals por other form of going through the barrels. I see a black square. Is that a rubber washer? TKS for the help!
In the 55 gal breeder tank, I use an Aquaclear 70 hang on filter....best filter I have ever found. In addition I use a large sponge filter in the tank powered by air and I use another large air stone. You can never have too much air going into the system..
Hey Greg, any idea what the flow rate is through your system? My wife is an avid fish keeper, and firmly supports the highest flow rate possible, and I agree. It looks like yours is pretty low rate overall. So the pump we have is capable of 4300 gph at 0' head height, but still, highly capable of a very good rate. Assume 4000, that would turn the system over 4x per hour! I was asking about sizing, because you have a 3/4" line with 3/4" valves coming off, and each valve is highly choked back. I'm looking at twice that, a 1.5" return line with 1" valves off to each tank. I'm sure we are over doing it, but the pump will serve to let us expand in the future if we wish. I guess I am just curious what size your pump is, and if you've had any water quality issues with the lower flow rates?
Tom Brueggen My pump is 1200 gph at 0 head. I always shoot for turning over the system at least once an hour, but I am probably only at 800gph with the lift I have. Have not had water quality issues and all the waste from the totes still ends up in the solids filter. I am going to a 2100gph pump in the sump and that should give me what I want. I totally agree that the higher the flow the better, but in for the last 2 years one turn/hour has worked for me. I will let you know if it makes any difference with 2 turns/hour when my new pump gets here.
I like the set up you have.and I am planning to make mine the next month.I am planning to move my fish from fish pond to tank system like this.I have a question,what is the required number of fish in a 1sq.m of tank thank you..I planned to have 4x3sq.m tank thanks
CATtech 1985 Hey, sorry for the delay, I just got home from Georgia. In my grow-out system, I like to give the fish 5 gallons of water per fish at full size. At this stocking rate, the fish grow strong, healthy and quickly. If they are stocked too heavily it will reduce their rate of growth. If you have a pure oxygen infusion system, they can be stock more heavily. Tilapia use dissolved oxygen to metabolize their food. Good luck with your fish, and thanks for the comment....Greg.
I got all my PVC, rubber boots etc from Home Depot. All the pipe and boots are 2 inch. IBC totes come in a couple sizes so always measure the IBC tote fittings first.
I am planning on starting a small scale fish farm with 10 feet by 10 10 feet tank and a depth of 3.5-4 feet (Would this filter setup be feasible) if not could you give me any other ideas that are cost effective and friendly. Thankyou!
quick question can i keep tilapia in one tote and small/medium koi in two other totes all connected to one filter like the way you have your sytem but with tilapia in just one tote
christian32762 Hey Christian, the only problem I see is that Tilapia and Koi have different water quality needs, Koi like much cooler water and probably don't like PH to be as high as Tilapia.
Rogers Caribbean Good morning Rogers, the water flows from the IBC totes into the barrels by GRAVITY, it fills the first barrel carrying with it the solid waste. The solids settle out in the first barrel and the water overflows from the first barrel to the second barrel also by gravity which is the Biofilter from there it overflows into the third barrel which is the sump and is pumped back into the IBC totes using a submersible pond pump. When I am not heating the water, the pond pump is the only thing that is running. As the sump barrel is pumped out, the water is replaced (by gravity) constantly.. It is a "recirculating closed system".. Remember that water will always seek its own level so once I fill the tanks and open the drain valves, the water will continue filling the barrels until all totes and barrels have identical water levels. Pumping the water out of the sump barrel causes the water to constantly flow from the totes into the barrels to maintain the same levels.
Rogers Caribbean If you come out of the drain of the IBC tote and have the tops of the barrels at the same level as the tops of the totes that will insure that if you have a power outage nothing will overflow, the entire system will just stop moving. The water should go into the barrel system about half way up the barrel or maybe a little lower. I had to put the barrels on a platform of 2X8's to get the tops of the barrels to be the same height as the top of the totes.
Rogers Caribbean I simply shut the valves at the bottom of the IBC totes and syphon all the water (and the waste) out of the solids filter. You can put a ball valve in the bottom edge of the barrel and connect a line to it that goes outside to a garden, flowerbed or just into the yard. It just depends on how you want to use the fish waste....I use mine as fertilizer for my garden. Then refill the solids filter with water and open the valves and you are done.
Z223I I used 2 inch male and female (male outside screwed into the drum, female on inside to tighten it up) electrical adapters. The PVC ones at my store are all tapered. Used a little silicone at the connections. Never leaked in over a year running 1500 gallons an hour through the system. Probably would have been easier to use Uniseals.
hi greg. sorry for bother you. what do you think about use natural charcoal with the lava rock? thank men. I am really afraid to lose more fish. i lose a lot of fish because i no have a good water filtration.
Luis Cancel Hey Luis, if you put the charcoal it the bio filter you would have to put into mesh bags so it could be changed out periodically. Activated charcoal will help to polish the water but will not last forever and you would have to empty the mesh bags and refill them with new charcoal when you aren't getting the results you want.
All I add to the water is Aqualife Complete which is approved by the FDA for use with food fishes. The bio filter which contains lava rock and filter pads is where my beneficial bacteria grows. Nitrosomonas colonizes first and changes ammonia to nitrites then nitrobacter colonizes the filter and changes the nitrites to nitrate which is harmless to the fish except in very high concentrations
hi. Greg. i have more or less the same you have. you have 4 tote i have 3. but my filter system is really bad. tomorrow i go to buy (3) 55 gall to do your idea look amazing. but my question is. you have the 55 gall barrel over a wood pallet. this is for water level or is just because you like it. thank you Greg.
Luis Cancel Hey Luis, I have them up on the platform so the top of the barrels and top of the totes are at the same level. That way if your pump goes out or you have a power outage your system will just stop and you won't lose any water from the system.
If you look on that video, you will see a piece of 1.5 inch diameter capped PVC with holes drilled all around it that will keep 1 inch fish in the tote. It is in the tote hammered and siliconed on the inside of the drain hole. It is only about a foot long.
+electrofranko My air pumps are Active Aqua 72LPM pumps with six way adjustable flow splitters. The water pump is an EcoPlus 1500 GPH pump. Both pumps are quite and dependable.
so the water will flow out of the bottom of the tanks and go up into the barrel without a pump and the only pump you use is the sump to pump water back to the tanks
Yes, the water flows through gravity because the water level throughout the totes and barrels is the same and the water flows into the first barrel (the swirl filter) about a foot below the water level in the totes. Water will always seek its own level in a closed system.
The flow of the water is dependent on the amount of water being returned by the pump that is in the sump. I try to turn the water over about once an hour. So, for my 1100 gallon system I use an 1800 GPH submersible pump to make sure I get at least 1100 GPH flow rate..there is about 5ft of lift that reduces the efficiency of the pump.
because your waste water has to go up in a pipe, do you have settled waste in the pipe? is there a way to operate the whole system without any electricity meaning that how do you pump your clean water from the last tank (sump tank) back to the fish tanks?
Ok, the water flow is fast enough to push the solids into the solids filter.. When I took the system down, which I did when I built the new hatchery, the system had been running for 18 months. I checked the 2 inch pipe and there was NO debris in the pipe. I can't think of any way to "lift" the water without a pump back into the tanks, but the wattage on the pump is so low that it could easily be done with a small solar system if you needed to do it that way.
If power goes and you are not there, will the barrel with the pump overflow, seeing their is no power for the pump. if it does overflow what can be done?
+electrofranko The barrels will NOT overflow. Since the tops of the barrels and the tops of the totes are at the same level and water seeks its own level, the system just stops flowing and remains static. That is why the barrels are up on stands. If any part of the system was at a lower level it would overflow at that low point until all the water was again at the same level throughout the system. Hope this helps.....Greg
hi Greg, can you make a video about plumbing with these toats please? what kind of connector do i need to connect 2" pipe to the valve at the bottom? thanks.
+N B Hey N B, as you might have figured out in my videos, I no longer grow fish to full size and I just raise fry, fingerlings and breeding colonies. However what I used to connect my 2 inch PVC to the drain at the bottom of the tote was a 2 inch rubber boot that has hose clamps built in to it. Just force one end over the threads of the tote drain and slip the other end over your pipe. Then just tighten the clamps and you are done. Doing it with the rubber boots allows you to get away with small miscalculations with pipe lengths because they flex. The rubber boots can be found at Home depot or Lowes.
It varies during the year, lower in the summer for electric cost, I would say over the year about $90.00 a month for electric and $80.00 per month for city water in the Knoxville area,
What is the maximum number of tilapia that you can put in that ibc tote? What is maximum of ibc tote can run on that 55 gallon filter? What size air pump are you running each tote? Great set up!
If you are growing your fish to full size, I give them 5 gallons of water per fish. So for a 275 gallon tote with 240 gallons of water level in each tote, you would be able to grow out around 50 fish per tote for them to grow large and quickly....you don't want them to be stunted because of lack of room to swim. About 4 to 5 totes depending on the size of the tote, the total water in the system, the size of the return pump in the sump and the number of fish per tote and the size of those fish. Also, the tilapia use dissolved oxygen to metabolize their food so air is important. The 4 tote system I used had a 1578 GPH submersible pump in the sump so the total volume of water would be filtered at least once an hour. The air pump is a small commercial pump with an output of 72 LPM (liters per minute).
