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You are here: Home / Archives for what doesn’t work

Cheap Stuff And Value Engineering

March 14, 2017 By Tim Mann Leave a Comment

Cheap Stuff And Value Engineering

When we got back from the UVI course in June 2007 we were excited about getting started in aquaponics, and immediately started pricing components. We were shocked to find that a 10′ fiberglass tank that cost $1,935 on the mainland had another $2,200 of shipping costs to get it to Hawaii. The smaller tanks we needed had similar painful price tags attached, along with everything else that had to get shipped in. The 2003 UVI “system cost” of $42,000 that they gave us during the 2007 course turned out to be $85,000 in Hawaii in 2007. This information forced us to rethink how we would build our systems, rather than just building identical systems to the ones UVI had. We started value engineering the systems instead of just shopping in catalogs.

(Below) An energy-efficient pump that only costs $678 with shipping; it pumps 40 gallons per minute, and uses $655 per year worth of electricity.

(Below) Another pump that only costs $379 with shipping; it pumps 50 gallons per minute (that’s a little better than our blue pump above). It looks cheaper on the surface, BUT it uses $6,845 per year worth of electricity, which is unacceptable compared to our blue pump above!

Which pump would you buy? Thought so.

Value engineering is when you research and develop a system component or subsystem that works just as well but costs less than your first selection. Because we had to build these systems on a limited amount of loan money (while living on the loan at the same time!) we were forced to review every single system component and subsystem to determine if there was a better way to do things. Because we knew we would forever be paying for any inefficiencies we designed into these systems, we were particularly careful to be thorough and precise in our research and design work.

Don’t confuse “Value Engineering” with “Cheap”! Don’t waste your money buying cheap pumps, air pumps, airstones, or other aquaponics equipment! We are always hearing about “I got a good cheap sump pump (or Jacuzzi pump) at a yard sale for $25. Will it work?”. Yes, it will work. However, the pumps that are specified with the different sized systems are exactly the right size for those systems, and will not use any more energy than necessary to do the job right.

Here’s an example of this problem: you buy a $25 Jacuzzi pump at a yard sale for a 64-square-foot MicroSystem instead of spending $62 (plus shipping!) for the right pump as specified in the materials list. You think you saved money, right? That’s until you realize that the right $62 pump only uses $93 of electricity a year, and the cheap pump uses $1,294 of electricity a year. This “savings” cost you an extra $1,201 a year, but go right ahead if you still feel it’s a deal.

The point here is that energy cost can be far more than any difference in original equipment cost, so you want to buy the most energy-efficient piece of equipment that will do the job, even if it costs four times as much as the cheap one! What you need to do is educate yourself, and think about energy, labor, and other costs associated with a purchase of a system component before buying it. What’s best is to find someone who’s using the same thing and has had no problems with it; the aquaponics forums are good for this. In this blog, we ONLY mention equipment by name that WORKS!

An old farmer friend on the Big Island said it best: “Cheap no good. Good no cheap”. Any time you think you’ve got a “deal”, look twice. You may be the one paying an extra $1,200 a year.

Filed Under: Aquaponic System Construction, Aquaponics, General Principles Tagged With: best aquaponics system, cheap stuff, value engineering, what doesn't work

Raft Discussion

March 8, 2017 By Tim Mann 14 Comments

Raft Discussion

WARNING! There has been discussion among attendees of our courses about alternatives to the Styrofoam rafts we use (which were approved for organic certification by Oregon Tilth), [Read more…]

Filed Under: Aquaponic System Construction, Aquaponics, Commercial Systems Tagged With: organic, organic certification, rafts, styrofoam rafts, what doesn't work

Growing LOTS Of fish

February 21, 2017 By Tim Mann 2 Comments

Growing LOTS Of fish

High Density (HD) Versus Low Density (LD) Systems

Low Density Systems (LD) We developed our LD systems after receiving many requests for an economical, viable, off-grid aquaponics system [Read more…]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, Backyard Systems, BIG Backyard Systems, Commercial Systems, Fish, General Principles, Organic Certification, Sizing And Productivity Of Systems Tagged With: best aquaponics system, Fish, grow lots of fish, HD system, high density system, LD system, low density system, organic, organic certification, profitability, USDA Organic Certification, what doesn't work, which system for me?

So You Still Want To Do An Experiment

February 21, 2017 By Tim Mann 25 Comments

So You Still Want To Do An Experiment

This section was all derived from “experiments” done by us or one of our students, with sometimes disastrous results. If it says to not do something in this blog, there is a solid reason behind that recommendation! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, Backyard Systems, BIG Backyard Systems, Commercial Systems, General Principles Tagged With: adjusting pH, BAM, black soldier fly larvae, BSF, crawfish, duckweed, E. coli, EM, experiment, manure, what doesn't work

How To Do A Useful Experiment In Aquaponics

February 21, 2017 By Tim Mann Leave a Comment

How To Do A Useful Experiment In Aquaponics

Most people think of “science” as something which involves millions in research funding, and that is only done by PhDs. Not true [Read more…]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, General Principles Tagged With: Aquaponics, experiment, what doesn't work

What Doesn’t Work

January 22, 2017 By Tim Mann 2 Comments

What Doesn’t Work:

Here’s a list of system components, techniques, and ideas for systems that we know don’t work, OR can have serious problems when applied on the commercial level, with some of the reasons why [Read more…]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, Backyard Systems, BIG Backyard Systems, Commercial Systems, General Principles Tagged With: Aquaponics, profitability, what doesn't work, which system for me?

