Aquaponics Ratio Simplified

Once you have your system up and running the key question on everything is how much?
how much feed  for my fish, how much fish for my system, how much ph, how much nitrates and so on.

Well lets just make it simple for you shall we?

    Lets start with feeding your fish since the feed is the start of it all.
Normally with adult fish they will eat about 1 - 2 percent of their body weight.
While young fish as in fry and fingerlings will eat about 6 to 8 percent of their body weight.
Now since most everyone is using the popular Tilapia, that is what we will base or numbers on, other fish may eat a lil more or a lil less, you will just have to test it for yourself. Easy way to do this is to start off with a 1/4 cup of food depending on how many fish you have. sprinkle that on the top of your fish tank and see if they eat that up within 15 minutes. Wasted food will hurt your system, so this should important to figure out. 

   Next we will learn the stocking density of your system. Based on  media or hybrid base system,
we will stock 1 pound of fish per 5 to 10 pounds of water in your tank, so if you have a 300 gallon stock tank, then up to 30 pounds of fish can be added, or if they are fingerlings or fry in a new system, just add 1 fish per every 5 to 10 gallons of water since usually they get upwards of a pound a piece.
Now! That being said studies are being made and stocking density can actually be made with less, basically unless you are aiming for high fish yields you can probably get by with half the fish, and still produce the same amount of nutrients needed for the plants and have a cleaner system.

   Your Oxygen level should be above 3ppm but would be better if it was 6 ppm, basically you can not really have to much oxygen.
Certain fish can withstand less oxygen like the tilapia as in raising trout, you need lots more, and dont forget the cooler the water the better the oxygen count will be.

   We want to target the PH level between 6.8 and 7 in your aquaponic system, this seems to work best for both fish and plants and should be checked weekly or more.. 


   Nitrite and Ammonia levels should not exceed .75.

If you see Ammonia levels rise suddenly, you may have a dead fish in

your tank. If you see Nitrite levels rise you may have damaged the bacteria

environment.

If either of the above circumstances occur, stop feeding

until the levels stabilize, and at the worse, do a 1/3 water

exchange to dilute the solution

   Nitrates can rise as high as 150 ppm without causing a problem, but much

more and  you should consider harvesting some fish and/or adding

additional plants  to your system

   Nothing is solid information and this should be used as a guide line,  everything can change the out put to your system like the type of fish, the water temperature (75 to 80) the type of plant you use, but it is imortant to start yourself a journal so that when you do find what works keep that info for the next system or the next grow bed, of if your father in law wants to build one you can come off knowing how it all works ( yes that is important too)

Please leave comments and questions down below and if you need test strips, look at amazon, or ebay or shop from the aquaponic source ( link above)

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