I'll have to think on that. An RAS would use much, much, less water flow and give you a bigger bang for the buck. With an RAS I could raise at least 5000 lbs. of trout with the same flow rate. I'm actually wasting a lot of well water. That is why I'd like to do RAS in the future with trout. Also biosecure and no predators.
Flow through raceways of some kind would also give you a production potential of 50 lbs. per gpm or more. The fins would not look as good as I would need them for my market though. Raceways can be in ground and lined, or just made of wood. Concrete is best but not everyone can afford them. There are even earthen raceways, but I'm not sure your sandy loam is conducive to that.
If you don't have any iron issues you may want to consider doing what Nelski does at Crystal Springs. That way you can separate the trout via species, and sizes. However if you do have iron issues -- ponds the size he uses -- would be a nasty brown from the iron and your trout would have irritated gills. Been there done that with a 25 by 25 foot pond.