Mineral Springs Tilapia . Thank you for taking the time to respond. There is not much information out there. I was reading a couple of site that the rule of thumb is 1 gallon for 1 pound of fish. Is it true? Instead of using a 55 gallons drum biological filter. I increase it to a 275 gallon tote for 6 fish tank tote?
You could do that if you wanted too, just be prepared to clean solids filter everyday....that is a lot of biomass in a single tote, then when you multiply that by 6 totes, your solids filter will have to cleaned daily....I preferred not to clean tanks all day, every day. Your water in your totes will probably turn brown in a day...not dangerous, just looks nasty and you can't see what is going on with the fish.
Mineral Springs Tilapia . Thank you so much. I have been looking for this answer for 5 years. Lol. I don't mind cleaning the solid filter everyday. I am more concerned if it's going to be dangerous for the fish. I have limited space, water and electricity at my location. It's will barely cover expense with 50 fish per tank. I know I can get away with a 55 gallon mechanical filter with daily cleaning. I was more concerned on the biological filter can't handle the load. You are amazing.
christian32762 Doesn't matter what size containers you use, but they will always be at the same level if you set it up like I did. So, if your 275 can hold 250 gallons of usable water, 250 gallons is all that will be in the 300 also if everything is set up on the same system.
thank you so much one more question in the third tank as your sump its just the return pump and thats it right nothing else in it other then the heater
I feel like this is a stupid question. How does the water draining from the IBC totes go into your drum filter when the water has to travel up the 90° up pipe into the drum?
Remember that water will always seek its own level. Since the pipe enters the first barrel at a point lower than the water level in the totes, the water will continue to drain into and out of each barrel until the water level is exactly the same in the barrels and the totes (static). The water pump being in the back barrel (sump) and pumping the water out of that barrel it creates room for the water to start refilling the 3rd barrel and because the water that is being pumped into the totes the system starts running again trying to remain static. It is just Hydrodynamics that allows this system to continually move water in the direction I want it to go.. Once the water pump is turned off, and the water level is the same in all components of the system (4 totes and 3 barrels) the water movement simply stops. Nothing overflows because all of the components are at the same height and the water pressure is the same. The barrels could be other totes or a 6" diameter tubes, it wouldn't make a difference because once the pressure is the same the system would still just stop moving without the return pump .
Francis Forrester Good morning Francis, There is a large air stone in each tote run by a small commercial air pump. There is also an air stone in the Bio-filter. The number of fish depends on the size. If you are just using the totes to grow 1 inch fish to 2 inches, each tote will support about 1000 fish. If you are going to grow fish to full size to eat, My rule of thumb is 5 gallons of water per fish at full size. If you have really good filtration and a lot of air, you could get as low as 3 gallons per fish at full size. Room to swim and good water quality along with plenty of air, good quality food and some light make your fish grow healthy, strong and very quickly.
Good morning Sir. Thanks for the prompt feedback. I like your process because I want to do my own brood stock, fingerlings and fries instead of buying them. then I'll like to take them into the lake to grow. This is a project I want to do in the tropics. I live in Canada, please where can I get air stones and the other kits?
Francis Forrester Wow, the tropics sound nice right now. Most of the things I get, like air stones, sponge filters, aquarium heaters and other smaller items, I buy off of ebay.. There is a great selection of these things on ebay and the prices are normally lower than my local aquarium stores. Thanks, Greg
hi, very cool setup👌 I was wondering what you were running for a pump that starts the flow and how much power does it take? could you make it solar? thanks awesome video!
It is an 1800 GPH submersible pump in the sump. The pump runs on less than 100 watts. It could easily be run by a small solar system. Thanks for the comment and good luck setting up your system.
Hi there. I am a beginner looking to raise Tilapia in Costa Rica with my father in-law. I would like to know your opinion as to what i needed for a filtration system for a 6 meter by 2 meter by 1.5 meter deep cement pool. I’d also like more details to your design and layers of filtration. Would it be possible to contact each other either by phone or email?
+Gro2Health Heirlooms That will depend on how many you want to raise and how big you want them to get. If you are going to raise the fish to eat, I would give them 3 gallons of water per fish so they grow quickly. So you can calculate how big you want your pond to be based on the number of fish you are raising. I have customers that have multiple 10,000 gallon tanks and some that use just a couple of 275 gallon IBC totes.
Hi this is a great video and awesome forum. Mine has same question of how solid from IBC can be sucked into solid tank when the pipe goes upward? The other thing is how biofilter effect the quality of water compare if just using mechanical normal filter? Thanks alot for sharing the video
Hey Michael, the volume of water going to the solids filter will be dictated based on how much water is pumped out of the sump back into the tanks. I had an 1800 GPH submersible pump in the sump tank and because of the lift of the water, I moved just under 1200 gallons per hour constantly. The short lift going into the solids filter makes no difference as long as the entry point into that barrel is nearly 18 to 24 inches below the water level in the tanks. If you open the valves and don't start the return pump from the sump, the water will completely fill all three filter barrels and once the water level is equal in all 4 totes and all three barrels the water will stop moving completely. That is why the top of the barrels and the tops of the totes are at the same level. If you have a lot of fish in the totes, you will need the biological filter in order to keep ammonia and nitrites under control. I never tested for or worried about nitrates. I can't really answer you second question because I always had a bio filter.
I just make it whatever size I want....it is just for extra water and system refill. No specific size except that the tops of all the filter and sump component have to be the same height of the totes or in a power outage, you will loose water from the system. Remember, water will always seek its own level in a closed system.
you done a great work. i have only one question some says you need to recirculate all water two time in a hour is it right..? i planning to make 10000L tank with 1000 fishes need to harvest them around 1 kg.
No Mike, it simply drains from the tote bottoms into the solids filter. The only pump is in the third barrel which pumps the water back up into the totes.
Nice system, I have two separate IBC fish tanks- one is aquaponics - 3 grow beds the other aquaculture- no grow beds- so I have 250 gallon fish tank- draining in to a 35 gallon radial flow filter which then flows into a bio-filter, which is another 35 gallon barrel- half full of lava rock then topped off with what I had- shade cloth. No air in the bio- I have to change water every 3 to 4 days- turns cloudy and ammonia starts to get high. Will adding a venturi or air stone make all the difference ? I also have to vac the fish waste out of the tanks every other day. I use a stand pipe in-lieu of the bottom drain. need help as I am wasting water and a constant maintenance issue. How often do you clean your filter and tanks ?
Hey Steve, How long has the fish only system been running and do you have a heavy load of fish in the 250 gallon tank. I would recommend that you add air to the bio filter. My total water volume is about 1000 gallons, you saw the fish load in the tanks. I clean the solids filter every two weeks and I change about 200 gallons of water each month mainly to clear some of the Nitrates. If your system is new and/or you have a heavy bio-load, it will take a while a month or two of the system running for the bacteria level to grow large enough to start converting all the ammonia to nitrites and then when the nitrites become available it will take the same amount of time for the Nitrobacter bacteria to colonize in you bio filter to convert the nitrites into nitrates. In the mean time all you can really do is 1. water changes to clear some of the ammonia and/or 2. Decrease the fish load and give the filter time to catch up then slowly add more fish. I don't ever have to clean waste from the totes, it flows into the solids filter and I clean it out there. Using the drain from the tote will really help keep waste out of the tote. Your fish will always be stirring up the water and consequently the waste at the bottom of the tote so it will eventually find its way into the drain.
Mineral Springs Tilapia One Thing I forgot to mention, you can buy live bacteria from you local fish store and kick start your bio filter. Just follow the instructions on the bottle. Thanks for the comment! Greg
In my aquaculture tank which is 250 gallon IBC I have 14 fish average size is 1/2 to 3/4 lb each. System is only 2 weeks old, so I need to add air and wait ! Thanks for the help
Thesteveb333 You will still need to keep the ammonia levels down while you are waiting with water changes and/or an ammonia reducing chemical like Aqualife Complete. 1/2 to 3/4 lb fish will produce an abundance of ammonia. Go to your local Aquarium Shop and get some live bacteria to kick start your system. You can put it anywhere in the system, but I prefer to pour it in just before entering the bio filter.
My aquaponics system 1- 250 gallon fish tank and 3 grow beds has been up and running for a good 4 months, would some water from that system get the bacteria levels up ?
Luis Cancel You will need to let your fish get to about 3 to 4 inches before you have a reasonable chance of getting it right..even the experts get it wrong 5 % of the time. Ok, you will probably need a biological staining agent and I use crystal violet. It stains the openings of the genital papilla of the fish which is just behind the anus of the fish. Grab a fish and turn it over in your hand, dry the area with a paper towel then stain the area with the crystal violet. I use a jewelers hood to magnify the area. In the male you will be looking for 1 opening through which urine and milt (sperm) passes. Do not count his anus, it is not part of what you are looking for. In the female you are looking for 2 openings, the first is an opening where urine passes, the second is a lateral slot (side to side) through which eggs pass. This process is very difficult to learn and takes lots of practice so I wish you good luck. Take your time and remember, when you figure it out it will become much easier and faster.
