New Commercial System

[GaryD]

Hi,

Joel Malcolm has just released pictures of his new commercial aquaponics system. See here.

It's entirely logical that this development would be of interest to aquaponicists everywhere.....so I thought it might be a useful opportunity to consider the new system and engage in a constructive discussion about its features and the manner of its operation.

• How do you feel about the system?
• What do you like.....or not like.....about it?
• If you were to do things differently, what would they be....and why?

This discussion will focus solely on the new system. Any comment about anyone or anything else will be deleted.

Gary

[djs-sa]

looks very good I like it so far time will tell

The 1 thing that I would change would be the height of the grow beds to save bending down, especially when your dealing in that many plant spacings

[aussieap]

Aesthetically, very pleasing to the eye. Just nice to see the continued evolution of systems here in Australia. Murray and Joel are to be commended for their efforts in furthering designs of home/commercial systems.

It doesn't look like a one pump system but I can't be certain.
Siting the grow troughs in ground will give greater temp stability at the expense of convenience of harvest, so a calculated trade off there.

Based on comments by Dr Rakocy in Brisbane, I wonder about adding solids back into the system and no air in the grow troughs themselves.

The UVI system is a four tank system with one tank harvested every x weeks. The nutrient input is pretty consistent and not highly variable. With 2 tanks only in Joel's design, will the drop off in nutrients affect plant growth when a tank is harvested? Perhaps it is not intended to harvest the entire tank at once.

Let's hope for the industry that it works and continues to add to the body of knowledge on aquaponics in Australia. There has obviously been a lot of thought, time, money and effort put in by many people.

[Castaway]

Very impressive. Looks like a very economically designed system.What is that material used to line the channel? Black polythene plastic? I worry about reaching and picking the centre vegetables and not slipping and falling in. Maybe parts of the raft system can be lifted out in sections for harvest? Good to see AP moving ahead. A win win situation for everyone.

[Tsaphah]

Looks great, interesting to read that UVI are trialing a no filtration and keeping the suspended solids in and still going after 6 months. Murray was concerned that his DWC system would get build up on the roots, preventing nutrient takeup. Please keep us updated on this issue.

Might be an idea to put a shed at the other end to process produce as they come off the rafts.

How deep are the grow troughs, and how wide? May be easier handling the rafts if they were cut in half as I'm sure it would take 2 people to lift them out when produce are fully grown.

[GaryD]

Hi,

Looks great, interesting to read that UVI are trialing a no filtration and keeping the suspended solids in and still going after 6 months. Murray was concerned that his DWC system would get build up on the roots, preventing nutrient takeup. Please keep us updated on this issue.

You've misread the post. It's actually Friendly Aquaponics in Hawaii who are trialing keeping the solids in. UVI are adamant that solids removal is essential.

Gary

[Tsaphah]

Guess thats what happens when you get interupted while reading. Thanks, I'll go see what they have to say.

[Murray]

You've misread the post. It's actually Friendly Aquaponics in Hawaii who are trialing keeping the solids in. UVI are adamant that solids removal is essential.

And UVI have been doing it for 30 plus years.

[fishfood]

If it works i say good on them there's so many things that people said mite not work and have been proven wrong even with my system vermiculite i have grown carrot [second crop now growing] also tomatoes beetroot and celery all growing in it my lemon now has 10 fruit the size of eggs and you should see the grape vine its grown 8 meters since november

[Mr Big]

All commercial systems have one problem making money growing the stuff is easy getting the price you want for it is hard. Good Luck hope they get to the scale of volume to be economically viable.