Origins of Aquaponics

Origins of Aquaponics
– by Colle and Phyllis Davis

WATERBLUEFISH2

Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems are easier and more productive than dirt gardening or traditional agriculture and uses less water, less electricity and less labor than any other aquaponics system in the world.

Please note that aquaponics does not grow ‘field crops’ such as rice, wheat, corn or root vegetables, but it DOES grow table greens and many blooming plants (not all, but some) such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and beans.

Phyllis Davis holding a single head of Bok Choy grown in a Portable Farm.

Aquaponics with Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems 

 — Build, own and operate your own backyard aquaponics system.

— Feed a family of eight year round with one module of Portable Farms® Aquaponics System.

— Start a commercial aquaponics installation by installing twenty to thirty modules and sell the food you grow.

The Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems duplicate what nature has been doing for billions of years. The water, containing the fish waste, is pumped out of the fish tanks to a settling tank, where the solids settle to the bottom of the tank while the nutrient-rich water then flows, by gravity, through a series of trays where the plants are growing, and then back into the fish tanks. The small amount of separated fish-waste water in the settling tank is drained off at regular intervals, and can be used to fertilize crops such as trees, ornamentals or lawns. The cycle of the water flowing through the system repeats itself several times each day. Some make-up water has to be added at regular intervals to compensate for the water used in the settling tank cleaning, and for the water used by the plants for growth (transpiration). And, that’s how the system works. Simple, elegant and with very little energy to produce high quantities of locally grown food.

Learn more about owning your own Portable Farms® Aquaponics System

Aquaponics has been explored for several decades as a possible solution to the foregoing environmental, energy and food shortage problems.  Aquaponics combines the art of growing aquatic animals (fish), known as aquaculture, with the modern technology of hydroponics in which plants are grown without soil. In aquaponics, fish and plants are grown together in an integrated closed loop re-circulating system with a very low rate of water usage or water loss due to evaporation. This symbiotic relationship between the fish and the growing plants is the goal of aquaponics by creating a sustainable ecosystem in which both fish and plants can thrive and as a result, produces safe, fresh protein and healthy vegetables.

Oreochromis Mossambicus Tilapia. This is the male tilapia used in aquaponics systems in the Northern Hemisphere.

To work efficiently, Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems require ‘warm water, fresh water fish’ of some kind to provide the essential waste and their nutrients for your plants. Generally, aquaponics systems use warm-water fish instead of cold-water fish (like trout) because the plants don’t like the cold water.

Aquaponics is the growing of fish, or other water-based animals, along with land plants in a controlled environment, to maximize the use of the energy and nutrients in the system in order to harvest the greatest amount of vegetables and fish protein from the system.

The word aquaponics comes from words aquaculture, which is the cultivation of fish or other `water- based animals, and the word hydroponics, where plants are grown in a sterile medium or completely in water.

By combining the fish, water and plants, Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems use an integrated environment to produce vegetables and fish in very small space, with very little water.

Aquaponics has its roots in ancient China and parts of the aquaponics system were developed in other areas of the world where high concentrations of people lived who were observant of the relationships that existed naturally in their environment.

In China, farmers knew that land livestock waste could be added to their fields or ponds to increase production of vegetables and fruit bearing plants. They also noticed that different fish had different tolerances to the level of land-animal waste in their water. For example too much pig or chicken waste caused many fish to die (the modern explanation for this is lack of oxygen) so they were careful about balancing their system for maximum yield and minimum fish loss.These Chinese farmers were able to refine their systems so they could grow chickens in pens above pigs, (with the waste dropping through along with any spilled food) who were in a pen over a pond with carp in it, and then the water flowed to another pond with other less tolerant fish such as catfish, and perhaps other aquatic animals and certainly other water plants were grown and harvested. These systems were so called flow-through systems, meaning that water was used once through the ponds, and then released to the local paddies, streams, lakes or ocean. The sludge from the bottom of the ponds was used on the fields and some of the water was used in the paddies for fertilizer before it was released.