+ADRIAN Franco The barrels will NOT overflow. Since the tops of the barrels and the tops of the totes are at the same level and water seeks its own level, the system just stops flowing and remains static. That is why the barrels are up on stands. If any part of the system was at a lower level it would overflow at that low point until all the water was again at the same level throughout the system. Hope this helps.....Greg
+ADRIAN Franco The video should show you how to set this up, a step by step explanation would be like a small book and I don't really have the time to devote to writing something like that. If you have a specific question about how this is set up, I will be glad to answer and address your questions.
MrERIC646 Basically the same except there is no sump in the loop. The water is pumped from the pool into the solids filter and overflows into the bio-filter and then overflows back into the pool from the bio-filter.
hi greg. I want to tell you thank you for all your Information. so far so good. is almost like a month and everything do in good. THANK YOU again. now I living in florida and I have around 20 tilapia in the 3 tank jajaja. all of them are female. Question for you. if posible buy from you some tilapias? i don't know is can survive in the shipping. or if you have a male can i buy for you. thank you greg. again thank you for all your help.
Luis Cancel Hey Luis, glad to hear that things are going well. I just moved my breeding operation to a new building and put the males back with the females yesterday. They have not bred yet because they are getting used to their new surroundings. I will have fingerlings probably within a month and then I can ship you some fish. Tilapia in the 1 to 2 inch range ship very well. If you check back with me and let me get these fish breeding again, I will send you as many as you would like.
In an IBC tote, I used a 10 inch long piece of PVC pipe with 1/4 inch holes drilled all around it and 1 end capped with holes drilled in the cap. I tapered the open end a little with sandpaper and tapped it into the drain hole on the inside of the tote. As long as your fish are bigger than 1/4 inch from top to bottom, they can't get through the holes but the water and fish waste will get sucked through.
The fish are not placed in the growing totes until they are at least a little over an inch long. There is a capped piece of PVC pressed into the drain hole on the inside of the tote with 1/4 inch holes drilled into it. They cannot get through those holes. If you find the scene in this video looking down into the totes, you will see them.
It is actually 1 1/2 inch pvc. I did put silicone around the open end before I hammered into the drain hole, but I suspect it will hold without the silicone.
hello sir, Thank you for informative videos. Much appreciated. I get Tilapia all grown for $2.00 per kg. Hence its not feasible for a small setup if I'd start.
Hello am Henry Ghanain i want to know more about your bio filter system and your your breeder colony and ibc tank female fittings to pvc pipes Thank you
sglouie1 Hello, yes, the water pump is moving the water at all times and the air pump is providing air to the fish 24/7 also. Thanks for the question.....Greg
Mineral Springs Tilapia ok sir thanks. and the Bacteria is use for what? And if I have 15 pcs tote ibc tank, would the 3 drums be enough to clean that large amount of water?
sglouie1 The bacteria in the bio filter (and on all surfaces in your system) changes ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrates. Do a search on "The Nitrogen Cycle in Aquariums". You will need to know and understand the nitrogen cycle. The 3 barrels that I have set up will only keep up with 4 totes, so you would need 4 sets of filter system barrels with 4 totes on each set. 4 totes and 3 barrels will hold about 1100 gallons of water. 15 totes without barrels is well over 3000 gallons. If you want to hook up that many totes on one filter system, you will have to design a much more sophisticated filter system.
hello sir ,am trying to grow tilapia in a ibc but i never tried the bio fillter sys and am not suer how to go about it so can u plz give me some advice and am not sure if i would be able to get some of the products like the lava rocks in trinidad if not what can i use to replace the lava rocks ,thank you sir
+Jason Figaro You could use things like a bunch of sponges weighed down with some coral rock, anything that is very porous and gives lots of surface area for the bacteria to grow on. If you any other questions, you can email me at gregsowder12@gmail.com .... good luck with your project Jason. Greg
+Henry Word Hey Henry, I don't know where in Ghana you could buy lava rock, I get mine at a garden center here in the U.S. It is used as a ground cover in gardens and walkways over here. If you are using a 55 gallon barrel for your bio-filter, you need to fill it half way up. About 10 cubic feet.
Hello sir,iam trying to make auquaponic sys for tomatos ,but i wondered if i add the Iron filings or magnizium or calcium for my tomatos plants ,do this Affect to my fishs or not ?if yes so what i can do exactly to not Affect badly on my fishs ??iam waiting answer from you, thank you sir
Luis Cancel Hey Luis, not sure what you mean by "heather" so I'm just guessing. If you are talking about the water test kit, it is a "Fresh water Master Test Kit" and can be found at any aquarium store. If that is not what you are asking, I apologize, but please clarify your question.
Sorry. In the video you show something to heat the water is with the pump in the last tank. I living in Florida and right the temp is too cool for the fish. Thank you for all you help
Luis Cancel Oh, OK Luis. The heater I use is a 1000W bucket heater and I got it at our local farmers co-op. It is generally used in cattle watering troughs to keep ice off of the water so the cows can drink. If you look at my video called "Winter Water Heating" you will see the box it came in and how it works. Thanks for all you questions and good luck with your fish......Greg
Depends on the size of the fish and what I am going to do with them. If they are growing out to eat there are about 70 in each 275 gallon white tote. If I am going to sell them as fingerlings there are 300 or 400 in the tote.
+N B You will have around 1100 gallons of water in 4 275gal IBC totes and 3 55gal barrels. I like to make sure that I circulate the total volume of water at least once an hour so I used a 1500GPH submersible pump. Thanks for the question.
+N B White Nile is a hybrid fish and I only breed Pure Strain Nile Tilapia along with Blues and HornorumXNile Hybrids. If you look on mineralspringstilapia.com on the products page if the item has a paypal button under it then it is for sale and in stock. Everything I sell on the site already includes shipping.
+L.A. Boltryk That is completely dependent upon your growing conditions and the food that you choose to use. Tilapia go through a 240 day accelerated growth period. So, under correct temps, space, light, air and the proper feed (I use Purina AquaMax) in the proper sizes (300,400 and 4000) at the proper times, it will take around a pound of food to grow a Tilapia to harvest size, but remember, you can't really do the calculation for 1 tilapia so we do it for 100 fish. A combined pound of the three different sizes of AquaMax that I use costs less than 1.00, but I buy the food in bulk. This should give you enough information to apply to the circumstances and conditions in your system to get close to knowing what you will need and when you will need it to bring your fish to harvest size.
+L.A. Boltryk I'm sorry, that is what it sounds like. But, I use just under 100 pounds during the 240 day accelerated growth period for 100 fish, so 1 pound of food for each fish or about .98 cents to get 1 fish from fingerling (1 inch long) to a pound. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
The standard is 3 gallons of water/fish at full size. Personally, I stocked at 5 gallons of water/fish for a couple of reasons. I don't like cleaning tanks and the solids filter as often and I never needed that many fish as I was growing only for myself and my family and we didn't need that many fish. I have seen people use additional IBC totes as filter components and that much filtration will allow for a higher stocking density. It really just depends on what your ultimate goals are going to be. There are many ways to configure the system.
Mineral Springs Tilapia thanks a lot for yr reply. jus for my understanding can u pls give me some guidance. that for 500 gallon of water tank can i keep about 600 fish till harvest at 200 gram each, with three 100 gallon bucket mechanical filter and five 100 gallon bucket biofilter. to keep the ammonia level below 0.05. thanks
True that the fish could get to 200 grams which is a little less than a half pound, but at that density, you would probably need to have pure oxygen infusion into the tank. Tilapia use oxygen to metabolize their food and would probably not be able to get enough oxygen from just air pumps. I have never harvested a tilapia that was less than a pound and a quarter or 567 grams . Good stock fish should easily get to over a pound in 8 and a half months with adequate 1. Water temperature, 2. Water quality, 3. Proper food at the correct amount and proper times, 4. Enough dissolved oxygen to metabolize that food, and 5. ROOM TO SWIM. You are talking about less than a gallon of water per fish and they will not grow quickly or to a large size except with a pure oxygen infusion system when stocked at that rate.
Hey Greg I have watched all your videos and think its great you try to help in any way you can. My question for you is, Do you do this just for the hobby part of it ? Does this generate enough cash to help pay for the expenses and put some spending cash in your pocket? I started breeding Tilapia to help off set the cost of feeding my five 7" Red Belly Piranhas. But you have inspired me to build up my system, but only if there is some cash to be made. Don't get me wrong im not wanting to get rich off of Tilapia but if I could make enough money to cover the cost of up keep on them and still make extra beer more that's sounds like a plan to me.
Burgess Boys The first year I did this I barely made enough to cover my operating costs (water, electric,fish food, etc) and virtually 0 to help with the investment of tanks, pumps, filters, etc. This year (my third year) I was able to recover the cost of my initial investment for the equipment, all the operating costs and probably $1,000.00 for beer (or in my case other adult beverages). If you count Your Time, you will probably never break even unless you do it on a much larger scale than I do....but I don't take that into consideration. But, you have to get your name out locally and create interest and a market for your fish and that takes time.
Thanks for the information Greg I think im going to give it a try on a bigger scale then what im doing now. I will keep you updated, by the way how did the Aquaponics turn out for you?
Burgess Boys I had to abandon that Idea about a week after I got my first breeder colony and go to aquaculture only. I would love to try again and feel certain it would work well.
