Aquaponics - Self Sufficiency for ALL - Interested in meeting likeminded individuals/groups

Greetings Riaz,
I am a aquaculturist with over 20 years experience, and within that I significant amount with Aquaponics, - aquapoics is one of the closest environmental practices to nature - but within NZ challanging !! I have been working on lots of different possibilities and have a few options. if you are interested please let me no- I am in Nelson.
Best regards Bill

Hi Coolrio! My aq experience is limited to a domestic setup which ran for a few years, and to sustaining paua in tanks at an aquaculture farm.

Like some many nice-sounding ideas, aquaponics is very difficult to contrive without something like electricity. I needed water circulating from top to bottom and back in all systems to minimise water use and loss of nutrients.

My crops also reminded me on occasions how reliant they are on continuous water supply. A few hours with the water off on a warm night and it all looks very bad in the morning.

As a power supply a windmill would be a tad irregular, a water wheel from a reliable stream would be a possibility.
It also needs well-designed nutrients that you can be sure of, and those usually come in bags from afar.

However you contrive it 'modern' aquaculture and aquaponics needs a fair bit of modern technology to keep it running, and usually daily attention to keep up with the inevitable black swans that fly by (failed pump, hot day+no water, too much nutrient (worse than too little - the perils of reverse osmosis!) hole in a liner lets all the water out, pipe falls off...).

But there is nothing new under the sun, really, so I'm sure you would find 'old fashioned' ways to do it well enough. Ask Mayans, Incas, Laotians, Babylonians... all worked for a while at local scale until their respective wheels fell off.

Have to ask yourself, tho, why do aquaponics when a forrest food garden will give you exactly what you need eventually with about 10 days work a year max, and near 100% resilience.

Good luck!

Nigel

Hello Coolrio

I'm new to New Zealand from Seattle, USA. I started getting into aquaponics about a year ago and built an experimental system in my backyard. I had pretty good success for a first go-round, and very eager to continue building on what I have learned here in our new home. I'm also very interested in cultivating this "technology" and helping people become food independent!

I'd be glad to share what I've learned and collaborate to spread this transformative idea far and wide.