Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Since you are relatively young I assume from you post, I will tell you a secret. It is easy to be rich if you have a lot of time. It just takes self control. It rarely is about how much you make, it is about how much you invest. Learn to have enough assets early in life that they make money instead of you and you can be well off later.

To put it another way, you can have a lot of toys now - or later. You can't spend all the money you making having the latest gadgets and then expect to have money left over for investing. Think of what you really want - a new game, or eventually the freedom to do what you want? Be very careful with what you think are necessities. For example, I almost never went out to eat at work but would bring my lunch. A much better lunch, very little effort and much cheaper too. Watch the pennies and invest them.

To me, the freedom to do what I want is true luxury.

I am planning on having at least 9 beds - and probably growing. It only costs me twice as much to have a 6,000 liter tank as to have a 1,000 liter - I will go for the 6,000 and just not fill it all the way or just not stuff it with so many fish - at least at first... once the system is running well, I will expand I am sure - like everything I do.

Actually it costs me nearly as much to live as what I can earn, it's the price of doing fish farming in France, the bosses just take the fact that it is a passionates job who will do it anyway. Even them get under payed for their job.

In fact it is the main problem in france now, around 60 % of the people earn at the max 5-10 % extra than what it costs for a living. But I suppose it is more or less everywhere like that.

But my asset is my brain for the moment, getting trained a lot on multiple domains: aquariology, fish farming, environnement, quality and food safety management, aquaponics, horticulture...trying to be a swiss tool!!!
Hope it will pay back one day...

Could you do a quick sketch of the system as I could be thinking a bit more of it. I can't really fit such a system in a flat so thinking of yours would compensate.
Another tip about fish farming in one tank is to put cage nets in the 6000 L tank like that you could control the fish more often and have a few different size and species at the same time. Plus you would have the opportunity to pick any dead ones and control the density at any time.

Otherwise you could be having one or two protected couples/groups of tilapia that would be spawning all year and feeding other carnivorous fish with the fry that would get out the cages. Then you would just need veggies and eggs to create fish protein for carnivorous fish.
Could be an idea, it is actually how they do carnivorous fish in ponds in Africa and control the growth of the adults because like that they don't get overcrowded and stop growing.
Have a look at south african system on the forum, if you haven't, you could have good ideas for a nice system.
Sorry for all these long posts but when I start I've got problems stopping.

No problem, those are good ideas. As far as a sketch, if I can get to it I shall. I probably have to at some point since I am handing it off to be built by our construction people.

Regarding the 5% to 10% over - if you invest it instead of play with it, you would be surprised. And then when you really get into it, you find out how much of the "necessities" really aren't.

Classically, people think you get wealthy from having a very high paying job. Honestly, you get wealthy by knowing how to handle money. After all, you can spend an incredible amount of money with very little effort.

CRTD,
You are so right about the importance of just saving, even if it seems like too little to make a difference. What I did to get started saving was to share every raise with my retirement plan. If I got a 3% raise, I increased my contribution to my retirement plan by 2 of the 3% and kept only the 1% increase for myself. If you can do that each time you get a raise, before you know it, you're saving a good percentage of your pay.

I went through your blog with great interest. I got exhausted just reading about the strenuous horseback riding and tree-climbing. Whew!

Hi Janet,

We have visitors frequently. The first thing that the staff asks is: "How fit are you?" This is so that I don't get them into something they are not capable of surviving.

There are a few hardy souls though who want the full treatment and can keep up. That is usually 7 hours of hiking around some pretty aggressive terrain - or about 4 hours on horses doing the same. I have been told that it is very discouraging to be about 30 and see a guy with white hair having to wait for you at the top of every hill...

Stop it or I'll have to come for my next holidays!
Walking all day in the forest or riding, what a treat!
I'll go back to sport to show ya, old man...

Know what you are saying there CRT - the same thing happens with AP, where we more mature ppl are waiting for the younger generation to catch up to us

I guess I am still young at heart when it comes to AP since I haven't even killed my first fish yet...

Okay - project update. Backhoe is working, tanks are being picked up - total confusion is ready to happen.

Let the games begin.....

Yep, for sure on that. It is going to get pretty interesting for a while.

Hi CRTD
Give us pics of the mess so that we could compare with the end, please.

Yep - pictures will be forthcoming. 3 1 liter tanks were delivered yesterday with enough fixings to make 21 half barrels. Not sure why I have 21 - but I do. Like I said, confusion starts.

In the same process, we are building a work place for our mechanic and a spray room - since all will use the large compressor. These buildings come secondary but, since we have the backhoe here - we are reshaping everything.

I am going to start by setting up a simple experiment with autosiphons. Then we go into production.

Okay, first a picture of 3 1,000 liter tanks for fish and sump. Theses costs 60,000 colones each (roughly) or about 120 dollars USA.

They were originally used to haul miel - in other words, concentrated sugar cane juice.

Here is the material for the grow beds (the grow beds are barrels cut in half)