Keith, I have had little success keeping algae alive in jars. If i can do this in 3 days i dont really see the point.
Hesperus, That's really interesting and there may be parts of this that i can learn and use but i am not sure i completely understand the details that make this method work.
1) what type,size of filter do they use that allows the right size of plankton in but doesnt let the fry out?
2) do they change the filter as the fry grow and need different sizes of food?
3) how big do they grow the fry out before release?
My plan is to
a) move some of the algae water into a different ibc (250gallon tank).
b) Then add more fish tank water to feed the algae bloom and bring it up to about half full (125 gallons).
c) Once the fry are swimming i will siphon half of the fish tank into the ibc (~30 gallons). This will do both feed the algae bloom with more nitrates and move a fair number of fry to the ibc.
d) Then every few days add about 10-15 gallons aquaponics water and maybe some rock phosphate to feed the bloom and keep it going.
e) in a couple of weeks when the ibc is about 90% water capacity (~225-230gallons) i will have to start doing partial water changes to add new fish tank water. Maybe 10% every few days?
"e" is going to be the tricky part. I dont feel like i need constant circulation, just a little water swap here and there to keep the bloom fed. The fry will still be super tiny and i am not certain how i will keep all of the fry in the tank. Maybe i can get away with just adding a little rock phosphate until the fry are a little bigger?
I will have to keep them in this non circulating tank until they are big enough to not slip through my plumbing in the indoor hatchery system, so they probably need to be about an inch long. The openings in the "drains" at the bottom of my barrel tanks are miter saw cuts. They are about 2" long but only about 1/16" or 1/8" wide.
brian