dry-riverbedIn the twenty-first century, the world faces an environmental crisis, issues related to climate change (drought and flooding as well as record-setting heat waves) and an energy crisis. In addition, many parts of the world face severe food shortages. Twentieth century agricultural techniques have harmed the environment and consume an inordinate amount of energy and water. Many countries lack the large amounts of arable land and water needed to sustain growing human populations. Developed nations use large amounts of pesticides and artificial fertilizers to grow their grains, fruits, and vegetables. At the same time, they use huge amounts of gasoline and diesel fuel to power their farm machinery, large amounts of electricity to process their food, and enormous amounts of fuel to deliver the processed food to grocery stores. The raising of farm animals, particularly cattle and swine, is notoriously inefficient in terms of the amount of land and energy required to raise corn and other animal

Cost and Operations of An Aquaponics System

Cost and Operations of an Aquaponics System
by Colle and Phyllis Davis

READ THE ENTIRE AQUAPONICS COURSE OUTLINE: CLICK HERE.

The majority of daily tasks include planting, harvesting and feeding the fish.
Repeat the next day.

aug 20 interior2There are two assumptions that will be made here regarding the operations for a backyard aquaponics system:

1) your installation is, or is similar to, a Portable Farms® Aquaponics System.

2) You have built a medium/media based (not a raft based) aquaponics system. Operations include the steps that are necessary for you to keep the fish and plants alive and healthy. 

Here are the daily tasks for operating a Portable Farms Aquaponics System,
plant, harvest and feed the fish.

1. PLANT

2. HARVEST

3. FEED THE FISH

A backyard farm that feeds 8 people generally takes about ten to fifteen minutes per day to maintain. This includes feeding the fish, planting seedlings and harvesting. Operations are NOT time consuming but they are DAILY operations that cannot and should NOT be skipped.

When you’re dealing with living aquatic animals, they require daily care, attention and yes, even affection to remain healthy and grow to their full size. If your fish are ‘stressed’ for any reason, they won’t eat – – – – and if they don’t eat – – – – they don’t poop – – – – and if they don’t poop, your plants will not be healthy.  So, if you’re going to be gone for longer than a day or so, ask a friend or neighbor (that you trust) that will take care of your aquaponics system.

Here’s the full cost breakdown of a backyard aquaponics system: READ ON . . . 

  • Greenhouse: Must be able to keep the interior temperature between 40 and 104° F. The costs are dependent on your choice of design
  • Wooden or concrete floor/slab – from $100 to $300
  • Insulated stem wall to set the greenhouse on top of for more height – 2×4’s and plywood – $250 to $350
  • Fish tank – sometimes known of as a livestock watering trough  – $150
  • Lumber for the Grow Tray – 2×4’s, 2×6’s, plywood, etc – between $800 and $1,200
  • PVC pipe and fittings  – $100
  • Misc – $250 

You may even have some of the materials on hand or have access to recycled materials at a reduced cost. Even if you have to pay full retail price for everything, an operating aquaponics farm is a fantastically good deal. Plus, a Portable Farms® Aquaponics System is infinitely expandable because of it modular design. You can expand it and begin selling the excess to create a small income.

tilapia Oreochromis mossambicusOperational tasks include:

1. Maintaining adequate levels of water in the fish tank at all times.

2. Feeding your fish a high protein fish feed each day (singing to your fish is optional but they do enjoy human contact and they do enjoy the sound of talking and singing)

3. Always wear disposable gloves when preforming tasks in the building
4. Keeping the pH balanced in the fish tank

5. Stocking the appropriate number of fish in the fish tank that is in balance with the area of the grow tray

6. 24/7 aeration provided for the fish at all times (bubbles).

 

Is Aquaponics in City Centers in the Future?

Is Aquaponics in City Centers in the Future?
By Colle and Phyllis Davis

According to Food Empowerment Project, Food Deserts in inner-cities make it difficult
for many to source and purchase fresh food.

“Food deserts can be described as geographic areas where residents’ access to affordable, healthy food options (especially fresh fruits and vegetables) is restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance. For instance, according to a report prepared for Congress by the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture, about 2.3 million people (or 2.2 percent of all US households) live more than one mile away from a supermarket and do not own a car. [1] In urban areas, access to public transportation may help residents overcome the difficulties posed by distance, but economic forces have driven grocery stores out of many cities in recent years, making them so few and far between that an individual’s food shopping trip may require taking several buses or trains. In suburban and rural areas, public transportation is either very limited or unavailable, with supermarkets often many miles away from people’s homes.”

