Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

thats the problem from memory molds start at about 3K and go upto 7K

not bad if you're punching out 100,000 baths................volume is the key

Sadly I know this Stop trying to destroy my wonderful hypothetic world!!! I've looked at getting molds made for something unrelated, and yeah, start up is a bitch!

Try the weekley times theres usually lots if stuff in there

Try shepperton fiberglass sorry dont know number its on katermatite road

Welcome Kenour
I got my grow beds from a sheet metal shop in Hamilton for $190 each. No freight from Balarat you can pickup from there.
[web]http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1655[/web]

Hey FF, a mate got in touch with a fibre glass place here, might as well get them made from gold



Cheers mate!

I was really looking for rectangles, I've considered the round option Plus I was trying to steer clear of gal. I found a place in Ballarat that will make me 2000x900x300 beds from gal with RHS around the top for $175 each, so that's my fall back if all else fails! Really want poly though, damn those qlders getting all the best stuff...

Nice system btw! Straight from the handbook I see!

Yep the mold also costs an arm and throw in a leg for good measure!
and I bet the production numbers would never become resonable with amortizing.

just curious, are Joel's growbeds and tanks made usiing molds? if yes, how expensive?

maybe Rotational Moulding

From memory I think the moulds cost between $5,000 - $7,000 .... each.....

That's a lot of systems to sell to breakeven.

Yeah setup costs is always a bugger to recover! I do a bit of logo design and get tshirts and other merch made for events, with the small runs people often ask why a $10 shirt is now $25! Well there's digitizing, getting negatives made for screens, getting screens made etc, that's before the first drop of ink touches cloth!

Wonder if he's considered approaching elders or another agricultural place or even bunnings and seeing if they will purchase in bulk so he can recover costs quicker so we can get them closer to the $150 mark of the other ones! Wouldn't it be great if bunnings pucked them up, we'd be getting them for $99 before ya know it

No, I'm afraid that they will never be down to those levels that the black ones are.. Main reason, food grade UV stabilized HDPE is not cheap... The Tilkey tubs are not food grade.. At the moment I'm getting 40 beds at a time and the cost price to me is waaaaay more than the retail price of the tilkey tubs.. Even getting them produced 100 at a time I can't get them for anywhere near their retail price of those tubs.. The only way that I could get the price down significantly is through production in China or possibly by not having them produced from food grade HDPE, either of these options I don't feel very good about...

Yes, makes it difficult if you are selling a product EB... I weighed up the pro's and cons and found that my wallet could handle the "tilkey" tub...so far no regrets.

There were a few toy makers that used overseas manufacturers for their products, forgot to mention that lead was not an option in the produce (Matel springs to mind )

I hear that! That was a terrible affair... tut tut Matel!

So you've had no problems then, you've been running them in your currents system for nearly 2 years now?



Me either mate, mainly because I like keeping wealth as local as possible, no good trying to create a self sufficient sustainable community if we're sending our dollars overseas! My wallet virulently disagrees mind you, but what does it know! Looks like plan B it is! I'll post some photo's of the gal tanks when they're made!

Cheers!

Yep, no problems whatsoever with the GBs...think it might be closer to one year tho

With the gal tanks (now that you've added that to the post ), eb uses gal tanks for his fish/GBs, forest (in Woombye) has gal tanks for fish and GBs, Jaymie has a gal fish tank (re-cycled - 10,000l and full of fish ) and I have a gal tank for my fish tank (and others I have missed)...so they are widely used, just that rectangle shapes are easier to fit at times