Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Aquaponics made the NBC news in the USA tonight. Interesting that they are in Milwaukee and there was no mention of Growing Power.

http://www.nbc.com/news-sports/msnbc-vi ... ers-clues/

The word is slowly getting out eh

Looks that way.

I still don't get it though, it's just not feasible long term to grow leafy greens under lights indoors. Might be viable with crops that cost hundreds of $ an ounce, but not lettuce.

I noticed that they are for profit but that they receive community support and they are closely associated with a non-profit called The Sweetwater Foundation. With the economy being what it is they are providing jobs and utilizing vacant warehouse space - let's hope they make it.

Regarding the lighting - I think a number of people have figured that this is cheaper than growing in a greenhouse for the climate they are in. The prevailing wizdom in some circles is that heating a greenhouse is so much more expensive than heating a building (lets hope it's insulated), it makes more sense to pay the lighting cost. I don't know if they are right.

I think this might be doable based on having a premium product but we'll see.

+1
From an environmental point of view. The electricity running that system will more than counter the benifits of it.
I don't see the point.



A certain type of Tomato plant would maybe be more appropriate, to grow that way.

If they have/add sky lights and solar tubes it would reduce the amount of lights and of course electricity needed then use solar electric for the rest or at least a large part of it.

LOL - Catfishrok, you might feel different if you had just been through a Wisconsin Winter. It's great just to see growing plants, no wonder they charge for tours! I think this is about knowing where your food comes from and how it was grown.

But aren't growing power doing similar stuff in the same area for a fraction of the power used?

One thing I really struggle to understand is why everyone in these really cold areas is so insistent on using tilapia as a fish of choice. I can understand that the feeding is a little easier than something like trout which has higher protein requirements, but in comparing feed bills to heating bills cold water species have to have some advantages.. I guess there ius also the breeding aspects, you'd have to buy in fingerling, but these are fairly small costs.

Cold water has higher dissolved oxygen carrying capacity, colder water in the root zone helps stimulate plant growth, you have less disease problems..

I dunno, maybe I just have a "thing" for trout.

I don't know Joel. I think that the costs may be similar. These guys say their system is based on the Growing Power model. Growing Power helped get them going and it looks like they grow the same type of fish. I can think of some ways that the tilapia would be doable without astronomical costs in the Midwestern U.S. I noticed that they are selling the last of their small tilapia and getting in yellow perch. It appears that they only grow tilapia half the year (could be keeping some breeding stock) and yellow perch the other half so that would help. Maybe the higher stocking density pumps up production in the Summer.

Trout are good but Yellow Perch are a big deal in the great lakes region they are more durable plus there has been a decline in their numbers, so they bring a good price. I'm pretty sure they breed easier than trout.

I kind of doubt walleye can be grown well in aquaponics but I'd take them over either of these two. Can't say I care for tilapia at all but haven't had fresh caught yet - taste is kind of bland.

Cheers

I'm still trying to figure out how they pay for a building (or rent) in an urban area, and cover the cost of heating the air/water to keep the fish alive. Plus the electricity must be killing them. Employees, insurance, and the cost to install everything. If I was the landlord, I would be pretty freaked out having all that water/humidity in my building.

I wish them the best and hope they can do it. They're in a slightly colder zone than I am....and I can't figure out how to make it a viable business in my area....

I can't work the figures into a "positive" bottom line either...

They probably aren't making a profit since they only just got started.

Bet they don't have to pay for all of those things. Many of their workers are volunteers. The building was vacant and I wouldn't be surprised if the city owned it and just said, here it's yours now. Vacant buildings are a liability and usually don't get cared for as well as occupied buildings and no one pays taxes if the city owns it. What's more they sap the cities money with maintenance costs - much better to have someone else pay those costs. One of their partners was a lumber company so they probably got a donation or discount for this.

I looked at their photo gallery and this was a huge project where they dug through the floor of the building, down about 4 ft using a backhoe to create the fish tanks etc... It wouldn't surprise me if they put in a geothermal heat pump when they did this. They also replaced the large, very old single pane factory windows around the top of the building with double wall lexan panels.

They had an engineering professor and his students work out proposals for converting the building as a class project - the files are posted on the site below. I haven't looked at them yet but they should have something useful. Look under the heading

An interesting stat from their site
http://www.milwaukeerenaissance.com/SweetWaterFishFarming/06-04-09



another interesting quote from the same site;

yellow perch is regularly 14.99lb around here, and i live right on the lake! lowest i've seen it in the last 2 years was 12.99 (i love perch but don't eat it often enough)
you'll get 4 or 5 butterfly fillet's/lb.. lots of info on yp by ohio state u, regarding breeding/feeding etc

folks that want walleye prefer large fish (20"+), i think they would be "doable" in ap, especially if you could convince people that smaller fish still taste as good..not sure about breeding though

i just read that the fishing limit for walleye will be lower next year, at one point walleye accounted for half the value of lake erie fisheries

the "blue pike" from lake erie is extinct.. fished out of existince

That engineering analysis report is very interesting, thanks for the info scotty435!