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Really kool, you're the first person I've seen with a workable filter, most online fish growers use pool filters, and they have problems with them, yours is large enough to do the job, I'll have to remember said filter system.
Thanks for writing back and happy holidays
thank you. i will keep going with the lava rock. i have already 1/3 of the 55 gal tank in lava rock. thank you again
Good work on the filter design. I have almost finished building my new system using three IBC for the fish tanks. I was going to connect the drains at the bottom like you have, but then I was concerned about the young fish being able to exit the tanks via the drains. So I am using 3" SLOs for my drains. How are the bottom drains working for you and how do you keep the little buggers from escaping their tanks? Thatnk. JW
How many water pump you have been using?
I like the way you used the trap adapters as bulkhead fittings, that is how I make my pond filters and I am currently working on a nft with 6 3" pvc pipes.
Please Sir, what kind of pump and size did you use for your system.
You gave a better idea .. great work
Hi Greg what brand of filter pad did you use and how often do you need to clean them? Do they ever float and block the outflow? Thanks in advance for your reply
Hi Greg I have a 4 tote system so I bought the Active aqua air pump, my question is , do I need to have all the air stones at the same depth in each tote for the pump to work well and does the length of the tubing matter?. Thanks in advance for your response.
+malisia2mic I never had a problem with the lines being different lengths. I used 5 lines off the bulkhead with an adjustable flow splitter (metal) and it worked with all the flow adjusted to full open and the unused line being turned off. All of my air stones were at the bottom of the 4 totes and just off the bottom of the bio-filter.
+Mineral Springs Tilapia Oh, the reason all the air stones are at the bottom of the totes is because that gets more air dissolved into the water and the dissolved oxygen in the water is what allows the fish to metabolize their food properly and convert it into body weight.
Do you still use this same system? Are the IBC totes the food-grade version or non-food-grade?
Does the heater uses 110 watts and how much energy does it uses?
I was wondering if there is any calculation that you use or know about to determine how big to make your bio-filter? I'm considering 600 gal tank and up to 1/2 lb/ gal density
Perhaps I asked before, but do you have any insight as to how much water you lose to evaporation in a given day or week? I'm designing my system very similar to yours, but I kept the tops of the totes closed with lids fashioned out of the cutout piece, with the main focus in retaining moisture and preventing evaporation. Is that really necessary? The lids are rather cumbersome.
Tom Brueggen Hey Tom, I don't really see that as a problem in my system but I do know that there is some evaporation. Because of the bio-load in this system, I have to do water changes (about 250 gallon out of 1000) every 10 days or so. I could probably do less and just clean out the solids filter and then only drain the tanks out about 10% then refill, but my fish really like the new water. The main reason I opened the top completely is that when I need to get fish out I have a lot more room to work the net. The bad part is that it allows the fish to rocket out of the tank when they are being chased by the net and land in another tank I don't want them in or on the ground or behind the totes which is a real issue for me. With the top cut out it allows me to scrub the scum that forms at the water line and makes a brown rim around the inside of the tote. It also allows me to see well inside the tote. I do a dead fish check (DFC) each morning and if I find a dead one I try to figure out how and why it died.....sometimes an indication that something is not right with the water
Like I said, I think you will be changing water before evaporation becomes an issue, especially if you have a lot of fish in the system.
Thanks for the comment.....Greg
Mineral Springs Tilapia Thanks for the detailed response. I was going to ask about jumpers, but you answered it for me! I'm planning on running an internal net in the tank, like what you see at garden centers sometimes, or what big fisheries use to keep fish off the bottom. Not so much so I can keep them off bottom, but so when I want to catch them I can just pull the slack out of the net and start grabbing!
Man, you're running through a lot of water it seems. Any use for the surplus waste water? I'm trying to make my system as hands-off as possible, as I don't have much time to be hands-on. I'll either have to find a way to automate water changes or minimize them. Ideally minimize them!
Tom Brueggen Hey Tom, the only ways I can think to minimize water changes is to go with a more sophisticated filter system so that is a cost/benefit situation. The other is to not have the kind of bio-load I have in my system. My load is" 16ea 1pound + fish, 100 4 to 7 inch fish, and 500+ 1 to 3 inch fish.
Mineral Springs Tilapia I think my system will be similar. I have 3-330 gallon totes compared to your 4-275 gallons. I also will have 4 bbls in my filter: swirl, bio, and two for sumps, so that will make my overall capacity technically 1210 gallons. Obviously it won't be topped full, so call it 1000 gallons for easy numbers. Right now we have 300-400 fingerlings that we need to move into bigger tanks. We have them spread out across a few 10 gallon tanks. Craziest thing, we have three of the fingerlings that are monsters compared to the others. Must be some good genetic glitch best I can figure. We're going to try to keep them isolated so we can use them for breeders. They are from our second batch of fry, a month younger than the others, but 3-4x the size!
We are using rolling K1 in our bio filter. Are you familiar? Not sure how it lines up against your lava rock but it's supposed to be the best of the best as far as surface area for the beneficial bacteria to live on.
Tom Brueggen Well, 300 fingerlings is not a lot in 1000 gallons, and the bio-filter will be able to easily handle that kind of load and with the K1 you have plenty of surface area for the bacteria to grow on. Also, the bacteria will grow on every surface of your system. As your fish grow, and as you increase in numbers of fish, the bio-filter should grow right along with the load..I think you should be OK for quite a while. As far as the fish that are outgrowing the others, that will happen more often than not. Typically I find that those fish are male which always grow larger and faster than the females. This is not to say that those are the only males in the brood, they are just more aggressive than the others when feeding and consequently grow quicker. What is the goal with what you are doing.....selling fingerlings? selling breeder colonies?, growing out to size for your own use? or all of the above or something else?
Thanks for the info, greatly appreciated
I really appreciate your job keep it up
How much did you spent on this backyard fish pond setup for tilapia and where is the shop that build this.
I'm trying to get started with a back yard setup. I have fish and fish tanks, but I want to raise some fish I can eat eventually. chickens just are not my thing. I'm a water boy. I think I will have live tilapia next week. They're not easy to ger here. But at least I'm in the tropics so temp is not an issue for me. Also I will collect rainwater for when I need to do water changes. I'm trying to figure out all the tubing. I do have a 1/2 horse power pump and a good sump pump ready to get hooked up.
Hello, after 5 years was this system efficient, and this filter without a UV lamp is for how much water quantity and how much is the pump force
How many pounds of fish do you think you can grow safely in this system? with the current filtration. And thanks for the nice video and explanation
blackboy424 There is just under 1000 gallons of tank space and I grow fish to full size giving them 5 gallons/fish. If the system was used specifically for grow out, I would stock 50 fish/tote every three months and harvest a tote of fish every 3 months. Given that the average fish after one year of growth would be from 1.5 to 1.75 pounds (some larger, some smaller) on the low end I would be harvesting 75 pounds every third month. Enough for me and my family....and that was the original goal.
Mineral Springs Tilapia Thanks for taking the time to respond :)
blackboy424 Comments are important. I'm sure other people would want to know the answer to that question. Thank you for taking the time to comment! Greg.
Hi, can you please tell me about the pipe at the bottom of the IBC totes? Is it 1.5" pvc pipe with holes drilled into it to let solids flow out and keep fish from being sucked out. What size male adapter do you use to connect to the tote's outlet? Thank you.
+Mac Townsend You are exactly right. The holes are 1/4" all the way around the pipe. What you have to do is sand the end that is inserted into the tote's drain hole to create a beveled edge in order to be able to get the pipes started. Put a bead of silicone about 1/2 inch from the beveled end then use a rubber mallet or a block of wood with any hammer and tap the pipe into the drain hole. The easiest way to connect to the 2 in pipe from the outside threaded drain is to use a 2" X 2" rubber boot with tightening straps (big 2" hose clamps) to tighten over the threaded drain of the tote and your 2" PVC .
Hi Greg I am working on starting a aquaponics system. When you built this filtering system did you add any biologic enzymes to start the filter off?
David Brooks Hey David, I did not add any live bacteria to my bio filter, but I added fish slowly to the system so I wouldn't overwhelm the system and because I had so much water and so few fish it worked out fine. You could certainly jump start the filter if you wanted and probably should if you need to add a heavy bio-load quickly.
Mineral Springs Tilapia
Thanks for the quick reply my mom and I are going to start with feeder goldfish to start the system with due to the cost of a breeder set of Tilapia Thanks again for the info David
Hi. How often do you exchange the water and how much? Thanks
Excellent and thanks for the infor
Hey greg, do you have any idea if the material in the bucket water heater will effect the fish or water. I mean is it purely 100% stainless steel. I wanted to do the same but have heard that nickel in the heaters may harm the health of the fish?? Thanks much for so great information.
claudia gamino Honestly Claudia I don't really know for sure. However I do know that there has been no problem with the fish as far as their health and I have not noticed any difference in the flavor of the meat between summer grown fish and fish grown to eating size through the winter when the heater was in operation. I know this does not fully answer your question, it is only my own observations. I will try to do a little research and let you know if I find anything that will help you. Thanks for your comment, great question. Thanks, Greg
Thank you for all of your help so far. I have another question: What do they eat? Could I subsidize the feed by feeding them left over bread/ rice, etc?
