(250 gallon) Need advice on raising tilapia

My dad wants to raise tilapia to eat. And since I'm the one currently keeping fish, he wants me to figure out how. Anyway, I saw this, and thought it looked really interesting.

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/my-aquaponics-setup.112994/

He would be working on a smaller scale, with a 250 gallon tub in the garage. I'm envisioning water lines running out the side of the garage and into an outdoor grow bed. I'm having trouble finding information on raising tilapia though. We would obviously need a species that can handle pretty warm temperatures, but I can't find out how hot is too hot. (Last summer we had highs above 110*F.) Rogue used two large grow beds, so I'm guessing I could use one grow bed half the size of one of his. (I'm also assuming the beneficial bacteria live in the grow bed gravel?) Rogue also started with 200 tilapia. Would I be right in assuming we could get 50 tilapia, and raise them in this 250 gallon tub until they reached a harvestable size? (I'll find out the exact dimensions of this tub soon as I can.)

So... That's all I got. If anyone has any advice, general or specific, I'd be glad to hear it.

 

He thinks the tub is 4'x4'x4'.

 

You may contact these people they can probably help you with something.

 

This is a thread I can't definitely get into

Now I work with 3 500gal tanks in a green house. Temps can go up and down all day. These fish are hardy though, I mean REAL hardy. Their water may get up to the upper 80s no problem, and the lower 70s if we let it, but we use giant heaters in the winter. We do weekly cleanings. The method is basically a strainer tray, all the water is sucked off the bottom and run through it 24/7 this means no poo left behind. Then the water goes through a cylinder filled with biowheels to take care of the rest. We also grow lettuce on top of the water. Once or twice a week ill drain all the poo and some of the water with it, shoot it off to the hydroponic stacks out side.

How many tilapia you can keep will vary depending on the species. We use a nile hybrid from the port manatee.

 

Apparently the only legal species to keep privately in Texas is Mozambique Tilapia, so I reckon that's what we will be working with. The few numbers I've found shows something like 1 fish per square foot? But that can't be right...

I still think some sort of water chiller would be needed. The garage is not temperature controlled, and after several 110*F days, I can't imagine the water would not get into the 90s at least. Plus, since it's in the garage, there won't be much light for algae, so I guess they would have to rely fully on supplied food.

Solitarian, the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around at the moment is how solid waste is handled. One thing I read stated that you don't want much currrent in the tilapia tank. but you need the fish poo pulled out of the tank and further into the system, yes? How is this accomplished? And you don't want it getting into the grow bed, so you have some sort of filter between them (which has to be cleaned very frequently, I imagine.) Then you have your bio filtration where the bacteria live, then you have your grow bed. How does your "strainer tray" work?

 

1. You want current, these are current fish. They will swim in circles around the tank . Ill get pics in a second but let me type an explanation first.

We have the tub, then wer have a tray, about 4" deep, on a stand next to the tray. On both ends there are outlet holes. One outlet has a control valve(like on hose spicket) and the other end has a tube. The valve stays closed for the most part, unless cleaning. On the end with the valve there is a leangth of PVC that runs from the tray to the bottom of the tank, where we attach a few more pieces of PVC that spread over the bottom of the tank, they have holes in them.

Now, the other end of the tray with a tube, the tube leads to a enclosed cylinder/canister, the water is pushed through it, its loaded with biowheels. So that filters it. In the midle of the tray is a large filter pad(air conditioning pads) that stop solid waste.

Now, we put a piece of air line tubing attached to a pump, through the PVC pipe (starting from the tray end, to the bottom of the tank) and secure it in place(use silicone or staple). This way, the bubbles will push water up the PVC, out into the tray, where it will fill up and start draining into the pipe/biowheels on the other side, which have a 3rd tube that runs back up into the tank, so the water runs back into it. Tada. You can even turn the air pump off once it gets started.

 

Looking forward to pictures, I'm having a really difficult time visualizing it.

