Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Dave Donley....thanks for your post.

Tim...still on the attack and still now understanding why I posted. When I asked to hear all your thoughts, I figured that any right thinking individual would be more constructive and I wasn't asking anyone how to set up a system....I have already been there and done that. That wasn't my request if you would read with logic in your head instead of anomosity.

EllKayBee....way to go lady...go with the flow..

gnash06.. No attitude was reflected in my original post. Your second post was considerably more in line with what I would have expected from professional persons. Thanks

johnnie7au...Codi .. I won't respond to anything you say ... No need .. not really important to me. Then why would you chime in other than to make your presence known.

Tim...your last post is right in line with your others....still negative and nothing constructive...take a pill dude and mellow out before you pop a cork. There's no doubt that you are a fairly intelligent individual for someone who is twenty one, but I didn't exactly sleep through 2 tours in Viet Nam, 4 years of college or 64 years of life. Take the pill and call your doctor in the morning.

creative1...The bus stops just up the corner codi get off any time you don't like the ride!! Right....maybe I have caught the wrong bus. This bus was recommended to me by a fellow AP in Central Florida as being the place to go to reach intelligent, knowledgeable individuals who just might be interested in becoming involved in a project of this size. You may be right....I think maybe the bus I should have caught had already left town with all the reasonable people on it.

Janet....I have read and re-read my posts, all of them, and I have no idea where you came up with anything you commented on in your last post. Apparently, unlike yourself, I am not looking for a living, breathing community to buy me a beer and put a roof over my head when I come visiting and again, I wasn't looking for or asking for information. I'm looking for PEOPLE who are willing to get physically involved with their sleeves rolled up, USING THERE BACKS AS WELL AS THEIR BRAINS and work right beside me (not behind me or in front of me or instead of me) to create something this country needs using all the technology already in existence and hopefully, through collaboration, maybe even coming up with some new stuff of our own. If a beer is what you are after, they surely have it at the 7 - 11 or Quick Shop.

As for BIO-FARMER....now there's a response I can live with...apparently not interested in my project, but glad to have me aboard. Also, if you are in fact 100 years old, May God Bless and Keep YOU for another 100. Thanks for your welcome.

I'm beginning to believe this forum has way too much DRAMA for me. So far, it seems more like something I would see on these chat forums where everybody belongs just to put in their two cents whether a post is directed to them or not rather than professional individuals interested in furthering a particular agenda. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's basically how it's been since I made my post. For what it's worth, I do apologize for creating such a clammer with what seemed to be SPAM, it wasn't my intention, but I have never been one to back down from a fight and have always believed that the best defense is a good offense.

Wow, 4 pages in 18 hours. Has to be some kind of record for a newbie.

So Codi, trying to stay on topic, any more specifics about what you envision for a project? What kind of markets would you want to reach for products, the domestic or export market? seems you could do both from that location. What does land go for in that area per acre? Are there any aquaculture operations looking to sell or sitting vacant? Do you have a parcel of land in mind?

I was just thinking that using the ratios we use (not sure you can do that on a large scale system) if you had as little as 5 acres, 1 acre in fish tank and 4 acres in Grow Bed, I calculate the following:
1 acre tank 4' deep = 1,303405 gallons of water
4 acres of grow bed medium = 5.25 million gallons of grow bed volume/medium
Fish capacity 651,700 lbs fish each 8 month period.
veggie production @10lbs per lb of fish = 6.57 million lbs of veggies.

While I am sure there are larger aquaculture projects, the sheer volume of grow bed media necessary would mean some pretty sophisticated engineering for inflow outflow especially if F&D were to be the method used. Your simple auto siphon would probably not be a suitable method of discharging water. You might have to go with one of Les's actuator systems.

Certainly the Fish tank could/should be in ground but what about the Grow beds?

With the volume of veggies coming off it would probably be cost effective to have your own packing house for fish and veggies.

A water pumping system to handle 1.5 million gallons per hour.

A good water source, I calculate you would need to replace a minimum of 2% of the water per day due to transpiration and evaporation,

Water quality labs to handle the volume of new water going into the system daily. There would have to be some sort of water treatment facility pre fish tank.

Air pumps to aerate the water and grow beds

A fish breeding program using fish that are profitable to raise in the US considering the American penchant for importing Tilapia from China and Central America.

Someone else chime in here. I don't think massive amounts of land are necessary what is needed is massive amounts of money for R&D and a minimum of 3 years to see a break even point.

It all makes for an interesting discussion anyway.

Codi

Unsure whether you have seen this one.

Interesting link http://www.baysoundings.com/wint06/aquaponics.html

The bottom of the page Victory Garden.

It seems that there has been a fair bit of R&D done there. While it aims at foreign students, I would imagine it is worth a look to get some ideas.

Excellent article. I am impressed with how established they seem to be. Certainly there are other outfits such as Aquaranch.

I've deleted my previous post -- too negative !

This seems to be another excellent resource. It is not large scale but has lots of basic info about AP and seems to have worked the bugs out of many of the problems found in AP. This is a 501 c3 org. Codi you might want to contact them to see if there is interest in your project. They are certainly not that far from you and probably qualify for grants and such. They may be a good resource.

