Results Of Our Test Grows:
Positive Results Of Our Test Grows:
There’s a ton of stuff our aquaponics systems grow really well: basil, thyme, oregano, cilantro, Italian parsley, and other specialty herbs; all kinds of lettuces, chives, green onions, leeks, green beans, purple beans, long beans snap peas, regular peas, Japanese cucumbers, all kinds of tomatoes, many different kinds of oriental stir-fry vegetables including kyona mizuna (which in Hawaii, sells for $12/lb. around New Year’s), cabbages, kohlrabi, silver beet, Swiss chard, and broccoli. We forgot to try cauliflower. We grew some odd stuff like tomatillos, garden berries, thornless blackberries and amaranth (a GRAIN); I am sure there is a lot of other stuff that would grow well, but we were primarily focusing on crops we thought had commercial potential.
(Below) A wildly enthusiastic watercress colony. At this time, organically certified watercress was bringing $12/pound wholesale. 
Strawberries grew really well until the Chinese beetles decimated them. Please see the “How To Win The War On Bugs” post for how to decimate Chinese beetles, using organically certified pest control methods.
We had several varieties of tomatoes that did really well, but attracted insect pests like nobody’s business. These would thrive in a greenhouse situation. Tomatoes need some kind of support, and they put a LOT of weight on that support. Figure for just 32 square feet of rafts of tomatoes, the plants and fruit can weigh two to three hundred pounds. Build your support structures accordingly, and build them so you can get your hands in there and harvest easily
We grew watercress, peppercress, and other cresses in the margins of our hydroponics troughs. It grew well just floating free, but for commercial growing we made a 4’ by 8’ frame out of 2” PVC pipe, with a piece of quarter-inch plastic mesh fastened inside it on the bottom side of the pipe; the watercress grows right on top of the mesh in about a half-inch of water that comes up over the mesh. This stuff grows like a WEED in aquaponics systems, is beautiful, crunchy and flavorful, and has incredible shelf life!
Negative Results Of Our Test Grow:
We had some odd results: our first set of lima beans and fava beans grew huge bushes but made no beans, but the second time we planted them they made lots of beans. The first time we planted bell peppers, medium-hot peppers and hot peppers, they all grew very well, but then wilted and shortly thereafter fell over with stems rotted in the center. The second (and subsequent) time we planted them they did fine. Our first eggplant finally matured a 3-oz fruit after 3 months right next to a tomato plant that had given 200 lbs. of tomatoes during the same period; then we got some other eggplants to bear decently. We know of a grower who’s grown corn with the appropriate supports. Those short little round carrots grow fine.
Obviously, many things will not grow in Aquaponics systems. Trees probably won’t work. We’ve had no luck with lemongrass (grows great for a month, then rots off and falls over); rosemary (just doesn’t grow worth a darn!), spinach (sprouts then stays little forever), and long carrots.
The problem with research is that whatever portion of your system is planted in research crops is not earning money for you right now. It might if the experiment pays off. The point is, we can’t afford to do only research until we figure out what is the best to grow, or the best way to grow it. We need to learn those things while we keep the cash flowing. So please, experiment with whatever you can afford to according to your intuition and analysis, and we promise to share our results with you if you share with us.
Raft Spacing is AS important as which vegetables grow well:
What do we mean? Imagine your test grows went well, and you found three or four vegetable “candidates” for your commercial production. Wouldn’t you be irritated if, a year or two down the line, you found out that you could grow them at a 20% higher (or lower) density on the rafts and end up with more total weight, or more heads of produce? I would. So the time to experiment and determine what planting density yields the most production (whether it is heads or pounds you are selling) is before you build your 10,000 square feet of trough and holesaw all the holes in your $25,000 worth of rafts!
Here’s how to determine the optimum raft hole spacing for your selected crops: Do your first test grows in the standard 32-hole 2-foot by 4-foot rafts; this will give you a “baseline” from which to experiment, and weigh and record the results. Select the three or four crop items that grew best in your test grows on the 32’s, and try a test grow of each of them in a 40-hole 2-foot by 4-foot raft, and in a 26-hole 2-foot by 4-foot raft. The reason for doing this is that you don’t know which will produce more weight: the 40 will certainly produce more heads, but if each head weighs less, you may actually get less weight per raft than growing in a 32. But you might get more. Also, even though the 26 makes 6 fewer heads than the 32, these heads may weigh so much that the 26 has a clear “by-the-pound” advantage in production over the 32.
If you are selling by weight, weigh the results of this test grow with a scale that is accurate to the nearest hundredth of a pound. If the production of your 26-hole or 40-hole raft weighed more than that of the 32, then you have a winner! The only question then is if going further in the same direction (that is, fewer holes per raft, or more, whichever yielded the higher weight) is going to produce even more Further experimentation may be in order.
If you are selling by the head, take the results of this test grow to your buyers. It’s obvious that if you grow more heads that are exactly the same, and you can sell for the same price each using the 40-hole raft, it’s a good deal for you. It’s not quite so obvious that the buyer might be willing to pay enough more per head for the larger, more attractive heads that might come from the 26, that you might make more money per raft this way. The only question then is if going further in the same direction (that is, fewer holes per raft, or more, whichever yielded the higher weight) is going to produce even more dollar value of heads per raft.
