Georgia Farmers and Consumer Report

Nice resource. Georgia Farmers and Consumers market Bulletin

Renting Pond Space

What about renting pond space and using cages?

Found this interesting article on cage culture

This is a good site. AquaNIC Cages





Ken's Fish has the following cage for bream.
But the numbers seem off. A 20 foot cage only does twice the number of a 10 foot square cage.

Breeding Koi

Here is a breeder that talks about culling:

Culling and Gradding Koi at The Village Keeper

Just joined a site that sells Koi.

Japan Koi Online

Found a good picture of the different varities of Koi.

Koi Cost

Cost of setting up a Koi system.

I have seen a small wading pool for about $15 at Wal-Mart but I could not find it on their site.

Pump for $18.95 + $6.75 shipping = $25.70. Could I buy this locally for less? Could I buy it used for less. What about finding one in the Atlanta shopper?

What about finding an aquairum setup in a garage sale?

Koi

From talking to Ken at Ken's Fish; there maybe some money to be made in Koi.

This is a nice beginner's site: A Begginers Guide to Koi and Koi ponds.

What are Koi?

Related to the common carp.

Koi are not big gold fish. However, they are a distant cousin to Koi.

They were developed over 200 years ago in Japan. I would have expected them actually to be much older than this.

Types of Koi

There is a lot of different varities of Koi:

Kohaku, Tashio Sanke, Showa Sanke, Bekko and Utsuri, Asagi and Shusui, Tancho, Kigio, etc.

Ponds for Koi

Setting up a pond for Koi requires two things. One, a healthy home for the Koi. Two, clear water to see the Koi.

Best to use bio filters.

Should be atleast 500 gallons. A pool about 7 to 8 feet radius with a 3 foot depth should work.

Straight or near vertical walls to protect from preditors and give more pond volumne.

Bottom that slopes towards drains and awy from incomming water.

Surface skimmer

Associations

There is an atlanta Koi club: Atlanta Koi Club

They meet once a month and it would cost $30.00 to join.

Possible Setups

Use with aquaponics system.

Set up in kiddy pool for view and sale.

Use rain water.

To get the rain water I could use a barrel.

this seems like a nice site: HGTV Home Ideas

I especially like the idea of grouping more than one barrel with a down spout.

Ken's Fish

Has a nice talk with Ken at Ken's fish. He said one area to make a profit might be Koy (

Tank Options

What about using a kiddy pool?

This is a pretty cheap one from walmart

at 12' x 3' is has ((12/2)**2) * pi * 3 = 339 square feet. 339 * 7.48 = 2537 gallons.

The site say it holds 1,779 gallons.

At $98.74 that would be 5.55 cents per gallon.

No bad.

This is new. I might be able to buy a used one for less.



What sort of pump would I need?

For ponds you are suppose to pump the volume every hour (see Discount Pumps)

If that is true I will need a pump or pumps that can pump 1800 gallons an hour.

This looks like a nice one. It is suppose to have only 1/2 the electricty. Does that mean is only requires 1/2 the volts or 1/2 the watts?

Danner Supreme Pondmaster

A 1800 gallon/per/hour (GPH) cost 164.95 No maitance or seals and has only one moving part.

This give 10 gph per dollar.






Via Aqua 306


The Via Aqua 306 pump is 526 GPH at $18.95 This is 27.76 GPH per dollar.
Now the garrentee is only for six months, but I would have redundent pumps.

Hybrid Bream

This is a source at 35 cents a piece with a minimum of 1000.

Ken's Fish Farm

Fish Problems

State Issues

Looks like I might have some real problems getting the tilapia.

I look like I can legally have them.

GA DNR Site for Tilapia

I need to contact this office for my county.

Wildlife Resources Division
Aquatic Education/Aquaculture
2123 U.S. Hwy. 278, S.E.
Social Circle, GA 30025

(770) 918-6418

I will need to call and talk to someone at here.

Tilapia Sources

There is a place that raises tilapia in GA, but they can only sell them for food.

Southern States, Scott Crow, Valdosta, GA 229-292-4312

I don't know if they have a web site.

I have ask if I can come by and visit their facilities.

Other Options

If I can't raise tilapia I am going to need a much large tank to do a different kind of fish.

Quasiturbine

Learned about a new engine today. It is called the quasiturbine and sounds like it could revolutionize engines.














This is a real neat site that talks about how it works:



http://auto.howstuffworks.com/quasiturbine.htm

It also looks like building a stirling engine using this engine would also be a significant advance.















http://www.quasiturbine.com/QTStirling.html

How hard would it be to build something like this? Perhaps I should build something more simple like the following.

No Truck

My biggest problem is that I no longer have a truck. Renting a truck to go a pickup a free old freezer or fridge is expensive. But perhaps that is what I need to do. I would be nice if I knew someone who had a truck I could use, but at this time I don't.

Tilapia Expirence

This is the where I bought my fish from a few years back. It was expensive and the fingerlings produce were all male.

http://www.cherrysnapper.com/













I hope to avoid that problem this time.

Tilapia Type

What sort of tilapia do I need?

