Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Why is it that there is always some muppet out there who has to shitbag someone else for doing something different?
Tony all the best for your setup mate, hope you and the people you have with you learn a lot out of it and it leads you all to something good in your futures.

ROZ, mate unless you are funding it, stop being such a kill joy and go mow your lawn or fix your fence... they look unloved.

Steve, I'm not knocking the project in terms of the training benefits, and potential opportunities it might provide those who it caters for... and/or the interest it might spark within those same people...

But I am questioning the proposition that, even when "upscaled"... it could be portrayed or "sold" as a "commercially viable" system...

Putting the "aquaponic" lettuce production aside for a minute....

If I, as a student of Challengers reknown aquaulture course... were to approach them with a proposal for a RAS system based on 4 x 5000L fish tanks, producing 1200kg of fish per year.... as a "commercial venture"....

I'm quite certain that Tony would, quite rightly... point out that such a system was not, and could not be seen as "commercially" viable...

P>S... and Steve... what they're doing... isn't anything "new", "different" or startling ... at all...

It would be great if some serious, unbiased academic empirical project regarding "commercial viability" were being researched and reported....

But I just don't get the sense that this is what this project is about... sorry...

Steve I feel the questions need to be asked, Rupe possibly has more experience than most in these sort of systems
Technically Rupe is funding the project, so are you and me and everyone else that pays tax in Australia, certainly Tony isn't funding the project, and really it would better if Tony actually acknowledged the thread he started and some of the points raised

Ahhhh, the old double the figures routine... Yes, when Josh Burne published an article about my system in the Organic Gardener magazine, he mucked it up and doubled the fish production level. I then spent hours on the phone to the editor, having to explain my figures and how I came to them. Luckily I had all my feeding figures and fish growth rates of the system in a spread sheet on the CD-Rom that came with my book and he had a copy of that already.

Still, the following edition of the magazine had a retraction/correction published in it. Big long one too, giving the correct figure and just trying to talk down AP a bit in general because the editor felt that Josh had "made it sound too good".

Perhaps Rupert didn't ask in the most eloquent way and it may not have been totally on track, but if the figures given in the article are doubled then it's fair enough for someone to be asking the questions. When they are looking at the pictures and trying to add things up, if it doesn;t make sense then people wonder why. I guess Tony, if the figures are doubled and you knew it, then perhaps if you had said something in your original post where you linked to the article, then there may not have been such questioning.

There seems to be a undercurrent of anger whenever anyone questions these things on forums. I've noticed this many times over, someone posts up their plans or figures, and if people question it or try to correct what they see as inconsistencies they are then trashed for daring to question. It's not necessarily an attack on someones idea or figures, there are many people who are looking into trying to go commercial or semi commercial, and they are trying to weigh up production figures of the different larger systems that are posted up in varying forums and websites.

Personally I think that's sort of the whole idea behind forums, it keeps things open to many different interpretations, I'm questioned on my figures on an almost weekly basis.

I hope that you will continue to keep us up to date with these large systems you're working on Tony, and please don't take all questions in a negative light. There's a lot of talk about aquaponics and so often it ends up just being talk, I guess that's why people tend to question things. It's good to see more of these larger systems actually taking shape in reality.

I'm still waiting to see a real commercial system in Australia, does anyone know of a system that is running commercially standing on it's own two feet, turning a profit on sales of produce only?

Very nicely put EB

Ok, I've been trying to work through the figures myself.... Can I ask what you based your plant growout figures on Tony, that is the number of plants as per fish stoking levels in each system?

I'm just comparing to our systems and although you have the same fish stocking levels as we had, there's only about 1/3 of the number of plants per system.. I'll be interested to see how your nutrient levels go....

Yerp... having grown through one crop of lettuce... (pics would be nice).... surely there should be some sort of data available... as to nitrate levels over time... plant growth time.... plant yield... fish weights.... approx FCR to date.... etc...

Quick questions, why does everyone assume lettuce production when estimating returns on commercial systems? Are lettuce proven as the vegetable with the best ROI?

It's a benchmark crop I do believe.

Is there any updates on this one?

Haven't heard anything... when it was set up it was stocked with trout which were intended to be harvested in October...

Maybe they've switched to a crop of Barra...

Maybe the funding has run out.. and it's been discontinued...

Well I call my aquaponics setup a semi commercial one as #1 its a 30,000 ltr system and I cant call it a home sized one hahahahah #2 I have 900 jade perch, We couldnt eat that many fish in the year if we ate it every day..... In the growbeds we have I can harvest 160 lettuce per week, as well as have enough for all of us to eat and have 1 GB full of Chillis and 1 full of lemon grass and 1 full of shallots for the market.....The returns arent great but it is bigger then any home system i have seen and I make money to pay for extras....and thats without doing a great deal at all....plus the fact that i am selling the feeder fish because they wont all fit as they are randy buggers...I am also looking at selling the large yellow apple snails that just LOOOOvvvve the system and also reproduce like crazy ( 13 egg bunches and counting, thats just the ones that i can see now )so yes I would call mine SEMI commercial even if I went double my system to be the equivalent of this pilot business venture I wouldnt call it a commercial systemas I dont take wages and then there are more council regulations as we start falling into a YUCKY area of then having to comply with council regulations and lisencing with surface areas, processingareas stainless steel etc, hasp food complience ....No thanks Not for Me WAY TO MUCH HASSLE for the miserly dollars that it would produce .... SO if you want to do it commercilay I agree with Rupert i think it was that said you need LARGE MONEY to get multiple systems.....and If you are going to go that big You mose well start Your own hatchery and Seed Selling company too.... Plus I wouldnot have 1 system I would have 10 seperate systems as It comes back to All the Eggs in 1 basket rule especially with diseases etc

Was there ever any feedback on this pilot system?