Commercial systems

[Sylvia Bernstein]

Are you interested in growing commercially?  Do you already grow commercially?  This is the place for exchanging ideas and experiences, and making new contacts in commercial aquaponic agriculture

 

You might also consider joining the Commercial Aquaponics discussion group for lots more information and discussion

[Giorgio]

Aloha from kauai Chris!!!
Do we really need to cover our GBs here in Hawaii?. Is it to protect against insects or UV rays?
I;m curious about the advantage of covering and by the way I like the idea of those woven things.
I can problably figure something cheap and easy.

Mahalo

Chris Smith said:

Christopher,
With a 1200 gal tank you can have lots of grow bed space. If you want to go commercial I would recommend that you use the floating raft system. There are MANY advantages over gravel beds. Most gravel beds can easily be converted to rafts. As far as bugs go, you can use woven row covers supported by PVC. This can save the huge expense of building greenhouses. The woven cover allows 90% light and 75% air transmission depending on the brand. You can see an example in my photos. Also check out Friendlyaquaponics.com

christopher john muns said:

i'm also in the planning stages of a commercial aquaponics system. so many ideas, i about can't contain myself.i have an exsisting koi pond about 1200 gal. i think it will be perfect. already cycled, for yrs. in fact.going to start on a smale scale. one bed at a time. i'm kinda concerned that it won't have a greenhouse over it for awhile. were in central fl. and bugs are relentless. already destroyed some of my corn this yr. oh well. ok well maybe this will not be considered a commercial system yet. not until i have perfected my art anyway. consider it a test system or reasearch there ya go research system.

[Sahib Punjabi]

Thought this article may be of interest to those who may be looking into starting a commercial aquaponic based operation :

Corralitos man sees future of food in fish farming, starts aquaponics facility

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15829701?nclick_check=1

[M Cosmo]

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15829701

[Sahib Punjabi]

Aquaponics project to launch in Santa Cruz. Interesting article for those members looking into going commercial :

UNITED STATES
Monday, August 23, 2010, 12:40 (GMT + 9)

http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?monthyear=&day=2...

[Sahib Punjabi]

Very Interesting topic for those serious in undertaking Commercial AP projects: "Symbioponics". FA does advocate use of similar method re low density fish stocking but this is far more detailed...check it out for yourself :-)

http://www.aquaponic.com.au/symbioponics.htm

[TCLynx]

Ok so it looks like they have trade marked a term which basically means, keeping the system in balance. Don't be fooled into thinking that they are doing something new or unique, it is just marketing what everyone involved in Aquaponics is trying to do, balance a system.

Sahib Punjabi said:

Very Interesting topic for those serious in undertaking Commercial AP projects: "Symbioponics". FA does advocate use of similar method re low density fish stocking but this is far more detailed...check it out for yourself :-)

http://www.aquaponic.com.au/symbioponics.htm

[Sahib Punjabi]

Totally correct TClynx :-)

What I am taken back by is that he is actually employed as a consultant on numerous large projects. Let me see, what else can I add to 'Ponics to claim a new process ..."Megaponics" ha ha ha

TCLynx said:

Ok so it looks like they have trade marked a term which basically means, keeping the system in balance. Don't be fooled into thinking that they are doing something new or unique, it is just marketing what everyone involved in Aquaponics is trying to do, balance a system.

Sahib Punjabi said:

Very Interesting topic for those serious in undertaking Commercial AP projects: "Symbioponics". FA does advocate use of similar method re low density fish stocking but this is far more detailed...check it out for yourself :-)

http://www.aquaponic.com.au/symbioponics.htm

[TCLynx]

Well that is how consultants make their living. And there isn't really anything wrong with it, lets face it much of the modern world runs on marketing, I just wanted to point out that all that jargon is simply saying this guy knows how to figure the fish and fish feed to plant ratio in system design and operation.
So what's that make him, a fishmatician?
And there are many people out there who want to start up commercial operations but don't have the patience to go take the workshops and learn all the fine details, so they hire a consultant (who hopefully does have some experience to go with the math they have learned) to tell them how to do it.

[Carl Smith]

Question : Why are media based grow beds not used for commercial systems?

[TCLynx]

Carl Smith said:

Question : Why are media based grow beds not used for commercial systems?

I think there may be a few small semi commercial media based systems but I think the primary reasons are,
1-UVI has done most of their research using rafts and that is what many commercial systems are based on.

2-cost, truck loads of media gets $$ and it's heavy with makes it $$ to deliver it.

3-Media beds don't lend as well to conveyor belt sort of production of plants the way rafts do. Nor does media really allow one to easily keep plants packed closely together while they are small and then space them out more as they grow to use the growing space most efficiently while rafts and NFT work a bit better for those methods.


Media beds are very well suited to a backyard intensive gardening system but not so well to something that is trying to churn out huge numbers of plants that are all the same. Raft systems are best suited to a situation where there will be attendance daily to check the plants and deal with any problems quickly and daily water testing while a gravel bed is a bit better able to cope on it's own for a few days without being checked on. They are really just different methods, each with their own strong points and weak points.

There is of course the new vertical media system of Nate's that may be very good for commercial operation but it is kinda different than all the others though it has some similarities with a few.

[Sahib Punjabi]

I came across these two web site and thought they were worthy of sharing with fellow AP members :

http://www.skyvegetables.com/

http://www.cityscapefarms.com/

[Carl Smith]

I have understood those reasons, if herbs and leafy greens are the focus. I guess I would rather produce a wider variety of fruiting produce like the intensive home gardening in a CSA type arrangement. I am also setting up multi-tier grow beds. I have received a number of 2 and 3 tier, steel battery racks, designed to hold heavy UPS back up batteries. (contributed by a local power company upgrading their systems) According to Murray lately 3/4" drainage gravel is looking like a better medium for cost, root anchoring, worm bedding etc in a CHOP system like I'm building.
My focus has actually been on Higher production of fish and the produce revenue would be the gravy.

TCLynx said:

Carl Smith said:

Question : Why are media based grow beds not used for commercial systems?

I think there may be a few small semi commercial media based systems but I think the primary reasons are,
1-UVI has done most of their research using rafts and that is what many commercial systems are based on.

2-cost, truck loads of media gets $$ and it's heavy with makes it $$ to deliver it.

3-Media beds don't lend as well to conveyor belt sort of production of plants the way rafts do. Nor does media really allow one to easily keep plants packed closely together while they are small and then space them out more as they grow to use the growing space most efficiently while rafts and NFT work a bit better for those methods.


Media beds are very well suited to a backyard intensive gardening system but not so well to something that is trying to churn out huge numbers of plants that are all the same. Raft systems are best suited to a situation where there will be attendance daily to check the plants and deal with any problems quickly and daily water testing while a gravel bed is a bit better able to cope on it's own for a few days without being checked on. They are really just different methods, each with their own strong points and weak points.

There is of course the new vertical media system of Nate's that may be very good for commercial operation but it is kinda different than all the others though it has some similarities with a few.