I certainly will look into them for possible training next time I am in the US. We are kindred spirits of sorts.

Thanks for pointing this place out.

dthawk....

I am shocked to say the least but ever so pleased.

I have no way of checking your calculations as my backyard family system consists of a swimming pool my son no longer uses. I was raising Butterfly Koi and tomatoes but have decided to raise Tilapia instead.

However, I have the means to purchase as much as 10 acres of land in North Central Florida for said project, but need many other individuals with other knowledge bases for example; such as possibly attorneys who have the know how to search out and apply for Grants for up to date equipment and a sufficient surplus to pay wages for those that require it until the system can support itself monetarily; many persons such as yourself that has a solid working knowledge of what is required to be able to make this work.

As for what to raise, that was the reason for wanting to collaborate with so many different individuals...two heads are better than one, but many learned heads is an awesome site to observe in action provided they are all working constructively toward the same goal. Let's face it, China can't raise everything that a country or World needs to feed the populace. I for one am past being tired of what's going on around the world when it comes to people going without food, but I am even more distressed by the fact that so many in the world think that someone else should just give them what they need, instead of them learning how to take care of themselves. I believe in the conservation of the worlds natural wildlife, but I find it rather ironic that millions of Wildebeest roam the savannahs of Africa to be feasted upon by predators such as lions crocks and the sort while such a large population of the continent goes hungry.

Someone mentioned big business.....that's not what I am proposing and nor am I looking to implement. I figure that if I can produce a collaboration of knowledgeable persons whose combined effort can result in even a 5 acre Aqua Farm that works properly, think of the amount of food stuffs that could produce as dthawk has indicated and then there would be a prototype or model if you will that could be dropped into most any country adapting it to the locale and existing conditions.

Backyard systems are great on an individual basis, but how do you educate the population of the world sufficiently that each individual and/or family unit will have the knowledge or resources to be able to implement what so few have accomplished to date.

dthawk.... thank you and the others who have finally come forth with constructive thoughts to my post, but I am still not where I need to be. All the knowledge that is stored on this site and in the minds of it's members will not.....NO, can not manifest itself into what I wish to create without the many individuals with other kinds of knowledge that are needed to get the ball rolling. Unfortunately for me, most of those individuals have to be close enough to me to actually put working hands on the project for it to come to fruition.

Again, I apologize for creating such a stir by posting on every string, however I did not do it as an intentional affront to the forum or any individual. I however make no apologies for who I am or how I reacted to posts that I presumed to be attacks on my honesty, aspersions of my motives or the questioning of my intelligence. I am a fighter and always will be.....my heritage being Native American Cherokee and Irish bloodlines since the 1800s.

If there are any persons that you know of who live within driving distance of Jacksonville, Florida or maybe I should say who would be willing to drive whatever distance to here, who would like to meet to further discuss my proposed project, please send them my way.

I think we can say that is all behind us now and we can move on.

I like what the folks at Morningstar Fisherman are doing. Codi, it seems a good place to start in your search would be to attend one of their classes for about a week. It looks like they have worked all the basics out as to how to go about parachuting a system in to just about anywhere with the appropriate level of committment. I especially like their "teach a man to fish" approach to AP. As I looked over their site today. it appears they are doing good things in the right ways so as to not create unhealthy dependencies - always a concern for those of us in development work. The costs of the classes are quite reasonable and they are not far from you. I for one would love to go and see what they are all about next time I am in the Tampa area.

They may even have some Ideas about how to fund such an endeavor. It would be a quick way to learn a lot in a short time without having to invest in a lot of hardware. If you go though, keep us informed. We expect lots of pictures.

so where did you serve in Nam codi?

I stand corrected on my math. It appears that for one acre of fish tank at 4' I would need 8 acres at 1' to keep the ratios correct. Thanks JP.

I stand corrected on my math. It appears that for one acre of fish tank at 4' I would need 8 acres of grow bed at 1' to keep the ratios correct. Thanks JP.

WOW, take one day off and THIS is what you get!

And seems like every Abe quote has been covered too!

At least it seems like after 4 pages this thread has now become constructive, lets keep it that way.

BTW, who was your member friend that pointed you in our direction?

Everybody have fun

Hi Codi,

Welcome, I didn't post earlier as I was waiting for things to eventually settle down (they always do) . Dthawks sums are pretty much on the money however there is another idea.

With the water restrictions we have in much of Aus, many of our Veggy growers are turning to hydro as a solution, generaly NFT in glasshouse. If you were to employ this method with a Bio filter as part of the return to the fish tank then you could reduce the size of the setup. The other way is multistory though that would involve lights and higher capacity pumps.

Also I can't speak for the US but many places in Australia are very strict on Aquaculture water supply and disposal - as Janet and others have said there are no regulations that cover Aquaponics as yet, but I'm sure that the rules governing Aquaculture would be the minnimum.

I do however have one question, why do you Physically need somebody there in Florida?

PS Please don't correct my spelling, English is my second language and I am drinking home brewed Pilsner

Himzo.

Himzo! a couple of commas and an apostrophe! Your English is much better than thatr of many Australians! Do not concern yourself.
All the best and Merry Christmas!