Urbanization of the world is continuing and over half the people on Earth now live in cities. The countryside is depopulating, and the skills of growing food for local consumption is being shifted away from large country farms to small or even tiny urban plots. There are urban or suburban farmers with less than half an acre now producing over US$100,000 annual income. The technologies they have embraced are the use of cold frames, hoop greenhouse covers, greenhouses, and high intensive cultivation methods.

In the days before massive food distribution in refrigerated trucks, many of our grandparents had family gardens that grew food to be canned or pickled for winter months. Today, urban farmers have learned to extend harsh winter climates thirty to ninety days, urban farmers gain a twenty to fifty percent increase in their incomes. Anchoring a small plot or even a rooftop (as many in Asia have done, with a greenhouse and surrounding it with high-intensity gardening) has freed these urban farmers from the need to work for others.

Do you have a deck, a patio, a small back or front yard? [Greenhouses in the front yard are a red flag to certain types of neighborhoods’ home-owner associations, be forewarned.] Perhaps a balcony, flat roof or a parking space, can be converted into urban gardens. YouTube is a fantastic resource for information and how-to videos in the area of intense farming. The newest planting equipment is expensive, but the payback is less than one season.

Producing protein on tiny plots presents exciting challenges. Chickens, rabbits, and fish are the top choices because they are easy and cheap to raise and there is a ready local market for them. There are US jurisdictions where restrictions apply, and urban farmers are learning how to pressure for changes in the zoning and livestock regulations. Chickens are sometimes noisy and hard to hide from neighbors. Rabbits and fish are quiet and less apt to draw attention.

The fish raised in aquaponics are a bonus and provide a fantastic fertilizer for the rest of your intensive garden plot. Applying the fish waste, a nontoxic, no burn fertilizer, encourages the growth of most plants. A garden plot of three by ten feet can utilize the waste load from an aquaponics system of fifty square feet of Grow Table space. Other plants on the property or nearby will benefit from its magic.

Alternatively, as a last resort, the liquid can be sold as a natural, pesticide-free fertilizer that will not burn or harm plants. The price can be as high as US$15 a gallon. Oh, another income source. A one-hundred-gallon fish tank system supporting a fifty square foot Grow Table will produce thirty gallons of ‘waste’ every three months. Let’s see, if we sell half, that is 60 gallons times US$15 or US$900 per year. That money adds extra money for paying bills or for luxuries.

Sign up today for the Aquaponics University Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems Course© and lead the way to a safer, happier and more secure urban living.

MAKE BIG MONEY Selling Cucumbers Grown in Portable Farms

Portable Farm Cucumbers Harvested February 9, 2012 

MAKE BIG MONEY Selling Cucumbers Grown in Portable Farms
by Colle and Phyllis Davis

MAKE BIG MONEY Selling Cucumbers Grown in Portable Farms. Cucumbers are delicious in salads, as a side dish garnished with vinegar and spices, as part of a refreshing addition to a relish tray or even sliced and served on a sandwich!

The cucumber has long been known as a summer ‘fruit.’ Yes, the cucumber is considered a fruit but used as a vegetable. When cucumbers are grown in a Portable Farms Aquaponics System, they can be grown YEAR ROUND and sold to local customers as organic food for top prices. In fact, (this surprised us as well) cucumbers grown in our Portable Farms are a better cash crop than even basil!

Since cucumbers are ‘blooming’ plants, they require:

— Warm temperatures in the greenhouse ranging from 70 to 95 degrees F

— Six to seven hour of direct light per day and LED or fluorescent grow lights from September to April (Northern Hemisphere) for another five hours per day. If direct sun is unavailable, the grow lights must be utilized 18 hours per day. 

— Adequate circulation to assure the blossoms set.

If cucumbers grown in a Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems are raised and sold as ‘locally grown and pesticide free,’ the grower can receive higher prices further reducing the ROI than stated in this article.