Rogers Caribbean Rice, bread and other similar foods do not provide much nutrition, and will not make your fish grow very fast and remain health but I'm sure they would eat it. I you want to supplement their diet, chop up your salad greens like lettuce and feed them that. Better yet, get some duckweed and grow it at your place. They love duckweed and it is very good for them.
How do plug the pvc pipes into the valve hole of the ibc tank
Very nice setup. a few questions as I'm considering doing something like this but for an auqaponics system indoors.
1. Does it smell?
2. do you use anything for a light cycle? day and night? or just leave it dark?
3. What is your food source? do you buy in bulk? if so where?
Suggestion.
I saw this on a different video with similar setup but no where near as neat and tidy as yours. On the solids waste separator, they installed a 3/4" ball valve as low to the bottom the tank and would cycle out about 3-5 gal of water a day to remove the solids that build up in the bottom. What do you do as an alternative?
+David Bonany Hey David, 1. There is very little smell, I always have a fan running and the fish house is well ventilated. 2. There is plenty of light infiltrating the ends and walls of the of the portable garage and I use artificial light when I need to work at night. 3. I buy my aquamax at my local coop, any place that sells purina foods should be able to order it for you in 50 pound bags.
Since my barrels are elevated on the stand, I installed a line with a ball valve diirectly in the bottom of the barrel for drainage. Before, I would just use a syphon hose and remove the waste from the top. Hope this helps.
Would a pool sand filter work?
Nice video and thank you! Only one pump?
Hi, Greg, what kind of heater do you use? I am going to implement two tanks of 1000 litters each one and I need a heater, the higher one that I have is a Hagen of 300 watts, and this is up to 300 litters, but for more than 1000 litters what do you recommend ?
Hey Israel, I use a 1000 watt bucket heater in my big 1100 gallon system. If you look at the video called "Winter Water Heating", you will see the heater and the box it came in.
Greg
Just a quick question, what size pump do you use for your system?
I'm working on setting my system back up, and trying to figure out a pump to use... when Its all set up, it will have 6 IBC fish tanks, 4 55gal barrels for filters, 1 IBC for a sump tank, and then several growbeds...
Previously I had been using a 220 gph submersible pump, but that is way to small, I picked up a free pool pump, but its an energy hog,.. 15 amps continuous. It pumps upwards of 4200 gph, I'm guessing I need something in the 1500 - 2000 gph range. or perhaps 2 different 1000 gph pumps. My system when all set up should hold about 2700 gallons, unless I decide to dig a bigger sump tank, or add the grow out pool.
Anthony Jensen Hey Anthony, I always try to size my pumps to turn over the total volume of water in the system at least once an hour. A little more or a little less should be fine. I would look for something a little more than 2700 gph because with all of the components in your system there is bound to be some "lift" involved.
I love what you are doing. Very easy system and understand. I am doing a 4000 gallons tank with a 5000 gallons water pump. (2) 200 gallons ibc tote biological filter. (1) 55 gallons drum swirl filter. Is the 55 gallons swirl filter be too small? The water pump will move a lot of water fast. What is best approach to this situation?
hello friend. I HV enjoyed your explanation of the flow through the system. Could u plse inform if you are using uniseals por other form of going through the barrels. I see a black square. Is that a rubber washer? TKS for the help!
I used the gray electrical pvc connectors, however if I did it again, I would use uniseals.
Your water clarity always amazes me. what type of filter do you use for your smaller breeder tanks. do you add air stones in the small tanks as well
In the 55 gal breeder tank, I use an Aquaclear 70 hang on filter....best filter I have ever found. In addition I use a large sponge filter in the tank powered by air and I use another large air stone. You can never have too much air going into the system..
Hey Greg, any idea what the flow rate is through your system? My wife is an avid fish keeper, and firmly supports the highest flow rate possible, and I agree. It looks like yours is pretty low rate overall.
So the pump we have is capable of 4300 gph at 0' head height, but still, highly capable of a very good rate. Assume 4000, that would turn the system over 4x per hour! I was asking about sizing, because you have a 3/4" line with 3/4" valves coming off, and each valve is highly choked back. I'm looking at twice that, a 1.5" return line with 1" valves off to each tank.
I'm sure we are over doing it, but the pump will serve to let us expand in the future if we wish. I guess I am just curious what size your pump is, and if you've had any water quality issues with the lower flow rates?
Tom Brueggen My pump is 1200 gph at 0 head. I always shoot for turning over the system at least once an hour, but I am probably only at 800gph with the lift I have. Have not had water quality issues and all the waste from the totes still ends up in the solids filter. I am going to a 2100gph pump in the sump and that should give me what I want. I totally agree that the higher the flow the better, but in for the last 2 years one turn/hour has worked for me. I will let you know if it makes any difference with 2 turns/hour when my new pump gets here.
I like the set up you have.and I am planning to make mine the next month.I am planning to move my fish from fish pond to tank system like this.I have a question,what is the required number of fish in a 1sq.m of tank thank you..I planned to have 4x3sq.m tank
thanks
CATtech 1985 Hey, sorry for the delay, I just got home from Georgia. In my grow-out system, I like to give the fish 5 gallons of water per fish at full size. At this stocking rate, the fish grow strong, healthy and quickly. If they are stocked too heavily it will reduce their rate of growth. If you have a pure oxygen infusion system, they can be stock more heavily. Tilapia use dissolved oxygen to metabolize their food. Good luck with your fish, and thanks for the comment....Greg.
Hi I like to know where did you find the fittings that go into the totes and what size are they. Thanks
I got all my PVC, rubber boots etc from Home Depot. All the pipe and boots are 2 inch. IBC totes come in a couple sizes so always measure the IBC tote fittings first.
I am planning on starting a small scale fish farm with 10 feet by 10 10 feet tank and a depth of 3.5-4 feet (Would this filter setup be feasible) if not could you give me any other ideas that are cost effective and friendly. Thankyou!
quick question can i keep tilapia in one tote and small/medium koi in two other totes all connected to one filter like the way you have your sytem but with tilapia in just one tote
christian32762 Hey Christian, the only problem I see is that Tilapia and Koi have different water quality needs, Koi like much cooler water and probably don't like PH to be as high as Tilapia.
What pushes the water from the tanks to the filter barrells? Could you explain the flow of the water in a little more detail?
Rogers Caribbean Good morning Rogers, the water flows from the IBC totes into the barrels by GRAVITY, it fills the first barrel carrying with it the solid waste. The solids settle out in the first barrel and the water overflows from the first barrel to the second barrel also by gravity which is the Biofilter from there it overflows into the third barrel which is the sump and is pumped back into the IBC totes using a submersible pond pump. When I am not heating the water, the pond pump is the only thing that is running. As the sump barrel is pumped out, the water is replaced (by gravity) constantly.. It is a "recirculating closed system".. Remember that water will always seek its own level so once I fill the tanks and open the drain valves, the water will continue filling the barrels until all totes and barrels have identical water levels. Pumping the water out of the sump barrel causes the water to constantly flow from the totes into the barrels to maintain the same levels.
Thanks for your prompt reply. Is there any particular level to place these tanks/ barrels/ pipes to achieve the gravity pull?
Rogers Caribbean If you come out of the drain of the IBC tote and have the tops of the barrels at the same level as the tops of the totes that will insure that if you have a power outage nothing will overflow, the entire system will just stop moving. The water should go into the barrel system about half way up the barrel or maybe a little lower. I had to put the barrels on a platform of 2X8's to get the tops of the barrels to be the same height as the top of the totes.
After some time the solids would build up. How do you then clean the system?
Rogers Caribbean I simply shut the valves at the bottom of the IBC totes and syphon all the water (and the waste) out of the solids filter. You can put a ball valve in the bottom edge of the barrel and connect a line to it that goes outside to a garden, flowerbed or just into the yard. It just depends on how you want to use the fish waste....I use mine as fertilizer for my garden. Then refill the solids filter with water and open the valves and you are done.
Thanks for the info,respect.......Seven Thunders
Hi Greg! Thanks for all the videos. I think I have seen them all now.
How are connecting to your filtration drums? Bulkheads?
Bruce
Z223I I used 2 inch male and female (male outside screwed into the drum, female on inside to tighten it up) electrical adapters. The PVC ones at my store are all tapered. Used a little silicone at the connections. Never leaked in over a year running 1500 gallons an hour through the system. Probably would have been easier to use Uniseals.
Thanks
thanks for the advice will let you know how it goes thank you
hi greg. sorry for bother you. what do you think about use natural charcoal with the lava rock? thank men. I am really afraid to lose more fish. i lose a lot of fish because i no have a good water filtration.
Luis Cancel Hey Luis, if you put the charcoal it the bio filter you would have to put into mesh bags so it could be changed out periodically. Activated charcoal will help to polish the water but will not last forever and you would have to empty the mesh bags and refill them with new charcoal when you aren't getting the results you want.
so do you add anything to the water. also how do you keep the ammonia levels down. I have bluegill but the ammonia levels go thru the roof
All I add to the water is Aqualife Complete which is approved by the FDA for use with food fishes. The bio filter which contains lava rock and filter pads is where my beneficial bacteria grows. Nitrosomonas colonizes first and changes ammonia to nitrites then nitrobacter colonizes the filter and changes the nitrites to nitrate which is harmless to the fish except in very high concentrations
hi. Greg. i have more or less the same you have. you have 4 tote i have 3. but my filter system is really bad. tomorrow i go to buy (3) 55 gall to do your idea look amazing. but my question is. you have the 55 gall barrel over a wood pallet. this is for water level or is just because you like it. thank you Greg.
