TCLynx wrote:
I think a few people have tried to start such things but so far, most groups (other than all of us right here on BYAP) are still pretty small. Now there are programs at the University of the Virgin Islands where they are doing aquaponics. There is a place here in FL that offers traning classes (morningstarfishermen) and I believe Friendlys in Hawaii are also offering information and perhaps even training. Oh, there might be a place up in Wisconsin that would be much closer to home for you. I believe most of the better stuff is down under with our there. Having said all that, I've never taken any of the classes so I can't really tell you from first hand knowledge but if you are good at researching stuff here and like the DIY tinkering, the classes are probably overrated unless you are planning on setting up a commercial facility.
The answer to your last sentence is yes. Although financing is available for a relatively large startup (not my money) I would be foolish and self destructive to do this with my current knowledge base. Herein lies art of the problem. AP is still fairly new compared to traditional farming and it seems as though many peole have been successful with many different methods. I can not attemp ebb&flow as we will need to go vertically indoors and their is a weight problem. I am rebuilding my system tomorrow with three of four tiers high. I have germinated plenty which are ready to go into a system so I will be able to build the framing and have it going tomorrow since the fish culture is ready to go. It seems that the rule book is still being written for all this science. Most of its contents will most likely come from this site. So although I have hurdles, vertical, indoor, NFT, I have had good luck so far but need to feel confident before embarking on anything of that scale. Needless to say I will be probably be spending a lot of time reading back posts here for a long time.