Cucumber production begins 60 to 70 days after seeding.  For good production, a temperature range of 75 degrees to 80 degrees F during the day is desirable.  While peak daytime temperatures of 85 degrees to 95 degrees F are tolerable, prolonged periods of high temperatures may adversely affect fruit quality.  Night temperatures no lower than 65 degrees F will allow a rapid growth rate and earliest fruit production.  At 55 degrees to 60 degrees F, savings in fuel costs will be significant, but growth rate will be slower and harvest will be delayed.

This is a simple diagram of a Portable Farms Aquaponics System

This is a simple diagram of one module a Portable Farms Aquaponics System

Fruit generally grows to market maturity 12 to 15 days after the flower opens.

Considering these variables, yields range from 1 – 1 ½ to 3 pounds of fruit per plant per week, during mid-harvest on an umbrella trained crop.  Twenty to twenty-five fruit may be expected over a 10 to 12 week harvest period.

Cucumber production from a single full size 5′ x 40′ (200sq ft) [1.5m x 12m (18m2) Grow Tray:

  • Each Grow Tray can hold 106 plants 18in x 12in (45cm x 30cm) centers and are planted twice a year
  • Production is normally over a 10 to 12 week period
  • Because the plants spread out so much they need to be trained in a V shape or directly vertical
  • Plants may require some pruning
  • The staking or trellising can be installed permanently
  • Cucumbers yield is between 1.5 and 3 lbs [0.7 and 1.3k] per plant per week depending on variety
  • Yield per plant is 20 to 25 cucumbers per plant depending on variety
  • No pesticides, fungicides or artificial fertilizers are ever used
  • Cucumbers can be harvested and used the same day for peak flavor and texture plus they store well
  • Yields 4,000 lbs to 4,500 lbs [1,800 to 2045kg] per year per Grow Tray
  • 85lbs [38kg] per week
  • 11.7lbs [5kg] per day

Colle Davis, Inventor, with fresh cucumbers from Portable Farms

Each Module contains one Grow Tray, one Fish Tank and one Clarifier. The components to make the Module functional also include a special pump and valve system, a control panel, air pumps and related hardware and wiring.

Labor costs are higher than with lettuce because of the training and harvesting of cucumbers. This is true for tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and any plant that requires extra time after planting. Lettuces does not, plant it and then a few weeks later harvest it and plant the same place again. Two people can operate a 10,000 sq ft PFAS if they are only growing lettuce. With other bush or vine crops two to four additional personnel are required.

Grow and Sell Food with Commercial Aquaponics

Grow and Sell Food with Commercial Aquaponics 

by Colle and Phyllis Davis

Becoming a commercial aquaponics farmer requires the technology information, plans, the permits, site preparation, the inspections, the ordering of the greenhouse and the thousands of small and large steps all of which are necessary. But once started on the site development and the assembling of the greenhouse everything becomes REAL and moves all the plans into actions. This is always a very exciting time for our new customers and brings a sense of ‘this is real’ for everyone involved.

All construction projects (large and small) require planning and careful execution to build that dream to completion. Every new building is surrounded with a glow and an energy that is very difficult to describe and yet everyone knows the feeling of accomplishment and the energy that result when carefully executive plans come together and begin to materialize.

Lettuce grown in Portable Farms uses 95% less water than traditional agriculture and grows in HALF the time as soil-grown lettuces.

Aquaponics 
Dan Burden, AgMRC Content Specialist

D. Allen Pattillo, Department of Natural Resources Ecology & Management,
Iowa State University; North Central Regional Aquaculture Center (NRAC)

This closed-loop system has many advantages over conventional “open-loop” crop production systems:

  • It uses approximately 10% of the land area and 5% of the water volume required by conventional vegetable crops.
  • Due to less water and land use, aquaponics is perfect for highly efficient use of existing space or for special applications like intensive urban gardening.
  • Crop production time can be accelerated.  For example, butterhead lettuce varieties can be produced in about 30 days, instead of the typical 60-day growing period needed for conventional production.
  • Production can occur year-round under a greenhouse or in a temperature-controlled enclosure.  This allows producers to market fresh produce during seasons when trucked-in produce is at their highest seasonal prices.
  • Aquaponics is an adaptable process that allows for a diversification of income streams.  High-value herbs, vegetables, and leafy greens, as well as fish, crayfish, worms, mushrooms, and a number of other crops may be produced, depending upon local market interest and the interests of the grower.
  • These systems allow agriculture to take large innovative steps toward environmental sustainability.  Because these are mostly-closed-loop systems, nutrient effluent leaving the facility is virtually nonexistent.  Additionally, fish, plant, and other waste solids may be captured and converted into value-added fertilizer products for wholesale or retail sale.
  • Growers can start small, with minimal investment, perhaps using scrounged materials to see if the venture is “right for me,” then scale-up as markets and expertise develops.