Aloha Bob M
Our “filtration methods” basically consist of having a window-screen-sized “filter” on the outflow of the fish tank, and one with larger screen on the water pump intake. Nothing else is really necessary in an aquaponics system, unless you are operating at a high enough fish density, which makes other types of filters necessary. This has not endeared us to those who make their living from selling tanks, biofilters, etc; because they want people to think they need MORE of those, rather than less. Our approach provides the lowest-cost aquaponics system that produces the most VEGETABLES and loses the least amount of money necessary on the fish portion of the operation.
Unfortunately, a LOT of people out there are running aquaponics operations with large amounts of fish, under the mistaken impression that growing a lot of fish is “good”, and they really DO need these filters. I say “unfortunately”, because if they carefully tracked and added up all their costs for raising the fish, and were honest about the cost of labor they provide to their operations for the fish portion of them, they’d realize can’t make a profit on the fish. They’re losing money on their fish, they just don’t know it. Why don’t they care? Because:
1. They are a University, and have all their expenses and labor paid. Their fish are free, and thus, they can “recommend” any kind of “commercial” aquaponics system they want.
2. They are really a small hobby operation who doesn’t track their expenses, and doesn’t need to make a profit on their fish because the amount of money involved is so small (For your information, a single person can run 2,500 square feet of raft area by themselves, doing all that is required. So any claims of a person “running a commercial aquaponics system” who has only 400 square feet are inaccurate; what they have is a large hobby system that should take them less than one day a week to do everything: feed fish, plant, harvest, marketing and selling, and maintenance).
3. They are primarily selling tanks, troughs, liner, pumps and other hardware, and/or “commercial aquaponics trainings”. Even if they also have a large-scale aquaponics system, there’s no need for them to track fish expenses or to make money on the fish in it; because they’re not doing aquaponics for a living, they’re doing hardware sales. Very often these people will convince others they can make a profit on the fish, even though they are not doing so themselves. In our opinion, this practice is negligent at best, and may verge on being criminal.
Nuff said?
Aloha, Tim…………..
Opps, I forgot link to video, sorry.
https://youtu.be/d2Uepp2QPhI
Hey Bob,
That tank build was cool, very big but I guess it could be scaled down. I should tell you about my experience with a pvc frame and liner mini system I made. It worked great until the raccoon’s figured out there were fish in there. I would never advise that kind of a tank (fencing and liner) especially for a commercial application. You will save on the tank initially but how much is that going to cost you when you have an animal tear the tank liner open through the 4″ fencing and you loose all your water volume and all your fish in one swoop. Even if you do it in a greenhouse there could be a careless worker that accidentally stabs the liner with their lettuce knife or a child (or adult) that pokes the tank with something during a tour. In any application (commercial or backyard) you could loose a lot of money having to replace your tank and all your fish.
The commercial package does come with the fish tank plans that you mentioned, you can get an idea of that tank by checking out the free information page at http://old.friendlyaquaponics.com/free-downloads/ There is a ton of free content there. In the manual it does list suppliers and their contact information for round tanks but the tank being round doesn’t matter as much as you think it would, rectangle works just fine =) Its no secret that a lot of people use the 100, 150 or 300 gallon Rubbermaid stock tanks and those are readily available through ACE Hardware, Amazon, your local feed store and pop up on Craigslist.
Best of luck!
-Jessica
Jessica
Makes a lot of sense now that you point out some short comings. Thank you once again. Thus far I have yet found any one whom publishes the volume of free info like you guys. I’ll most likely purchase the commercial package but it’ll have to wait till the next sale as I need to clear 3 acres of land.
You folks keep me in mind at your next sale out here on the panhandle of florida and keep the light on for me. Meanwhile I’ll keep reading your newsletters and blog. I know by reading sll these distributions I’ll get everything needed to running a succesful farm but i like the idea of a lieftime support channel to lean on If needed.
Been checking around on the forums and no one had talked bad of you folks. There are a few that don’t like your filtration methods but being Jon Parr commented well in favor over a system one of your clients built, then that’s good enough for me.
Thank again Team Friendly
Another great article, thank you but I have two questions please.
1. Is there going to be an issue getting food-safety certification for an aquaponics system in Florida?
2. The blue dow board, where does one purchases these boats from? Does home depot carry them?
Ugh, hate auto correct. Sorry but boat is suppose to be boards in question 2 above.
Hi Bob,
Food safety certification should not be a problem in Florida. They have fairly strait forward guidelines and as long as you follow them you should be good to go. If you need help with food safety certification it is thoroughly covered in the Commercial Manual. The module guides you through the process, and includes a sample checklist audit, complete instructions, and fill in the blank forms to get you ready for your Food Safety inspection.
On the blue board question- I am in CA and my Home Depot no longer carries the correct blue board but the building materials or “Pro Desk” associate can order them for you. Make sure they order the correct one without the ez-break scoring =)
Best of luck!
-Jessica
(Friendly Forum Moderator)
Hi Jessica
Thank you very much for the detailed response. If I may do so they’re is another question. I read the commercial package has detailed drawings to build a fish tank. Just curious if there’s a round fosh tank such as this one being built in this video?
It appears to be cheap to build and very sturdy due to the large sizes they often build for aquaculture farms.
Unfortunately every video theses folks publish is all in Spanish of which no Habra espanole …. thanks again in advance.
Chow!!!