Property Selection And Approval Process For Organic Aquaponic Farms

January 21, 2016 By Tim Mann 4 Comments

Property Selection And Approval Process For Organic Aquaponic Farms:

Why are you telling us this? Can’t we just buy a farm and get going? NO, DON’T DO IT! Here’s why: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Aquaponic System Construction, Aquaponics, Business Help, Commercial Systems, Organic Certification, The Business Of Aquaponics Tagged With: organic certification, profitability, system construction, USDA Organic Certification, what doesn't work

What Doesn’t Work, #2

December 28, 2015 By Tim Mann 6 Comments

What Doesn’t Work, Part 2:

Here’s an additional list of system components, techniques, and ideas for systems that we know don’t work, OR can have [Read more…]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, General Principles Tagged With: best aquaponics system, experiment, experimenting, what doesn't work

Selecting The Right Aquaponics Technology To Use

December 28, 2015 By Tim Mann Leave a Comment

Selecting The Right Aquaponics Technology To Use For Commercial-Scale Aquaponics

If you want to be successful in commercial aquaponics, you MUST employ an aquaponics technology that is proven to be profitable. What’s that mean? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, Commercial Systems, General Business Principles, General Principles, Sizing And Productivity Of Systems Tagged With: best aquaponics system, experiment, experimenting, profit, what doesn't work

How To Start Small And Generate Cash Flow

August 26, 2015 By Tim Mann 8 Comments

How To Start Small And Generate Cash Flow!

How To Drive Success: Don’t start big with lots of expenses and hardly any cash flow; rather, start small and generate cash flow right away

It’s funny how many people claim to be “commercial aquaponics experts”, but have never done it for a living [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business Help, General Business Principles, Start BIG, Die FAST, Start Small, Grow BIG, The Business Of Aquaponics Tagged With: aquaponic failure, profit, profitability, start small, what doesn't work

How To Keep Your Fish Healthy and Alive When Hauling

August 25, 2015 By Tim Mann Leave a Comment

How To Keep Your Fish Healthy and Alive When Hauling

IMPORTANT- You can kill fish with bad hauling techniques! Even if you’re getting your fish from a pond or lake on your property, you still need to haul them a short distance [Read more…]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, Fish, General Principles Tagged With: Fish, fish dying, getting fish, hauling fish, transporting fish, what doesn't work

Feeding The Fish And Making Your Own Fish Food

August 19, 2015 By Tim Mann 10 Comments

Feeding The Fish And Making Your Own Fish Food

The fish food we use for both catfish and tilapia is Rangen 1/8” floating catfish food. You can use any floating food that has [Read more…]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, Fish, General Principles, Plants Tagged With: cheap stuff, Fish, profit, profitability, what doesn't work

Potential Startup Problems

August 19, 2015 By Tim Mann Leave a Comment

Potential Startup Problems

FIRST: Too Much Ammonia Will Stop The System Startup! Your system will guaranteed fail to start if [Read more…]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, Commercial Systems, General Principles Tagged With: ammonia, inoculant bacteria, inoculate, nitrate, nitrifiers, nitrifying bacteria, nitrite, nutrients, startup, system startup, what doesn't work

This Can Be Your Aquaponic Failure

August 12, 2015 By Tim Mann 3 Comments

This Can Be Your Aquaponic Failure:

First, if you’re interested in starting a commercial aquaponics operation, the most important thing you should know is this: one person can easily run 2,500 to 3,000 square feet of aquaponics system, [Read more…]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, General Business Principles, General Principles, Spreadsheet Crop Prediction Tools, Start BIG, Die FAST, Start Small, Grow BIG, The Business Of Aquaponics Tagged With: aquaponics failures, best aquaponics system, fail, profit, profitability, what doesn't work, which system for me?

What We Add To Our Systems

August 7, 2015 By Tim Mann Leave a Comment

What We Add To Our Systems

These systems are incredibly stable and dynamic; stable means they are rock-solid, and dynamic means they adjust to changes easily and (usually) with minimum damage. This doesn’t mean [Read more…]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, General Principles Tagged With: system additions, water quality, what doesn't work

A Friendly Testimonial:

Hi Tim, My son, Carl and I attended the training in Texas this year. Just to give you an update. The Sunday after the training, I was coming home from the church I pastor and passed by a co-op that has several greenhouses out front that seemed not to be in use anymore. I drove through to check them out and they were not in use.

A couple of months later,.....we are now the owners of the 7 greenhouses and all that comes with them! We were able to purchase them all for only $2800. My son and I begin deconstructing them on Thursday.

I'm attaching a couple of photos for you to look at them. They have propane heaters, roll up sides, boxes and lights for electricity, fiberglass front and rear walls, and a lot of odds and ends that I believe will come in handy.

I am so glad we listened when you spoke on ways to find greenhouses without spending a fortune. It has been tempting to just "jump in" but I'm glad we waited.

Thank you and many blessings, Rob Rolison

(Below) About $50,000 worth of greenhouses and equipment that Rob Rolison and his son Carl picked up for $2,800 after we explained how to do so in our March 2016 Texas 5-day training. They're going to disassemble them and reassemble at their farm. If they'd bought them new, they be at zero now; another way to look at this is that they have $47,200 to spend on the aquaponics systems to go inside their greenhouses.
RolisonGH1-300px

Come to one of our live trainings, or purchase our Commercial DIY package to learn even more knowledge that is as valuable as this.

Click here to download our document: "How To Get A Greenhouse Nearly Free"

Click here for MORE testimonials....

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