Read our book, Commercial Aquaponics GOLD.

  • This comprehensive information about commercial aquaponics provides you will all the facts you’ll need to make an informed business decision about commercial aquaponics growing in controlled environment agricultural (CEA).
  • We’re also offering TWO FREE BONUSES with the purchase of Commercial Aquaponics GOLD: 1) A formal ten-step strategy business plan template designed specifically for commercial aquaponics growing to present to funders and, 2) PFAS LLC’s Executive Summary showing production and operating costs, profits and best-produce choices to achieve the shortest Return on Investment.

CLICK ON our fun video by the Crazy Professor, aka, Colle Davis, Inventor of Portable Farms, talk about commercial aquaponics and explain what his book Commercial Aquaponics Gold offers.

12-Month Aquaponics Gardening in a Lean-to Greenhouse

Building an Attached Greenhouse Aquaponic System
By Colle and Phyllis Davis

Portable Farms Aquaponics System in Playa Rosarito Beach, Baja California, Mexico

Portable Farms Aquaponics System installed in this lean to greenhouse next  to a house in  Baja California, Mexico.

More and more people are contacting us regarding year-round aquaponics gardening in a lean-to greenhouse built next to their house.

The ideal location to for your aquaponics installation may or may not be where you want to build it. We do not recommend areas that are shaded or in driveways or next to tall fences. Here is a list of requirements and suggestions for maximizing the location of your aquaponics system, so it receives the maximum level of sunlight to grow your food.

Here is a short list of considerations and suggestions to help you create an ideal place to install your greenhouse and build your aquaponics system inside that greenhouse.

  1. Find a place that provides your greenhouse six to seven hours of direct sunlight each day that shines directly over your Grow Table.
  2. The greenhouse should be orientated to maximize the sunlight and to minimize cold infiltration.
  3. Your greenhouse must have access to water and power.
  4. There must be proper floor drainage inside the greenhouse to keep floor dry.
  5. If possible, place your greenhouse on a concrete floor.

FREE DO IT YOURSELF PLAN: How to build a lean-to greenhouse

(*Link to this website at the bottom of this page. This website offers step-by-step instructions with great graphics that are easy to follow.)

Another possibility is to build a greenhouse along the side of your house or garage. We recommend consulting someone with an understanding of moisture flow before building a greenhouse attached to your house.

The requirements of an attached greenhouse need to have the following considerations to be effective:

  1. The greenhouse should have a south or southwest exposure.
  2. There should be no trees or large shrubbery nearby.
  3. It must have good drainage within the greenhouse. This is vital.
  4. While building your greenhouse, build a stem wall (short concrete or insulated wall on the wall of the greenhouse).
  5. Build your greenhouse on a concrete slab.
  6. Optional: Consider venting the greenhouse into your house in the winter as an inexpensive and pleasant addition to the air inside both the house and the greenhouse. The added moisture is welcomed but needs to be monitored to insure it does not promote mold. Venting the greenhouse into the house demands you keep your fish tanks and clarifiers clean to avoid a gamey smell.

Aluminum Lean-to Greenhouse kits – Top-quality Gable style greenhouse for the serious gardener, clubs, schools or any group that requires a larger growing area. Complete your greenhouse with our Greenhouse Equipment Kit.  (*Link to the Gothic Arc Greenhouse’s website at the bottom of this page.)

Additional advantages of building mounted greenhouses next to your house or garage:

  1. They require less insulation.
  2. They are much easier to build than a traditional greenhouse.
  3. They are faster to build.
  4. You will get your aquaponics system up and running sooner.
  5. By building a door between the house and the greenhouse, you can have access in-and-out of the greenhouse.
  6. With an access door, you don’t have to go outside in extreme weather conditions.

