Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

A picture tels a thousand words First proper harvest

I love to eat things I grow ..

I find the idea and playing withg pumps, fish, plants etc. etc, a truly satisfying hobby.

But ... is it really cost effective to do aquaponics in the backyard?

It is an amazing hobby, and large scale I can see the potential, particularly in places where water is a big problem.

I have seen calculations here and there , but so far nothing that relates to "payback period" or "breal even point" .. (do these figures realy matter?)

Environmental consoderations?

Would be interesting to see if it is REALLY viable, and how big does a person need to go go to make it cheaper than conventional gardening (or shopping at the greengrocer and fish-market).

Great post for discussion!

(I am playing devils advocate here ,... so lets see what people think! )

Great topic for debate!

J7, I did one simple calculation re my current system.

Total cost so far including tools I had to buy and stuff is around $3000. If I get the barra to 500 gr each, then that's 100kg of fish. at say $20 a kilo from the markets, that's $2000 I don't have to spend on food.
Now take into account running costs. 1 pump is on for 10 minutes, 24 times a day. Cost: 4 hours at .280 kwhrs @ 18 cents per kwh = 20 cents per day. Second pump runs about the same total time, maybe a bit more say 30 cents per day.
total 50 cents per day.

Then, I have 500 watts of heating in there ATM, which will be gone soon, but that costs $2.16 per day. Lets say it takes 180 days to get them to the plate. $390

So, $90 to run the pumps, 390 to heat the water if I left the heaters on all the time. makes $480 to raise a batch of fish worth $2000

Total cost for the batch? $215 for the fish and food, $480 for the electricity (overestimation) makes around $700.

$1300 in front after one batch of fish, not to mention the free vegies along the way and the enjoyment of doing it all.

Purely economically, it would therefore only take maybe 3 batches of fish, to cover all costs of fish and system. I'm pretty happy with that!! And if I can match VB's plant growth I will be exstatic

Stu - have already harvested well over 2kg of plant from my system (and that is from about 1sq metre (most of the bed is taken up by that bloody tomatoe plant). Doesn't sound like that much, but when you consider the system is only new and that the first few weeks were used in growing the silverbeet to a stage where it can now be harvested continually, its not bad. I reckon my nect batch of lettuce will take far less than 4 weeks to grow to harvesting size.

I know youe argument / points are 'economic' in nature Mon, but we could add in the envirnommental factors, and the peace of mind too of knowing what is going into your body!

Not to mention the priceless look on vistors' faces when they first see your system.

exactly AM, as I said, purely economical. All the other reasons will far outweigh the numbers.

yep - like the time I have spent with my son in putting my newest system together - you cant buy that sort of experience either... and the meditative quality of the system when things are weighing on your mind too - it alows us to escape them for a while at least, or to put things into perspective!

to continue with the economic slant - if you look at the fish side of things, the book says about 6 (I am counting on months to plate size - that means 2 years and it has payed for itself (setbacks not included )

I'd be suprised if anyone gets their fish to plate size in 6 months unless they have purchased advanced fish (like my silvers). I will be happy if I grow my fingerlings out in 12 months. This is why I want to be able to have at least 200 in my system. Though haven't worked out how I will bring in new fish each year at this stage????. May need a divider of some sort on my future tank.

now the advantage of a 2 tank system comes to the fore... like my 2 IBC's

I was lucky to get my barra bigger than some here have got their fingerlings!

U got it ...

as a parent .. that time is "priceless!"

My 6 chooks were far more efficient than my worms .. though!

they gobbled waste so much that I had to help the neighbours dispose of their left overs!

My roses looked amazin' and my neighbours got free eggs!

I would grab a bag or 2 of discarded cabbage and lettuce leaves at the suoermarket, go picking edible weeds, supplement feed with pellets only when I could feed them nothing else.

Amazing animals .. well fed .. and the eggs were tasty ... (I couldn't bring myself to slaughter them .. they were pets too!)

"priceless!"

Oh .. if conditions are right .. tilapia can be plate size in 6 months ...

but I didn't manage that growth rate .. (my tanks are too small)

But they did get big quick!