Luis Cancel Hey Luis, I have them up on the platform so the top of the barrels and top of the totes are at the same level. That way if your pump goes out or you have a power outage your system will just stop and you won't lose any water from the system.
Thank sir
Hi Greg what size air tubing works with the Active aqua 72lpm pump. Great job I really your enjoy videos I have learnt a lot.Many thanks.
+malisia2mic Thanks for the kind words. The airline I use is silicone and 3/16 I.D.
Sir how many fishes can I put in one of this white drums may you please help me with this thank you regards George
That's good stuff Greg. Can you imagine a 10 pounder? Good Luck!!
LifeBuzzN Yeah, if I had one 5 lbs I would give him his own tank, a name and I would call him a pet!!
Thanks for the video!! Thinking about starting my own soon looking for good start up ideas
If I can help at all, give me a call at 865-604-6136 and I will help if I can. Thanks for the comment.
What about the ibc drains that go to the solid filter..how do you prevent fish from going out?
If you look on that video, you will see a piece of 1.5 inch diameter capped PVC with holes drilled all around it that will keep 1 inch fish in the tote. It is in the tote hammered and siliconed on the inside of the drain hole. It is only about a foot long.
Just make sure the fish are large enough to not fit through a 1/4 in hole.
Good day sir, can you tell me the size and make of both your air and submergible pumps? Is the air pump noisy.
+electrofranko My air pumps are Active Aqua 72LPM pumps with six way adjustable flow splitters. The water pump is an EcoPlus 1500 GPH pump. Both pumps are quite and dependable.
so the water will flow out of the bottom of the tanks and go up into the barrel without a pump and the only pump you use is the sump to pump water back to the tanks
Yes, the water flows through gravity because the water level throughout the totes and barrels is the same and the water flows into the first barrel (the swirl filter) about a foot below the water level in the totes. Water will always seek its own level in a closed system.
The flow of the water is dependent on the amount of water being returned by the pump that is in the sump. I try to turn the water over about once an hour. So, for my 1100 gallon system I use an 1800 GPH submersible pump to make sure I get at least 1100 GPH flow rate..there is about 5ft of lift that reduces the efficiency of the pump.
Thank you very much.
because your waste water has to go up in a pipe, do you have settled waste in the pipe? is there a way to operate the whole system without any electricity meaning that how do you pump your clean water from the last tank (sump tank) back to the fish tanks?
Ok, the water flow is fast enough to push the solids into the solids filter.. When I took the system down, which I did when I built the new hatchery, the system had been running for 18 months. I checked the 2 inch pipe and there was NO debris in the pipe. I can't think of any way to "lift" the water without a pump back into the tanks, but the wattage on the pump is so low that it could easily be done with a small solar system if you needed to do it that way.
If power goes and you are not there, will the barrel with the pump overflow, seeing their is no power for the pump. if it does overflow what can be done?
+electrofranko The barrels will NOT overflow. Since the tops of the barrels and the tops of the totes are at the same level and water seeks its own level, the system just stops flowing and remains static. That is why the barrels are up on stands. If any part of the system was at a lower level it would overflow at that low point until all the water was again at the same level throughout the system. Hope this helps.....Greg
hi Greg,
can you make a video about plumbing with these toats please? what kind of connector do i need to connect 2" pipe to the valve at the bottom?
thanks.
+N B Hey N B, as you might have figured out in my videos, I no longer grow fish to full size and I just raise fry, fingerlings and breeding colonies. However what I used to connect my 2 inch PVC to the drain at the bottom of the tote was a 2 inch rubber boot that has hose clamps built in to it. Just force one end over the threads of the tote drain and slip the other end over your pipe. Then just tighten the clamps and you are done. Doing it with the rubber boots allows you to get away with small miscalculations with pipe lengths because they flex. The rubber boots can be found at Home depot or Lowes.
What are the approximate costs of keeping this type of system running in terms of electric and water costs?
It varies during the year, lower in the summer for electric cost, I would say over the year about $90.00 a month for electric and $80.00 per month for city water in the Knoxville area,
What is the maximum number of tilapia that you can put in that ibc tote? What is maximum of ibc tote can run on that 55 gallon filter? What size air pump are you running each tote? Great set up!
If you are growing your fish to full size, I give them 5 gallons of water per fish. So for a 275 gallon tote with 240 gallons of water level in each tote, you would be able to grow out around 50 fish per tote for them to grow large and quickly....you don't want them to be stunted because of lack of room to swim. About 4 to 5 totes depending on the size of the tote, the total water in the system, the size of the return pump in the sump and the number of fish per tote and the size of those fish. Also, the tilapia use dissolved oxygen to metabolize their food so air is important. The 4 tote system I used had a 1578 GPH submersible pump in the sump so the total volume of water would be filtered at least once an hour. The air pump is a small commercial pump with an output of 72 LPM (liters per minute).
Mineral Springs Tilapia . Thank you for taking the time to respond. There is not much information out there. I was reading a couple of site that the rule of thumb is 1 gallon for 1 pound of fish. Is it true? Instead of using a 55 gallons drum biological filter. I increase it to a 275 gallon tote for 6 fish tank tote?
I thinking 200 lbs out of 275 gallons tote. Is that possible?
You could do that if you wanted too, just be prepared to clean solids filter everyday....that is a lot of biomass in a single tote, then when you multiply that by 6 totes, your solids filter will have to cleaned daily....I preferred not to clean tanks all day, every day. Your water in your totes will probably turn brown in a day...not dangerous, just looks nasty and you can't see what is going on with the fish.
Mineral Springs Tilapia . Thank you so much. I have been looking for this answer for 5 years. Lol. I don't mind cleaning the solid filter everyday. I am more concerned if it's going to be dangerous for the fish. I have limited space, water and electricity at my location. It's will barely cover expense with 50 fish per tank. I know I can get away with a 55 gallon mechanical filter with daily cleaning. I was more concerned on the biological filter can't handle the load. You are amazing.
also do the totes all have to be the same gallons or can i have one tote out of three be 300 gallons and the other two 200 gallons
christian32762 Doesn't matter what size containers you use, but they will always be at the same level if you set it up like I did. So, if your 275 can hold 250 gallons of usable water, 250 gallons is all that will be in the 300 also if everything is set up on the same system.
thank you so much
one more question in the third tank as your sump its just the return pump and thats it right nothing else in it other then the heater
I feel like this is a stupid question.
How does the water draining from the IBC totes go into your drum filter when the water has to travel up the 90° up pipe into the drum?
Remember that water will always seek its own level. Since the pipe enters the first barrel at a point lower than the water level in the totes, the water will continue to drain into and out of each barrel until the water level is exactly the same in the barrels and the totes (static). The water pump being in the back barrel (sump) and pumping the water out of that barrel it creates room for the water to start refilling the 3rd barrel and because the water that is being pumped into the totes the system starts running again trying to remain static. It is just Hydrodynamics that allows this system to continually move water in the direction I want it to go.. Once the water pump is turned off, and the water level is the same in all components of the system (4 totes and 3 barrels) the water movement simply stops. Nothing overflows because all of the components are at the same height and the water pressure is the same. The barrels could be other totes or a 6" diameter tubes, it wouldn't make a difference because once the pressure is the same the system would still just stop moving without the return pump .
@@MineralSpringsTilapia ,How have you done the plumbing inside the totes?Do you have a video for that?
I'm very impressed with your system. Do you not supply oxygen to the fish? How many fish can those tanks hold?
Francis Forrester Good morning Francis, There is a large air stone in each tote run by a small commercial air pump. There is also an air stone in the Bio-filter. The number of fish depends on the size. If you are just using the totes to grow 1 inch fish to 2 inches, each tote will support about 1000 fish. If you are going to grow fish to full size to eat, My rule of thumb is 5 gallons of water per fish at full size. If you have really good filtration and a lot of air, you could get as low as 3 gallons per fish at full size. Room to swim and good water quality along with plenty of air, good quality food and some light make your fish grow healthy, strong and very quickly.
Good morning Sir.
Thanks for the prompt feedback. I like your process because I want to do my own brood stock, fingerlings and fries instead of buying them. then I'll like to take them into the lake to grow.
This is a project I want to do in the tropics.
I live in Canada, please where can I get air stones and the other kits?
Francis Forrester Wow, the tropics sound nice right now. Most of the things I get, like air stones, sponge filters, aquarium heaters and other smaller items, I buy off of ebay.. There is a great selection of these things on ebay and the prices are normally lower than my local aquarium stores. Thanks, Greg
Thank you Greg. I'll keep you posted. May the Lord bless you.
Frank.
hi, very cool setup👌 I was wondering what you were running for a pump that starts the flow and how much power does it take? could you make it solar? thanks awesome video!
It is an 1800 GPH submersible pump in the sump. The pump runs on less than 100 watts. It could easily be run by a small solar system. Thanks for the comment and good luck setting up your system.
Oh, the pump is an "Eco-Plus" purchased off Ebay.
Good job,thumb up,any medications for the fries?
I'm trying to build a tank for my school. only needs to br about 75 to 80 gallons. can you tell me the materials I'll need and possibly setup?