Now, here are the disadvantages:

  1. Noise. The air pump can be noisy and may to be need to be installed in an enclosed box to quiet the sound.
  2. The fish waste can smell bad or at least be noticeable when being removed from the settling tank. This may or may not be a problem.
  3. There needs to be two separate exhaust fans. One fan for winter that blows into the house and the other to exhaust to the outside in summer.
  4. The height of the lean-to greenhouse may not be tall enough for good circulation and shading.
  5. Supplemental lighting will (most likely) be necessary in any kind of growing structure.

In most cases the advantages far out-weigh the disadvantages, however, please take the time to consult family members to get their input before proceeding.

The ideal situation includes:

  • A door (it may already be there) between the house and the greenhouse.
  • Water and power must be available without running new pipes or lines.
  • If possible, install your greenhouse in front of a large window to the house so you can admire your garden. Plan on installing the door and window (if they are not there) for best results.

Having the aquaponics system next to the house is smart, convenient, and creates both a unique awareness of growing things and a fabulous place to chill out. Spending quiet moments inside in a warm, moist greenhouse in cold weather is a perfect way to beat the winter blues.

If you have questions of how to build the aquaponics systems, please read the curriculum for Aquaponics University and sign up for the course. We will help you size your installation.

LINKS

Growing Food in Grocery Bags

Growing Food in Grocery Bags
– Colle and Phyllis Davis

Free tutorial to grow food to feed your family. Affordable and Fun!

 

 

If you’ve been following our theme this summer, we’ve been offering alternatives to aquaponics to grow food to feed your family with  AFFORDABLE AND SIMPLE methods. CLICK HERE TO SEE  THE FREE TUTORIAL FOR GROWING FOOD IN A GROW TUB.  (A few images of these grow tubs at bottom of this article).

You will love this easy method for growing food in grocery bags. You can put these bags on a small table on your patio or porch and reuse the bag when the plants are harvested.

How To Grow Salad In Plastic Bags | DIY Joy Projects and Crafts Ideas

  • Seeds:  We recommend you try growing lettuce, cabbage, Swiss Chard, kale, basil, radishes, turnips and even potatoes. If you grow a plant that is top heavy like tomatoes, cucumbers, or beans.  Note: Blooming plants (as I just listed) require far more care including trellis care and far more water than growing basic greens.
  • Grocery sacks (the thin plastic bags used in many stores to bag groceries).  A second grocery sack to wrap around bottom of the first bag with soil or a cheap (hotel style) shower cap you can get a dollar-type-stores.
  • Table must have slats (space between boards) for the water to drain out of the bag. The table shown in the picture is 3’x4′ and will hold about 20 grocery sacks. 
  • Potting soil or slightly sandy garden soil.
  • 6-hours of direct sunlight per day. In the spring, fall and winter, you can extend the day length from 4pm to 7pm with the use of LED (red/blue spectrum) grow lights. Or you can grow in your garage by using a grow light 18 hours per day. Example, here’s a $20 grow-light strip from Walmart.
  • Shade cloth in extreme sun exposures. Last week, the farms (pictures below) on this page needed shade to protect the young plants and seedlings from 100-degree F. we are currently experiencing here in Central Virginia. On the first day of the heatwave, Colle and I got up before sunrise and searched the basement for a box of gauze drapes we had stored there. We used the drapes as a temporary sunshade to protect our gardens during this intense heatwave. The plants responded immediately and perked up.
    • During our mild Virginia winter months, we are going to wrap our new ‘grocery bag structure’ in clear plastic to protect it from the cold.  We will also use a space heater on the ground (on a timer for intermittent power) underneath the table if the temperatures drop.
  • We also sprinkled our world-famous FF Mineral Rock Dust on the seedlings and the plants to provide them with ample amounts of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and iron.

The grow table in the foreground was built 40-days ago and the plants are already near harvest as you can see from the image below.

(Pictures below) Grow Table Tubs for Above Ground  German Growing Method, Hugelkultur. 75% of these tubs are filled with dried trees and mulch as a nutrient source for the plants.

FREE TUTORIAL: CLICK HERE.
 

