Nitrification is usually attributed to Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas species, however there are lots of different bacteria that do this type of work in these systems. All of our bacteria colonized our system naturally and over time. We don't use microbe supplements/additions. These bacteria exist just about everywhere in the world, so no matter where you start your system, they'll show up.
We typically run between 20-40 ppm, but you can run it at as high as 160 ppm and your fish shouldn't have any problems. It's best not to get it that high however. Plants use nitrates throughout that range.
That's pretty cool, but in our systems our fish serve a very utilitarian purpose. There are a lot of people that are using tropical or ornamental fish in their systems and they seem to love them/do very well.
Thank you for producing such informative videos. My question is how much nitrates do you typically have in your fish tanks and what are the maximums levels your plants use?
There's nothing wrong with focusing on the aquaculture (growing fish) side of production; however, from a small farmer' pocketbook point of view, it's simply impossible to be economically sustainable by raising fish for profit (at least at this time). The fish market is flooded by cheap, unsustainable fish farms across the world and as a small producer, we'll never be able to compete with the dirt cheap prices. Not sure what you mean about "green" production, sorry.
Great videos. I was wondering where you got/how you made those blue fish tanks. I've been looking around, but finding mostly info on building wooden tanks and such. Any info on that would be awesome. Thanks!
Nitrification is usually attributed to Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas species, however there are lots of different bacteria that do this type of work in these systems. All of our bacteria colonized our system naturally and over time. We don't use microbe supplements/additions. These bacteria exist just about everywhere in the world, so no matter where you start your system, they'll show up.
We typically run between 20-40 ppm, but you can run it at as high as 160 ppm and your fish shouldn't have any problems. It's best not to get it that high however. Plants use nitrates throughout that range.
Hey Caleb, those are some automatic fish feeders we have rigged up.
That's pretty cool, but in our systems our fish serve a very utilitarian purpose. There are a lot of people that are using tropical or ornamental fish in their systems and they seem to love them/do very well.
They're poly aquaculture tanks. You can find several sites online that sell them. just google polyethylene aquaculture tanks and plenty will come up.
Hi Scott,
You bet. I'll try to knock out a video on feeding this week.
Thank you for producing such informative videos. My question is how much nitrates do you typically have in your fish tanks and what are the maximums levels your plants use?
We recommend 1 lb of fish per 10 gallons of water for happy fish!
There's nothing wrong with focusing on the aquaculture (growing fish) side of production; however, from a small farmer' pocketbook point of view, it's simply impossible to be economically sustainable by raising fish for profit (at least at this time). The fish market is flooded by cheap, unsustainable fish farms across the world and as a small producer, we'll never be able to compete with the dirt cheap prices. Not sure what you mean about "green" production, sorry.
Great videos. I was wondering where you got/how you made those blue fish tanks. I've been looking around, but finding mostly info on building wooden tanks and such. Any info on that would be awesome. Thanks!
Nate, could you detail those fish feeders above your tanks in the video?
What are those vertical buckets over your fish tanks at 1:11?