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How many of these would you need to produce enough food for one adult? What kind of fish should you grow, and how long do they take to be adults and edible? Yo

How many of these would you need to produce enough food for one adult? What kind of fish should you grow, and how long do they take to be adults and edible? Your project is very cool, I think you're doing an amazing job. Keep it up!

ph0rque 10y ago
If you eat mostly plants, two of these systems will provide 90%+ of your food (assuming you have a greenhouse to put it in, or live in a place that stays warm year-round). The fastest-growing fish used for aquaponics is tilapia, which can reach maturity in six months. But, they require for the water temperature to stay above 60F (15C), and really prefer water above 85F (30C). Other fish take 9 or more months to mature. Thanks!
- juliangoldsmith 10y ago
  >If you eat mostly plants, two of these systems will provide 90%+ of your food What numbers are you basing this on? That is, do you have an estimated yield in lbs. for what one system can produce?
  - ph0rque 10y ago
    My initial proof-of-concept produced 10 lbs/square foot annually, not counting the fish. This system should be more productive, but only time will tell. If this system has similar levels of productivity, it would produce 360 lbs annually, so two systems get you 2 lbs of food daily.
jsilence 10y ago
Apart from the aspect that I consider this design to be flawed, I can give you some rough estimates on yield. A sound stocking density for tilapia would be around 50-60 kg/m3. If you keep temperatures high (28-30°C) you can have two harvests in one year. Tilapia has approximately 40% filet, so you can produce roundabout 50kg of edible fish fillet in one cubic meter fish tank. With such a fish tank you can approximately produce nutrients for ten square meters of grow beds. A realistic estimate for the yield would be 10kg of produce per square meter per year, maybe a little higher if you take good care of the system. So that would give you 100-150 kg of produce per year with a 16sqm green house, a one cubic meter fish tank and ten sqm grow beds. The recommended consumption of produce is 100-150 kg per year. So your system could cover your produce consumption for one person. You still need carbohydrates (grains) and oil (rape seeds and sun flower and such) and protein. The fish will not cover your protein demand. You'll also have to keep in mind that depending on how you run the system you'll have a lot of fish twice a year. Staggered production is not possible in one smallish fish tank.

ph0rque 10y ago

If you eat mostly plants, two of these systems will provide 90%+ of your food (assuming you have a greenhouse to put it in, or live in a place that stays warm year-round). The fastest-growing fish used for aquaponics is tilapia, which can reach maturity in six months. But, they require for the water temperature to stay above 60F (15C), and really prefer water above 85F (30C). Other fish take 9 or more months to mature. Thanks!

juliangoldsmith 10y ago
>If you eat mostly plants, two of these systems will provide 90%+ of your food What numbers are you basing this on? That is, do you have an estimated yield in lbs. for what one system can produce?
- ph0rque 10y ago
  My initial proof-of-concept produced 10 lbs/square foot annually, not counting the fish. This system should be more productive, but only time will tell. If this system has similar levels of productivity, it would produce 360 lbs annually, so two systems get you 2 lbs of food daily.

jsilence 10y ago

Apart from the aspect that I consider this design to be flawed, I can give you some rough estimates on yield. A sound stocking density for tilapia would be around 50-60 kg/m3. If you keep temperatures high (28-30°C) you can have two harvests in one year. Tilapia has approximately 40% filet, so you can produce roundabout 50kg of edible fish fillet in one cubic meter fish tank. With such a fish tank you can approximately produce nutrients for ten square meters of grow beds. A realistic estimate for the yield would be 10kg of produce per square meter per year, maybe a little higher if you take good care of the system. So that would give you 100-150 kg of produce per year with a 16sqm green house, a one cubic meter fish tank and ten sqm grow beds. The recommended consumption of produce is 100-150 kg per year. So your system could cover your produce consumption for one person. You still need carbohydrates (grains) and oil (rape seeds and sun flower and such) and protein. The fish will not cover your protein demand. You'll also have to keep in mind that depending on how you run the system you'll have a lot of fish twice a year. Staggered production is not possible in one smallish fish tank.