That was a great article to a great thread Bender! You guys have probably saved me years of experimenting.

I kind of agree with you guys on waiting. Some bad news I discovered is that my 5000 gallon pool is leaking. I only paid 35 dollars and I would have paid that for it leaking or not but I wish they would have told me it leaked before I started filling it. I went everywhere in town looking for a decent cheap pool. Everyone was sold out. Will try again tomorrow and also inform my tilapia supplier and see how long I can stall him off for.

My reason for wanting to use the 275 gallon totes as filters is because one tote will replace 5 of the 55 gallon drums. I'm thinking I'm going to start with about 55 gallons of filter for every 1000 gallons of water. I've read that one drum will filter up to 3000 gallons but not for tilapia if what you guys are saying and the article that was posted above. If I have to I will even double the filtration as the fish grow.

The plan is to go to locate a pool in the city tomorrow and set it up the same day. I think 100 fish will be ok in a 1250 gallon pool for a few days while my big pool is aging after I fix it. I have mega pumps both circulation and aeration. I will also probably cut down on their food till the filter(s) kick in and start doing their job. Hope that doesn't stunt their growth.

Check out the air pump I ordered.
http://www.amazon.com/Active-Air-Commerc...4599&sr=1-2

Good old Amazon! I also got some 2500 GPH magnetic drive water pumps that run off 265 watts of power for about the same price. Here's the link if anybody is interested.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018CE6DQ/ref=oss_product
Only problem is if you read the reviews they are for dog food. Yesterday when I ordered them there was a picture of a pump and today there is a picture of dog food but the description still says pump. Guess I'll find out in a few days if they sent me the right product. The price does sound a little too good to be true.

I also drove by a feed store that was closed and noticed they had 55 gallon drums and they are used. They also had some plastic round watering tanks. Going to call and find out how much tomorrow.