The cost of this garden was approximately $100 for the materials. You can prepare the parts and then assemble it anywhere that receives six hours of direct sunlight. Some vegetables require less sunlight, but most like lots of sunshine.

40 day after planting. Basil. Tomatoes. Radishes. Carrots.

Teach Your Daughter Aquaponics

TEACH YOUR DAUGHTER AQUAPONICS
– by Colle and Phyllis Davis

Besides all the love and attention you currently lavish on her, what else can you teach this joyful addition to your life  – – this legacy to your genes, to insure her health and survival? Can you do anything differently than your parents did for you to give her a better-than-average chance to pass on your genetic material to future generations?

Yes, the biggest advantage you can give your child today is an aquaponics education so she will always have the knowledge, skills and abilities to grow her own nutritious, healthy food. Even if she is only three years old, buy her a Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems and teach her how to operate it.

As much as we all hate the thought, the worlds ability to feed and provide water for all seven billion of us on this spinning planet is becoming a cautionary tale. Today, there are over 1 billion people without access to clean drinking water. Frightening thought! Young girls, especially teenagers are fascinated with the Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems.

Of the thousands of people who have toured our installations over the years, the young teenage girls are the ones who have asked the most questions, and often the best questions, went back into the greenhouses the most often, and were the ones pressuring their parents and grandparents to buy one so they could, ‘have some of these wonderful vegetables and fish in our backyard’ even before they left the property. These young women are the vanguard of the future; let them be working for you and your family.Teaching skills to a child is what parents and grandparents do, it’s their job.

Teaching the next generation to be better prepared and more productive, live healthier and longer lives and to prepare their children to continue the process is how we have arrived here. Our parents did their best in their efforts to raise us to become responsible adults. They may have made some silly or sad mistakes is the process, but for the most part they were there to teach us to survive and sometimes even thrive.Now you can add a new layer of protection for your daughter(s) or granddaughter(s) by teaching her/them how to raise their own fresh organic food, even in an urban environment. Oh, the young sons are not being left out of this equation; they simply are much less interested in raising food until they have daughters of their own. In one of the most interesting anomalies of life, men, at some level, understand that their daughters have a much better chance of maintaining their linage than their sons. If you are a man and have a daughter or granddaughter, you have a very deep understanding of this article.

Keep pH BELOW 7.2 in Aquaponics

Nutrient Absorption Occurs BELOW 7.2 pH
– by Colle and Phyllis Davis

Testeur Ph d'une piscine individuelleIf the pH gets too near or above 7.2 in your Portable Farms® Aquaponics System’s Fish Tank, your plants cannot absorb the nutrients in the system and creates a NUTRIENT SHUTDOWN and your plants will begin to wither, show systems of leaf curl, begin to yellow, have stunted growth and not produce growth or blossoms. In effect, the plants are starving to death.

The Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems are designed to accomplish this adjustment in an extremely easy manner. Checking the pH in your system at least a couple of times per week is vital, especially as the vegetables approach harvest time; this is an inexpensive process to increase production in the grow trays. This simple checking and adjustment will result in more bountiful harvests of healthy and nutritious produce.

Each plant has a preferred range of pH, or parts Hydrogen, that creates an ideal growing environment for the plant.

In aquaponics, this adjustment is very easily when the water flows through the system. To ‘increase’ the pH means to make the solution more alkaline and to ‘decrease’ the pH means to make the solution more acidic. There are quick and very inexpensive ways to change the pH of water in an aquaponics system.

When adding any agent to adjust the pH levels in your system, allow several hours, and better yet, monitor your system over a day or two before trusting the testing medium results.

Testing can be done with simple swimming pool test strips or with sophisticated scientific instruments that have been designed for the task. Both work very well and if you use both, be prepared to have two very different readings. What you are looking for is consistency using one method. Using both is confusing and makes adjusting the water much harder. (We know from experience . . .)

We check the pH in our fish tanks two or more times per month to make sure the pH is below 7.2.

Each plant has a preferred range of pH, or parts Hydrogen, that creates an ideal growing environment for the plant.

  • Plants in Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems prefer a pH in the 5.8 to 6.8 range, or even a slightly lower range.
  • Fish prefer a little higher pH and to keep both organisms happy, the water in an aquaponics system needs to be adjusted.