 

XP we have 2 setup types, I described the solo set up, the dual set up cannot be explained by a mere mortal.

here are some pics

The pvc


The tray(this one is on the dual, no pvc)(ignore the box and cylinder on the right)

Just imagine that the PVC pipe runs out of the tank, into the near end of that tray
Then the water flows back into the sponge, down a tube, through some biowheels

And back into the tank.

I promise I will try to get a video for you, K? It will seem way easier with the vid.

 

So, the water goes from the tub to the tray filter (via some sort of magic air pumping system I do not currently understand), from one end of the tray to the other, with carpet-like A/C filter material to stop solid waste (which gets cleaned weekly.) I don't really get your whole tubing/multiple outlet/valve system though. Like what the valve is for.

Are you pushing water through that pipe to the bottom of your biowheels, and letting it work it's way up through them, with an outlet at the top of the container to send it to the beds? That's the only way I imagine you could keep all your biowheels wet.

I look forward to your video Thanks for the help so far, I'll get this figured out yet.

 

Bingo, you nailed it! The valve, that's to let all the trapped waste out. You can see it in the pic, the little orange horizontal knob. I flip it, and the water and poo in the tray drains, ours as you can see goes to another pipe that puts it in a storage tank outside that can then be pumped to various areas of the farm

The magic bubles:
If you know how a under gravel filter or power head works then you know what I'm talking about. If you put a piece of PVC in you tank(the end must stick above water line) and then stick a bubbler in it, the bubbles will shoot up to the top of the tube, and, in the enclosed space that is the tube, create an up current, cause water to flow from the PVC. This also of course, creates suction on the bottom of the tube as water is sucked up through it.

 

Oh *that* knob. Makes sense, drain from the bottom. What are all the knobs on the left for?

Oh so the PVC pipe is full of water already. How do you initially get it filled? (Is this one of those continuous flow setups?)

 

yes that knob, again, that tray is for the dual setup so its got added pieces, not relevent.(the bunch of them on the side control various air flows and outputs)

No, the Pvc is not full of water, its in the water, which means its filled to the water level, then the up current from the bubbles pushes it higher and out the end.
This is a continuous flow, always running, even when draining the tray. Which means that while draining the tray, I can remove as much water from the tank as I wish! then refill it with the hose since we use well water out there, no chlorine and the heavy metals don't phase the fish. To put it simply, never gotten a fish with so much as a fin tear.

that being said, ive Never worked or learned about Mozambique Tilapia much. All I can tell you is that they eat lots of plants... We stock the 500gals with an average of 250-300 fish. Sounds crowded but the fish do fine. Its food production, not long term show. Ideally you want to pull the fish out in its prime, for us that's about 2-3lbs. Bigger fish must go to let smaller fish get bigger as well, which is why we have 3 tank, if we have one fish grow much larger then the others he can go into the extra, that way everyone can get food.

 

I would have thought the air bubbles would just reach the water level in the pipe and push the air out the other end. Or, do you keep water in the tray so the water has to get pulled along? (that's probably it...)

So do you have the fish tub as the lowest point? It doesn't sound like you have any water pumps. The way I'm picturing it, the tub is the lowest, and you have an air pump moving water into the tray. The tray gravity feeds into the bio filter, gravity feeds further into the plant bed, and finally gravity feeds back into the tub. Is that about right?

 

Ahh, that's what you would think in natures terms, but defying nature is a specialty. You see, when you get the system full of water(the tray doesn't have to be ) The lowest point is in the tube on the far end of the tray, where it gets pushed back up into the tank. So, the water is flowing in one solid direction, the force of the current is what keeps it all running like a never ending cycle.

 

That's... Really weird o.0 I hope to see a video of your setup to hopefully understand it better.

 

You will probably have to wait until wensday... that's when ill be down there next. Though, with the new turkeys ill have to see if I can get some fish time in.

 

I don't understand how the force of the current can keep the water flowing upwards. It seems like it would spill over the top of the tray instead of getting pushed up a pipe to the biofiltration.

 

Just wait for the video..

 

My dad is thinking of installing an underground heat exchanger to keep things cool in the summer. Makes sense. Probably need a mechanical pump to move all the water though.