Do you already know what you are going to use as the tank yet? An IBC tote, a glass aquarium, a large plastic round tub?
And what size pipe do you use on the pools 2" or 3" ?
MrERIC646 I use 2" PVC on the pools.
Hi there. I am a beginner looking to raise Tilapia in Costa Rica with my father in-law. I would like to know your opinion as to what i needed for a filtration system for a 6 meter by 2 meter by 1.5 meter deep cement pool. I’d also like more details to your design and layers of filtration. Would it be possible to contact each other either by phone or email?
Can make a detail video of how you create each tank. S
I'm looking to start my own tilapia backyard pond and was wondering what size pond is best to raise tilapia.
+Gro2Health Heirlooms That will depend on how many you want to raise and how big you want them to get. If you are going to raise the fish to eat, I would give them 3 gallons of water per fish so they grow quickly. So you can calculate how big you want your pond to be based on the number of fish you are raising. I have customers that have multiple 10,000 gallon tanks and some that use just a couple of 275 gallon IBC totes.
How often do you need to change those filter pads?
+Rick Hoskins I don't ever "change" the pads, when I clean the solids filter, I simply take the pad outside and spray it out with the hose.
Hi this is a great video and awesome forum. Mine has same question of how solid from IBC can be sucked into solid tank when the pipe goes upward? The other thing is how biofilter effect the quality of water compare if just using mechanical normal filter? Thanks alot for sharing the video
Hey Michael, the volume of water going to the solids filter will be dictated based on how much water is pumped out of the sump back into the tanks. I had an 1800 GPH submersible pump in the sump tank and because of the lift of the water, I moved just under 1200 gallons per hour constantly. The short lift going into the solids filter makes no difference as long as the entry point into that barrel is nearly 18 to 24 inches below the water level in the tanks. If you open the valves and don't start the return pump from the sump, the water will completely fill all three filter barrels and once the water level is equal in all 4 totes and all three barrels the water will stop moving completely. That is why the top of the barrels and the tops of the totes are at the same level.
If you have a lot of fish in the totes, you will need the biological filter in order to keep ammonia and nitrites under control. I never tested for or worried about nitrates. I can't really answer you second question because I always had a bio filter.
Thanks for the reply. Appreciate it very much. If I may ask how you determine the size of sump tank ?
I just make it whatever size I want....it is just for extra water and system refill. No specific size except that the tops of all the filter and sump component have to be the same height of the totes or in a power outage, you will loose water from the system. Remember, water will always seek its own level in a closed system.
Mineral Springs Tilapia great thanks for the advice
you done a great work.
i have only one question some says you need to recirculate all water two time in a hour is it right..? i planning to make 10000L tank with 1000 fishes need to harvest them around 1 kg.
Do you used a pump to get the water in the solid filter
No Mike, it simply drains from the tote bottoms into the solids filter. The only pump is in the third barrel which pumps the water back up into the totes.
Mineral Springs Tilapia what size pump or recommended pump for just 1ibc tote filtration? Thx
Nice system, I have two separate IBC fish tanks- one is aquaponics - 3 grow beds the other aquaculture- no grow beds- so I have 250 gallon fish tank- draining in to a 35 gallon radial flow filter which then flows into a bio-filter, which is another 35 gallon barrel- half full of lava rock then topped off with what I had- shade cloth. No air in the bio- I have to change water every 3 to 4 days- turns cloudy and ammonia starts to get high. Will adding a venturi or air stone make all the difference ? I also have to vac the fish waste out of the tanks every other day. I use a stand pipe in-lieu of the bottom drain. need help as I am wasting water and a constant maintenance issue. How often do you clean your filter and tanks ?
Hey Steve, How long has the fish only system been running and do you have a heavy load of fish in the 250 gallon tank. I would recommend that you add air to the bio filter. My total water volume is about 1000 gallons, you saw the fish load in the tanks. I clean the solids filter every two weeks and I change about 200 gallons of water each month mainly to clear some of the Nitrates. If your system is new and/or you have a heavy bio-load, it will take a while a month or two of the system running for the bacteria level to grow large enough to start converting all the ammonia to nitrites and then when the nitrites become available it will take the same amount of time for the Nitrobacter bacteria to colonize in you bio filter to convert the nitrites into nitrates. In the mean time all you can really do is 1. water changes to clear some of the ammonia and/or 2. Decrease the fish load and give the filter time to catch up then slowly add more fish. I don't ever have to clean waste from the totes, it flows into the solids filter and I clean it out there. Using the drain from the tote will really help keep waste out of the tote. Your fish will always be stirring up the water and consequently the waste at the bottom of the tote so it will eventually find its way into the drain.
Mineral Springs Tilapia One Thing I forgot to mention, you can buy live bacteria from you local fish store and kick start your bio filter. Just follow the instructions on the bottle.
Thanks for the comment!
Greg
In my aquaculture tank which is 250 gallon IBC I have 14 fish average size is 1/2 to 3/4 lb each. System is only 2 weeks old, so I need to add air and wait !
Thanks for the help
Thesteveb333 You will still need to keep the ammonia levels down while you are waiting with water changes and/or an ammonia reducing chemical like Aqualife Complete. 1/2 to 3/4 lb fish will produce an abundance of ammonia. Go to your local Aquarium Shop and get some live bacteria to kick start your system. You can put it anywhere in the system, but I prefer to pour it in just before entering the bio filter.
My aquaponics system 1- 250 gallon fish tank and 3 grow beds has been up and running for a good 4 months, would some water from that system get the bacteria levels up ?
hi greg me again with another question. how you know in between male and female tilapia.thank greg for all your help.
Luis Cancel You will need to let your fish get to about 3 to 4 inches before you have a reasonable chance of getting it right..even the experts get it wrong 5 % of the time.
Ok, you will probably need a biological staining agent and I use crystal violet. It stains the openings of the genital papilla of the fish which is just behind the anus of the fish. Grab a fish and turn it over in your hand, dry the area with a paper towel then stain the area with the crystal violet. I use a jewelers hood to magnify the area. In the male you will be looking for 1 opening through which urine and milt (sperm) passes. Do not count his anus, it is not part of what you are looking for. In the female you are looking for 2 openings, the first is an opening where urine passes, the second is a lateral slot (side to side) through which eggs pass. This process is very difficult to learn and takes lots of practice so I wish you good luck. Take your time and remember, when you figure it out it will become much easier and faster.
Wao interesting, thank you for you for all you help.
What happens if your power goes out? do you have any check values that can prevent your sump from overflowing
+ADRIAN Franco The barrels will NOT overflow. Since the tops of the barrels and the tops of the totes are at the same level and water seeks its own level, the system just stops flowing and remains static. That is why the barrels are up on stands. If any part of the system was at a lower level it would overflow at that low point until all the water was again at the same level throughout the system. Hope this helps.....Greg
+Mineral Springs Tilapia thank you of that information. how do you make you fliter system. can u email a step by step on what to do
+ADRIAN Franco The video should show you how to set this up, a step by step explanation would be like a small book and I don't really have the time to devote to writing something like that. If you have a specific question about how this is set up, I will be glad to answer and address your questions.
+Mineral Springs Tilapia The filter system has to be set up to fit your particular system.
+Mineral Springs Tilapia I was just trying to figure the water level so it doesn't over flow
could you please share the diagram of your setup
Are you still raising Tilapia Greg?
Do you filter the pools the same way?
MrERIC646 Basically the same except there is no sump in the loop. The water is pumped from the pool into the solids filter and overflows into the bio-filter and then overflows back into the pool from the bio-filter.
hi greg. I want to tell you thank you for all your Information. so far so good. is almost like a month and everything do in good. THANK YOU again. now I living in florida and I have around 20 tilapia in the 3 tank jajaja. all of them are female. Question for you. if posible buy from you some tilapias? i don't know is can survive in the shipping. or if you have a male can i buy for you. thank you greg. again thank you for all your help.
Luis Cancel Hey Luis, glad to hear that things are going well. I just moved my breeding operation to a new building and put the males back with the females yesterday. They have not bred yet because they are getting used to their new surroundings. I will have fingerlings probably within a month and then I can ship you some fish. Tilapia in the 1 to 2 inch range ship very well. If you check back with me and let me get these fish breeding again, I will send you as many as you would like.
thank you how much you sale the fingerling, how many is the minimum to buy and how can i pay you?
Luis Cancel Luis, send an email to gregsowder12@gmail.com and tell me what you would like...They don't really like me doing eCommerce over TH-cam...
I would want to contact you for more details on how to setup effectively. Any help
For the small fishes do it get suck into the filters from the bottom and how can i prevent it? Because i gonna do a similiar filter system
In an IBC tote, I used a 10 inch long piece of PVC pipe with 1/4 inch holes drilled all around it and 1 end capped with holes drilled in the cap. I tapered the open end a little with sandpaper and tapped it into the drain hole on the inside of the tote. As long as your fish are bigger than 1/4 inch from top to bottom, they can't get through the holes but the water and fish waste will get sucked through.
Oh, the piece of pvc pipe was 1 and a half inch size. That's important to fit snug.
I'm pretty sure it shows it in the video.
How do you keep the smaller fish from swimming out the pipe at the bottom?