The measurement of pH is how acidic (6.9 and below) or alkaline (7.1 or above) a liquid is at any specific moment. This pH measurement is not about the water’s hardness, that is a measurement of the dissolved mineral content in the water, and it is measured in a different way.

In aquaponics, this adjustment is very easily when the water flows through the system. To ‘increase’ the pH means to make the solution more alkaline and to ‘decrease’ the pH means to make the solution more acidic. There are quick and very inexpensive ways to change the pH of water in an aquaponic’s system.

If you are trying to grow vegetables with very different pH requirements in the same grow tray, plant the heavy feeders at the beginning (top) end of the tray and furthest from your fish tank, where the water flows into your grow tray, favoring their pH requirement and the light feeders at the end where the water flows out.

meterWhen adding any agent to adjust the pH levels in your system, allow several hours, and better yet, monitor your system over a day or two before trusting the testing medium results.

Testing can be done with simple swimming pool test strips or with sophisticated scientific instruments that have been designed for the task. Both work very well and if you use both, be prepared to have two very different readings. What you are looking for is consistency using one method. Using both is confusing and makes adjusting the water much harder. (We know from experience . . .)

We use a Microprocessor Conductivity & TDS Meters with Automatic Temperature Compensation with Automatic Calibration to check the water in our systems (image left).

Rent a Greenhouse for a One Year Return-on-Investment


Rent a Greenhouse for a One Year Return-on-Investment
– by Colle and Phyllis Davis

Rent a greenhouse instead of building one for your commercial aquaponics system and get a one year return on your investment.

In Southern California (obviously, a biased sampling) the cost to lease a greenhouse of 25,000 to 75,000 sq ft is from US$1,500 to US$3,000 TOTAL.

GreenhouseLet’s do the math and see how this investment pencil’s out:

A very solid rule of thumb on the cost of a PFAS Module which includes the grow trays, the fish tanks and all of the related lumber, pipe, liner and the PFAS Kit, is US$2,100 per Module. A 10,000 sq ft installation will contain 28 to 32 Modules depending on the specifics of the layout.

Grab a Pencil and Let’s Do the Math

Multiply the cost per Module US$2,100 times the maximum number of Modules 32 and your install cost becomes US$67,000. Then comes the greenhouse. [This cost is normally THE most expensive part of an aquaponics installation.] Let’s use a three year lease and figure the ROI on the yearly maximum rate of US$2,000 for a 10,000 sq ft greenhouse or US$24,000.

You still have labor, electricity, fish, seeds and misc and these total approximately US$80,000 per year. These figures are San Diego, California figures, California labor costs, San Diego Gas and Electric power costs and the local water district water costs (not inexpensive).

First Year Expenses (Averages)

  • Your first year investment will include the cost of building the Modules    
US$67,000
  • The total operating  costs                                                                                            
 US$80,000
  • Rental on the greenhouse
 $24,000
  • First year total
 US$171,000

The gross income based on a mixed production of both greens and fruiting plants such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and beans is approximately US$185,000 of income per year resulting in a net-net income of approximately US$80,000 per year.  Specialty or custom ordered vegetables dramatically impact this figure on the high side. For example if all basil were grown the income would almost quadruple to over US$600,000. Cucumbers are even better producers, but remember, these specialty crops and are NOT high volume crops.

These figures show a total payback over slightly over two years. US$80,000 x 2 years = US$160,000. Oh, wait, the initial capital investment was less then US$100,000 so the real payback is in a little over ONE YEAR.

Now look at the third year numbers. There are operating costs and rental costs, that’s it. The output has increased approximate 20% as the system ages and cures so using the initial income of US$185,000 and not the US$220,000 (the 20% increase) it will really be producing,  your US$80,000 per year (or US$116,000 with the increase in production) is now pure profit. Almost enough for some people to live on comfortably.

Contact us today for specifics, but first read Commercial Aquaponics and have two items is place, 1) your money or your investors money to cover the project’s cost, 2) a location to build your PFAS Modules so you can be in business in less than six months.  Remember, we even train your operators, guarantee our systems and are here to help.