Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08 ... cs-pay.php

Would be good to have some of us with "the knowledge" comment on there to keep the information in the comments section real.

Guess I can't even really comment because I'm biased. Yes we produced some of the figures because who else can possibly give any figures?

The way I try to explain aquaponics and our systems to many people, is that the kit system is like a vehicle. Buying a fancy vehicle doesn't mean that you instantly become a racing driver yourself. A system will perform differently depending on how you drive it, you can drive slow and steady and get small amounts for minimum effort, or you can drive it flat out for maximum production..

But just like any other vehicle there are experienced drivers and inexperienced drivers, and there are people that want different things out of their vehicle, and people willing to put more effort into learning their vehicles capability.

Of course then there are all the other environmental circumstances, can't drive as well when it's raining or snowy. You need to put in premium fuel to get maximum performance, etc.

It's reminiscent of stocking levels, no one wants to know recommended levels, they always want maximum stocking levels. When someone buys a vehicle, do they want to know the average performance of a vehicle, or the maximum performance?

It's all good promotion no matter how you look at it I guess....

I've thrown together a spreadsheet, although it's not really in a state that I'd like to share it (YET), my medium/high estimates so far show me that I can get an ROI in under 12 months if careful. Worst case 18 months.

Now I used some figures from Richard Chiang's paper, my own observations and general supermarket pricing. all based around Perth Supermarket prices. The downside to this is Perth has one of the highest costs of living. (depending on your view). For me it shortens the ROI.

IMHO Richard Chiang's sort of wrong - only from the point of view that I think his ROI is too long, it's not 2+ years it's less.

It's hard for Joel to prove/justify this, as he's selling systems, however those of us who are installing for our own benefit, can see it daily. Joel's right of course, and also I read a post from Faye describing how she does it regardless of cost, again I agree, the fact of receiving such high quality chemical free produce, and fish (without mercury and other chemical poisons) is incalculable. If this system makes me healthy & live a long life, then it's worth every penny.

To me if a system pay's for itself in 1yr or less then that's a huge bonus, so far my number crunching has said it does. (E&OE - Errors and Ommissions Excepted)

(Oh and ROI is Return on Investment or Payback).

Ive put it down to the first punnet of tomatos cost me $30,000....Everything else from then on is free....I'll try and put my figures up soon....

I agree with the above 3 posts i had a go at writing a reply 3 times it didn't sound right so i scraped the idea
Only thing if you build it out of recycled stuff and everything goes as planed you will show a profit sooner

The difference between cost of recycled and off-the-shelf is massive.
Of course there is the time cost to be added as well.

The article is focussed on the BYAP systems which I don't think is really fair. The question should be about AP overall rather than just one company's systems.

To continue with Earthbounds analogy it's like comparing the transport efficiency of a 10yr old second-hand car with a brand new Mercedes.
Is car transport bad because of the availability of the Merc? If you don't like the Merc, don't buy it! Just get the banger from the newspaper classifieds. They both essentially do the same job.

Me - I'd like to get a BYAP system. Can you ship it to HKG?

Paedur

Now that's a great perspective!

I'd like to see the price difference offered in supermarkets for fish with and without mercury in them...

if they can't offer that at ANY price, then I reckon it doesnt matter what the AP costs to run , its still cheaper than "product not available"