Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Nah Jeff... it's credited by himself.... and he trains people in his own systems.. then issues a paper certificate to say they've been trained....

These two quotes area from the history page on the site. So at the same time they were giving 5000 tours to people of their farms they had also had enough of farming and sold up and moved house?

And what is 5000 vegetables? does each cherry tomato count as one

Yeah not much of it adds up... 42 years of aquaponics experience in developing their systems too don't you know...

...thank you for the thread. I am completely w/o experience, only gathering info about options for my system.

I am glad you made Mr.Colle Davis "honest" for me: his web presence is salient to anybody trying to do some initial research into Aquaponics. I even ended up on his newsletter list, gathering information. I was considering his offer at face value, initially. But things started smelling fishy.

Going through his offer: the "value" added, compared to other established and much more reputable sources, is questionable. His ONLY contribution seems to be a mysterious "Calibrated Air Displacement (CAD) pump, the mystery being some magic removal of fish poop - the sole contribution Mr. Cole made to the field since he allegedly started it all by himself already in the 1970-ties. ( Patent Pending!! ) When I tried to cross reference this breakthrough independently there was NOTHING on the web whatsoever, apart from the site of origin. If he was a head of thousands' strong community of users of his system - nobody is talking the miracle? Troubleshooting, asking questions...?

The "practical" advice, after only marginal reading by myself, bore tell signs of armchair expertise.

Those people are doing damage> http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... X-2YmVjohU - Ms.Phyllis Davis is wondering, in emotionally charged tone, why nobody responded to her offer to step up to the saviors' plate to deal with the hunger in Haiti... From her presentation it looks like a callous mistreatment by bureaucrats happened.

Now I wonder: Did they just want to charge outrageously for their "expertise" and self-made "credentials"...and run? ( Or run again, I wonder, after already relocating out of their "thriving business" in California to Mexico?)

At one point I was so naive I was even considering taking their "university". For all reasons discussed in this thread this would had been one of the poorest choices of mine.

...I am really glad I could read through about the issue here - I am adding my side to the story: a person in the market, with no experience, almost taken in by claims that are just not true.

Only the sticker shock prevented me from moving on at the time - but for some people the fact they pay up is a sign of "buying a quality product"... (or having to justify it for themselves as such later).

Paying "consultancy fees" to them would, in the long run, save money to you, they say. ROFL (I learned this here, I pay with laughter)