Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

well Ao i think i understand where you are coming from, and appreciate the thought and effort you have put into your position. as i'm from the west and have been around computers and the internet from the beginning, i learned long ago that people can and will say anything in order to sell, it's not limited to AP.

unfortunately where i live, samui, soil gardening is neither practical nor possible as we have virtually no agricultural land. the sun is too hot, we have no topsoil, the rains are too strong and can last for weeks at a time and the insects, wow the insects and in spite of that i have grown many things that others thought were impossible to grow here. tomato, cantaloupe, watermelons, pumpkins etc.

the amount of work and time necessary to grow in soil here is just too much, therefore it is too expensive. topsoil must be purchased, mulch is not available so must be made, same for compost. i keep rabbits and chickens in addition to gardening, so that everything will compliment each other, eventually.

regarding the large AP system on koh tao, i'm happy to see someone try it and i wish them the best. it will be difficult for sure. thailand is a place where you can throw money at problems and many of them will go away, but there are always new problems that will surface and he will no doubt have to find out the hard way. he isn't spending my money but i get to see his results, therefore i will benefit regardless.

since my family is thai and eats a lot of fish and veggies though, i am quite confident that a family sized AP system will work for us and it will be vastly more productive than my trials and tribulations in the soil.

Yes family AP is good, I think everyone agree.
But commercial...
We have discussed, follow the link I posted. That thread show you why family AP is good but commercial is not.
My point is just to give a warning if you want to go commercial AP too soon.

PS. My goal is commercial AP too.

555 i have not even set up my first fish tank yet, so i won't be going commercial anytime soon. in america we have a saying "don't put the cart before the horse" that would be appropriate in this situation.

i have read through the thread you shared, thanks.

You laugh 555 so you know Thai already. 555

Ok just want to tell you most info. on internet make AP too good.

I have worked in setting aquaponic systems as food security projects in Palestine and Jordan (www.byspokes.org). However, I have decided to take a year off to study an MSc in "food security and sustainable agriculture" and for my research project I have chosen to look into aquaponics and its interaction with a new strain of trichoderma. I will be doing this in Thailand for the months of June to August in collaboration with Greenpeace, so I am looking for existing aquaponic systems and people that would like to collaborate with me and systems that I can go and visit.

Any ideas, contacts etc welcome!