New member, new pond

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A

AZ Red

Exodon
MFK Member
Aug 8, 2016
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Hi all,

I'm actually an aquarium guy who's tanks were converted to aquaponics, and my indoor aquaponics has now moved outdoors.

My "ponds" are a pair of 330gal IBC totes that I plumbed together and buried in the side of hill underneath a couple trees in my yard.

For filtration, I have a MagDrive 12 feeding a swirl filter I made from a 15gal barrel. Yes, particulate filtration only. Again, I'm an AP guy; I use my growbeds for biological filtration.

I have already stocked the ponds with goldfish, and they have survived almost a week, so I feel confident in moving my tilapia from my indoor system to the pond without killing them. I'm planning on putting them all in the same tank, and because they are already too big to utilize the plumbing to go back and forth between tanks, I will have an empty 300gal pond begging to be stocked.

So, my questions are:

How big of a fish can be comfortably housed in a 3.5'x4' (1m x 1.3m) pond that I maintain at about 3.5' (1m) deep?

Also, I would appreciate some suggestions for appropriate species. My water temps range from ~40F/4C in the winter (not sure how low it actually dipped last winter) to around 82F/27C in the summer. I will probably continue stocking the ponds with comets and rosy red minnows, but I'm comfortable with them being feeders.

TIA,
Red
 
Update:

Last night I noticed a leak in my display tank on my indoor AP system, so the tilapia were moved a little faster than anticipated. They grew fast in that little 30gal tank, let's see what happens in a 300gal...
 
I wouldnt go over 20cm fish. I need an Ibc for my goldfish until i can build a pond. I am also doing aquaponics but am still using a dedicated bio filter
 
Sounds good, just keep leaves out of pond as they will foul the pond as they rot, u can also add either a weather loach or a bullhead, plus a single bluegill, the reason I say to add only 1 bluegill is becuz, they grow bigger when kept byself
 
So I added a UV sterilizer to my pond system and fixed some design flaws in the plumbing today.

Unfortunately, my water is too cloudy at the moment to see my fish. Not sure if any of the original goldfish that I stocked to cycle it are still alive. I've seen a few of my tilapia, but they aren't feeding in the pond like they used to when they were inside. I assume they are feeding on the goldfish that are swimming between the ponds, but I would think that the goldfish would also quickly learn that the relatively calm water of the one pond/tote is much safer than the other pond/tote with the tilapia and the more turbulent water (the water return from the AP system).

Has anyone else had issues with feeding when moving fish? I would imagine that they might be a little stressed for a day or so, but this has been a week. This is also the first time that the tilapia have seen fish that will fit in their mouths, so instinct may have kicked in. I also know that their appetite is directly related to water temp, and the pond may be cooler, especially 3' down.

For comparison, I was feeding them 1-3x/day before I moved them outside.

Am I overthinking their feeding?

AZR
 
AZ Red said:
So I added a UV sterilizer to my pond system and fixed some design flaws in the plumbing today.

Unfortunately, my water is too cloudy at the moment to see my fish. Not sure if any of the original goldfish that I stocked to cycle it are still alive. I've seen a few of my tilapia, but they aren't feeding in the pond like they used to when they were inside. I assume they are feeding on the goldfish that are swimming between the ponds, but I would think that the goldfish would also quickly learn that the relatively calm water of the one pond/tote is much safer than the other pond/tote with the tilapia and the more turbulent water (the water return from the AP system).

Has anyone else had issues with feeding when moving fish? I would imagine that they might be a little stressed for a day or so, but this has been a week. This is also the first time that the tilapia have seen fish that will fit in their mouths, so instinct may have kicked in. I also know that their appetite is directly related to water temp, and the pond may be cooler, especially 3' down.

For comparison, I was feeding them 1-3x/day before I moved them outside.

Am I overthinking their feeding?

AZR
Click to expand...
My goldfish are not so voracious when outside but still eat
 
well 2 days with the UV filter and a more efficient swirl filter has given me about 2' visibility in what previously had about 9" visibility.

Yesterday I also stocked with minnows and more goldies. Gonna see how quickly they disappear...

AZR
 
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