Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

We having a guessing game?

Barra in the north funded by a mining company. The Ord is probably out so Qld somewhere.

If one was to use a heat pump to keep the trout system cool and the barra system warm, it might be reasonably economical to grow both at the same time.

Could be out on the production figures... but there's a lot of tanks in the concept drawing...

http://www.urbanecologicalsystems.com/i ... Itemid=169

And it's in Sydney..... "housed within a state-of-the art climate-controlled greenhouse"... so I suspect Barra... as it's a readilbly marketable species...

Patent pending bioconverter... Luckely common practice over rules patents, so it better be a substantially different design than a gravel grow bed or swirl filter.

Which one is correct?

If you like reading legalese, the patent is viewable on the web... http://pericles.ipaustralia.gov.au/ols/auspat/applicationDetails.do?applicationNo=2007272317

As far as I can tell, the patent is around a couple of aspects. The first being solids separation from the tank / water stream. Secondly, transferring the solids waste to a worm farm. And then extracting the castings off the bottom of the worm farm for the plants.

And don't forget having the carefully selected bacteria that will convert the ammonia into nitrites.

Of course, the magic sauce is that all this happens automagically.....

I'm probably starting to sound bitter, but I love this quote from the New Inventor site on the system..

This was discussed some years ago... and frankly I'm staggered that the claim has even been allowed to proceed to this stage...

I have no problem with them patenting their specific variation, or means of worm digester...

But the description is so vast that it effectively patents all, and any aquaponics system... commercial or otherwise...

And that alone is a nonsense... as any search would have highlighted pre-existing aquaponic systems... and methods that are contained within their claim...

Solids removal devices... digesters... nitrification techniques.. are neither new, nor novel...

Their particular way of doing things might be... but I doubt it... heck people have been removing wastes, processing with worms... and adding worm tea... back into aquaponic systems... for years...

I wish them luck in their business endeavours... and have no problem with retaining intellectual rights to their process... especially overseas...

But the application is so broard... that it could be applied to anyone, and any aquaponics system... past, existing, or in the future...

And it's NOT novel...

To be clear... I'm not opposed to them attempting to patent the actual bio-converter vessel... as it applies to their system/method...

But I am totally opposed to the breadth of the document... that basically attemps to patent "aquaponics"... and "aquaponic methods"...

Pity we didn't have an aquaponics body.... here's an issue it could/should be addressing...

Rupe
It isn't a NFP organisation and they are there to make money ie profit. They are talking about ROI. I would also worry about their expertise, the key people are mainly marketing etc.
Compare their model to the one from Solar Aquafarms on the previous page and that was a long time ago, at least the two who started and ran it knew what they were doing.
However given all that I hope it works, aside from the new idea (bullshit).

I have no problem with their business intentions.. or expectation of ROI... there's a lot of money investment at stake in commercialisation at this scale...

I don't even question their expertise... the principles have aquaculture expertise, and hydroponics expertise... and they've been fine tuning the idea for 5 years...

It's the encompassing nature of the patent that worries me... heck.. broadly, if granted... they could possibly make claim against many RAS aquacuture systems... or any future integrated aquaculture systems...as breaching part, or parts.... of their patent...

In terms of the commercial aquaponics farm and business.... I wish them success....

Again with the magic "worms".
What a joke. Especially on this scale.

Worms are magical Ryan... and there's no reason to believe that large volums of worms can't process large volumes of fish wastes.. produced by large scale operations... any differently than small scale/small volum backyard systems...

It is possible stateside to get a patent for taking existing technologies and arranging them in a unique way. Then there is a design patent, where it does not have to DO anything, but be a unique design. However, I doubt that they would get a patent on using worms in an aquaponic system. I have worms in my system ( thanks G2N!) heck, I don't have to do anything to reap the benefits either. The casings are made available without intervention in my system too! I do wish them luck in their business endeavor, I hope they can make their money by selling fish and vegetables!

Interesting; a commercial project that has received approx. $2.5 million in Govt. funding/grants, redefines 'commercial' IMO. Bit like saying being on the dole is being gainfully employed.

I will be genuinely surprised if they are still in business in 5 years time, given that 75% of start ups fail in the first year and 75% of those left standing fail within 5 years. They have the momentum of start up capital and initial Govt. funds, but cashflowing the beast will be a bitch - particularly given their management overheads.

I wish them luck - they are going to need it.