It looks like I need Oreochromis niloticus or O. mossambica or O. aureus. None of these are true tilapia, but this is what everyone is talking about when you talk about tilapia you eat.

This is a good site on tilapia.

http://www.tilapia.ws

This site also has some nice recipes.

Where would I get some of these types of tilapia?

Oreochromis niloticus

This is the nile tilapia.











There is a good description of it on this site.

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=2

It is suppose to handle lower tempartures that other tilapias.

http://www.aquatext.com/images/fish%20etc/niloticus.htm

Oreochromis aureus



This is also called the blue tilapia













Has more gill rakers than the nile.

Oreochromis mossambica


This is also called the Mozambique Tilapia.









I think I would like to try the blue tilapia. I would like to use green water and they have more rakers than the other two. This might help in filtering the food from the green water.



I also have receive the following source from Gary J. Burtle at the University of GA.

Southern States, Scott Crow, Valdosta, GA 229-292-4312

Lake Geneva Fisheries, Alabama, 334-684-6473
Aquasafra, Inc., Florida, 941-747-9476
Natures Way Aquatic, Florida, 941-445-0520
Organic Fisheries, Florida, 941-776-5722

Pets You Eat

I use to raise rabbits for eating. This gave my children an endless supply of little bunnys to play with and they were too young to think about what happened after they (the little bunnys) grew up.

I need to be able to buy tilapia for pets. I am not running a commercial operation. I just need a few fish to keep my aquaponics system going and will eat them as the get large enough.

All I really need is a breeding pair of the right species. Perhaps I can get a pair from here.

American Cichlid Association 2006 Convention

The real question is how to I get there and back with the fish. Would they have the fish I need?

Is there anything here in Atlanta?

www.atlantaaquarium.com

What about other locations?

www.cichlid-forum.com

Poor Man's Stirling Engine

What about a stirling engine that used methane from my biogas digester to heat the water and ground water from outside to cool. What would this engine look like? Could it be produce cheaply so as to be sold to people in third world counties? What sort of temperature difference would be need to that the motor would run effenciently?

Resturant that Specializes in Tomattoes

What about a resturant that specializes in tomattoes?

Could be raising the tomattoes and the tilapia right where the customers eat. Hopefully the aquaponics system should deal with any smell issues. How many people like the smell of tomatto plants?

Old Fridge for Tank

I would like to use a old fridge for a tank for fish in my aquaponic system.

If I can find one that holds a 100 gallans, it would be best, but probably anything that holds 50 gallans or more should work.

Should be insolated well when the lid is close therefore heating should be minimal. Pumping air in with an air stone should keep the keep oxigen in the water. How do tilapia do in the dark?

If it was in a green house I could open the lid during the warmer hours when the sun is out and close it at night.

Remove out the shelving and anything else that would take up space.

Line with plastic sheeting.

How big does the container need to be?

1 cubic foot

=

7.48 gallons

=

62.4 pounds

100 gallons = 13.37 cubic feet

Small fridge is 18.2 cubic feet or 136.14 gallons

Will need a piece of plastic sheeting 8x11 feet. Cost will be less than $3 per sheet. (I may even have some already in the garage).

Duct Tape 15 feet. Cost less than $0.50.

Looks like I might be able to get 136 gallons for less than $4.

That would be 3 cents a gallon for a container. And this is an insulated container. Have I missed anything?

This set a new standard in buying tanks.

It sure would be neat if I could tell how much power is being used.

What I am Currently Doing Now

Currently grind my own whole wheat flour. I use this flour to make bread and pizza dough. I use a bread machine that I bought for $12 at Goodwill. I also got a pizza stone from Bed Bath and Beyond for $16.

I semi-sprout my wheat to make my own cereal. I soak the wheat overnight and than rinse and drain every 12 hours for a total of 48 hours. I than put the sprouted wheat in the fridge. When I want some cereal I simply put the some wheat in my food thermous the night before with boiling water. The next morning I have a nice wheat tea and cereal.

I buy a number 10 can pizza sause from Sam's. I open the can and split it between three 32 oz canning jars. Two I freeze and the other I put in the fridge.

Bottom line is that I eat pretty healthy and pretty inexpensively.

Stan's Provident Living Blog

This is a simple blog to jot down my ideas on 'provident living'.

I have a web site: http://www.geocities.com/stansprovidentliving/pl.html

To me the prefect setup for provident living would be a small farm where I would produce myself the basics for living, food, fuel, etc. It would also be nice if this not only would sustain my family but also generate an income.

Right now my main interest in aquaponics. I would like to put together a system where I would grow tilapia and tomatoes. This system would be something that someone could put together very enexpensively free. I would like to run the system using biogas from my own methane engine.

Right now this is a dream. However, I do have the tomatoes seeds. And one 55 gallon and one 35 gallon plastic drum. I still net to get a pump, gravel, and wood.

I would really like to get some Oreochromis aureus; however, I would be willing to take anything right now. Espcially if I can bread them myself.

I my have to settle using hybrid brim. That would be nice because they do well around 75 degrees.