The Adventures of Island Aquaponics - Part 3

[Wayne Hall]

So I haven't posted anything for awhile, well actually its been a year since my last post and a lot of things have happened.

Being a newbie at the time and wanting to know more about aquaponics I asked a few question and found myself in the company of some very illustrious individuals, helping with the drafting of the Charter for the Aquaponics Association.

Of course that lead to the Aquaponics Conference in Orlando and the formation of the Aquaponics Association in September of 2011 and me being elected as the first secretary. What a ride....... a most exciting time if I do say so myself. Unfortunately as the road of life is full of surprises, personal matters did not allow me to give the same time and energy I had previously given and I felt it would be better to resign as Secretary of the Association, so I could sort out a few personal matters.

The conference was "off da chain" and I got to meet and talk with fellow aquapons from all over the world.....
Of course besides going to Orlando to attend the conference, which was an added plus, the primary purpose was for me to attend the week long Commercial Aquaponics Training being offered by the beautiful ladies of Green Acre Organics, Tonya Penick and Gina Cavaliero. It was information overload, but it was alot of fun. I got to meet and talk with a some really great people, Tim Mann and Susanne Friend from Friendly Aquaponics, Sylvia Bernstein from the Aquaponic Source and the creator of the Aquaponics Community, Murray Hallum of Practical Aquaponics of Austrialia and of course my mentors Gina and Tonya who have helped me with the rough patches of my adventure and are only but a call away to give me advise whenever I hit a pot hole in the road and of course all the other attendees of the training from far flung places of the world.

Sadly the fun and excitement had to end and I had to come back home to my little sand bank on the edge of the Atlantic and put into practice all that I learnt.

Back to reality, I now needed to try and get my act together and put into practice all the information which I had learnt. Thus the nice little backyard test system.

I must say there were times I really wondered if I was actually paying attention as the first set of goldfish I got (500) decided that they did not like what I was doing and became floaters. This was heart breaking to lose all of those fish, but I realized (after the fact of course) that I was a bit anxious and over zealous and put the fish in before I should have, as the water had not completely stabilized and the pH was way to high.... and to add insult to injury I planted way to soon and nothing grew the way I was expecting it too. LOL..... we live and learn, needless to say it took a few tries before I finally figured it out.

So after numerous dead fish and none productive plants I am finally getting the hang of this, and proudly I can proclaim that things are actually growing the way the are suppose to. To date I have managed to successfully grow a variety of leafy green, lettuce etc.(that one was easy), strawberries which of course I couldn't resist and keep eating them, green onions, bok choy, swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower, carnations, cosmos and nasturtiums, tomatoes, green peppers, celery, sugar baby watermelon, summer squash, zucchini, basil, thyme, mint, oregano, cilantro, parsley, anise and I even have pineapple growing (cant wait to enjoy that!).

I can say with certainty that the results are way better than I expected and I am now ready to move on to the next step. More amazingly my goldfish are actually breeding and multiplying exponentially.

Of course had anyone told me that it would have taken this long to get all the necessary approvals, permits and licenses in place I probably would have never even bothered, but the time it has taken has allowed me to fine tune the development plan, research my potential market, and allow me to get a better understanding of the local farming market/pricing structure.

I even managed to get a small agricultural grant from the Bahamas government to build the first 4,600 sq.ft. system, which should be fully operational and at full production by October/November. 

More to come.......

[Earl ward]

glad to have you back Wayne

[Jesse Hull]

Great news, Wayne.  Glad you're back.  

Looks like you've got the potential for quite the menu.

[Wayne Hall]

The 4,600 sq.ft. system will cost approximately $30,000 and is roughly 40,000 gallons give or take. Fish stocking density is around 1,400 lbs and should give a weekly yield of 6,600 units (i.e. head of lettuce)

[Wayne Hall]

Yup took a minute or 3... 

[Gina Cavaliero]

Yay Wayne! So glad to see you back here! You have been missed. Congrats on getting everything underway!

[Wayne Hall]

Thanks

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Way to go Wayne. Nice to see that things are coming along.