The fish are not placed in the growing totes until they are at least a little over an inch long. There is a capped piece of PVC pressed into the drain hole on the inside of the tote with 1/4 inch holes drilled into it. They cannot get through those holes. If you find the scene in this video looking down into the totes, you will see them.
If you look at the scene with a time stamp of 4:40 you will see one at the bottom of the screen.
I knew I had seen them. Is it just 2" pvc pipe? I don't want it to float out lol. Is it hot glued in? silicone maybe? or just friction fitted? Thanks!
It is actually 1 1/2 inch pvc. I did put silicone around the open end before I hammered into the drain hole, but I suspect it will hold without the silicone.
how do u clean the ibc totes and barrells before u use them
I use clorox and water, you just have to make sure your rinse them very well several time with clean water.
hello sir,
Thank you for informative videos.
Much appreciated.
I get Tilapia all grown for $2.00 per kg. Hence its not feasible for a small setup if I'd start.
Hello am Henry Ghanain i want to know more about your bio filter system and your your breeder colony and ibc tank female fittings to pvc pipes
Thank you
Can you plaese provide me a diagram, of your set up, with the sizes of PVC used. Thank you very much..
Hi sir im from philippines.. Is your pump running 24/7? thanks in advanced
sglouie1 Hello, yes, the water pump is moving the water at all times and the air pump is providing air to the fish 24/7 also. Thanks for the question.....Greg
Mineral Springs Tilapia hi Greg. on the bio filter drum isit necessary to put a airstone to produce air on water?
sglouie1 Not absolutely necessary, but air in the bio filter aids greatly to the growth of the bacteria in the filter.
Mineral Springs Tilapia ok sir thanks. and the Bacteria is use for what? And if I have 15 pcs tote ibc tank, would the 3 drums be enough to clean that large amount of water?
sglouie1 The bacteria in the bio filter (and on all surfaces in your system) changes ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrates. Do a search on "The Nitrogen Cycle in Aquariums". You will need to know and understand the nitrogen cycle. The 3 barrels that I have set up will only keep up with 4 totes, so you would need 4 sets of filter system barrels with 4 totes on each set. 4 totes and 3 barrels will hold about 1100 gallons of water. 15 totes without barrels is well over 3000 gallons. If you want to hook up that many totes on one filter system, you will have to design a much more sophisticated filter system.
hello sir ,am trying to grow tilapia in a ibc but i never tried the bio fillter sys and am not suer how to go about it so can u plz give me some advice and am not sure if i would be able to get some of the products like the lava rocks in trinidad if not what can i use to replace the lava rocks ,thank you sir
+Jason Figaro You could use things like a bunch of sponges weighed down with some coral rock, anything that is very porous and gives lots of surface area for the bacteria to grow on. If you any other questions, you can email me at gregsowder12@gmail.com .... good luck with your project Jason. Greg
i have a question....why your heater put on the last chamber///
Hello i am henry from Ghana how can i get lava rock ,,what contity will i need for biofilter
+Henry Word Hey Henry, I don't know where in Ghana you could buy lava rock, I get mine at a garden center here in the U.S. It is used as a ground cover in gardens and walkways over here. If you are using a 55 gallon barrel for your bio-filter, you need to fill it half way up. About 10 cubic feet.
Hello sir,iam trying to make auquaponic sys for tomatos ,but i wondered if i add the Iron filings or magnizium or calcium for my tomatos plants ,do this Affect to my fishs or not ?if yes so what i can do exactly to not Affect badly on my fishs ??iam waiting answer from you, thank you sir
+Abdallah Lalas I would probably use chelated liquid iron, but I am not sure about magnizium. I haven't done any aquaponics for many years.
hey Greg. what is the name of the heather and where I can found it please. thank
Luis Cancel Hey Luis, not sure what you mean by "heather" so I'm just guessing. If you are talking about the water test kit, it is a "Fresh water Master Test Kit" and can be found at any aquarium store. If that is not what you are asking, I apologize, but please clarify your question.
Sorry. In the video you show something to heat the water is with the pump in the last tank. I living in Florida and right the temp is too cool for the fish. Thank you for all you help
Luis Cancel Oh, OK Luis. The heater I use is a 1000W bucket heater and I got it at our local farmers co-op. It is generally used in cattle watering troughs to keep ice off of the water so the cows can drink. If you look at my video called "Winter Water Heating" you will see the box it came in and how it works. Thanks for all you questions and good luck with your fish......Greg
Thank you sir I really appreciated all your help
Dear sir,
How many pcs tilapia each bucket?
Depends on the size of the fish and what I am going to do with them. If they are growing out to eat there are about 70 in each 275 gallon white tote. If I am going to sell them as fingerlings there are 300 or 400 in the tote.
for 4 IBC what size pump do i need?
thanks.
+N B You will have around 1100 gallons of water in 4 275gal IBC totes and 3 55gal barrels. I like to make sure that I circulate the total volume of water at least once an hour so I used a 1500GPH submersible pump. Thanks for the question.
THANKS..
im thinking of doing white nile. can u sell me some if u do have them. and how much to valdosta,GA.?
+N B White Nile is a hybrid fish and I only breed Pure Strain Nile Tilapia along with Blues and HornorumXNile Hybrids. If you look on mineralspringstilapia.com on the products page if the item has a paypal button under it then it is for sale and in stock. Everything I sell on the site already includes shipping.
how much does it cost in fish food to raise them from fry to dinner size, I guess a one pound fish?
+L.A. Boltryk That is completely dependent upon your growing conditions and the food that you choose to use. Tilapia go through a 240 day accelerated growth period. So, under correct temps, space, light, air and the proper feed (I use Purina AquaMax) in the proper sizes (300,400 and 4000) at the proper times, it will take around a pound of food to grow a Tilapia to harvest size, but remember, you can't really do the calculation for 1 tilapia so we do it for 100 fish. A combined pound of the three different sizes of AquaMax that I use costs less than 1.00, but I buy the food in bulk. This should give you enough information to apply to the circumstances and conditions in your system to get close to knowing what you will need and when you will need it to bring your fish to harvest size.
Are you saying that you use 1 pound of food to raise 100 tilapia from fry to adult size?
+L.A. Boltryk I'm sorry, that is what it sounds like. But, I use just under 100 pounds during the 240 day accelerated growth period for 100 fish, so 1 pound of food for each fish or about .98 cents to get 1 fish from fingerling (1 inch long) to a pound. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
That's what I taught but wanted to make sure. Great channel and a lot of info.
Thanks.
what is the stocking density for such filters in one fish tank?
The standard is 3 gallons of water/fish at full size. Personally, I stocked at 5 gallons of water/fish for a couple of reasons. I don't like cleaning tanks and the solids filter as often and I never needed that many fish as I was growing only for myself and my family and we didn't need that many fish. I have seen people use additional IBC totes as filter components and that much filtration will allow for a higher stocking density. It really just depends on what your ultimate goals are going to be. There are many ways to configure the system.
Mineral Springs Tilapia thanks a lot for yr reply. jus for my understanding can u pls give me some guidance. that for 500 gallon of water tank can i keep about 600 fish till harvest at 200 gram each, with three 100 gallon bucket mechanical filter and five 100 gallon bucket biofilter. to keep the ammonia level below 0.05. thanks
True that the fish could get to 200 grams which is a little less than a half pound, but at that density, you would probably need to have pure oxygen infusion into the tank. Tilapia use oxygen to metabolize their food and would probably not be able to get enough oxygen from just air pumps. I have never harvested a tilapia that was less than a pound and a quarter or 567 grams . Good stock fish should easily get to over a pound in 8 and a half months with adequate 1. Water temperature, 2. Water quality, 3. Proper food at the correct amount and proper times, 4. Enough dissolved oxygen to metabolize that food, and 5. ROOM TO SWIM. You are talking about less than a gallon of water per fish and they will not grow quickly or to a large size except with a pure oxygen infusion system when stocked at that rate.
Hey Greg I have watched all your videos and think its great you try to help in any way you can. My question for you is, Do you do this just for the hobby part of it ? Does this generate enough cash to help pay for the expenses and put some spending cash in your pocket? I started breeding Tilapia to help off set the cost of feeding my five 7" Red Belly Piranhas. But you have inspired me to build up my system, but only if there is some cash to be made. Don't get me wrong im not wanting to get rich off of Tilapia but if I could make enough money to cover the cost of up keep on them and still make extra beer more that's sounds like a plan to me.
Burgess Boys The first year I did this I barely made enough to cover my operating costs (water, electric,fish food, etc) and virtually 0 to help with the investment of tanks, pumps, filters, etc. This year (my third year) I was able to recover the cost of my initial investment for the equipment, all the operating costs and probably $1,000.00 for beer (or in my case other adult beverages). If you count Your Time, you will probably never break even unless you do it on a much larger scale than I do....but I don't take that into consideration. But, you have to get your name out locally and create interest and a market for your fish and that takes time.
Thanks for the information Greg I think im going to give it a try on a bigger scale then what im doing now. I will keep you updated, by the way how did the Aquaponics turn out for you?
Burgess Boys I had to abandon that Idea about a week after I got my first breeder colony and go to aquaculture only. I would love to try again and feel certain it would work well.
Great
hard to inside the bio filter..... so please when you empty it just take short video to see all the parts in side ..... many thanks