Not at all. Everyone was impatient until i post it then suddenly its crickets. Again highlighting my point. Of course it wouldn’t get done in a week lol but surely a mere response from the same people asking for SOPs would be a start lol. Yep you did and all of that wasted time could have been better spent doing actual research instead which im sure you would agree with. But when you have a post thats gone up twice in a year asking for research and all of the suggestions are variations on the same tired research on aquaponic thats already been done its just proving my point. So your way you waste a year before you even start research? No wonder academia is a decade + behind commercial producers at this point thats completely insane. Unlike you iv actually not only tested this method iv used it to clean up other aquaponic “experts” messes and pathogen problems. I am making an attempt to make a project i already did all of the hard parts now i just need some one to copy it and put it into the record because its way past proven at this point.
Once again, if you look above, Janelle Hager expressed that she was interested and wanted to talk. I’m actually pretty happy I spent all of that time working on grants, it has been a great experience thus far. I’m not trying to get into a back and forth with you on this… All I’m saying is that you cant just tell someone in a university to do something, you actually have to create a connection with said person and work towards a goal of completing research.
Again they asked for stuff to research and this has been completely proven out already in real world commercial settings not lab settings where everything is perfect. Yet i cant even get one university to be bothered with what is a break thru in food safety that would protect the entire industry from lettuce to cannabis from liability. This is everything that is wrong with current aquaponic research in a nutshell its mostly a dog chasing its own tail and that has to change or its going to just fall to the way side it already kind of is in the last few years and in large part because theres very little new research outside of lettuce being published at all. Thank you for helping me highlight how broken the current system is tho i appreciate it.
Good morning, Steve. I appreciate you stirring the pot. The other thing not verbalized yet is money. How can I do this research if I do not have funds? Funds are generated by grant funding. Yes, it is a messed up system but that is the system in which I have to operate. I need bodies (students, post-docs, technicians) plus supply finds. The other thing that keeps striking me about this topic is that you state it has been done and it works. If it has been done, do we need to replicate? Yes, it can appear we are replicating things with the tilapia/lettuce combo but that does directly apply to the majority of producers. I would love to have the funds to evaluate species combinations. The animal/plant combos most commonly used are mismatched (thermally, pH, etc.). I would also like to work on detailed evaluations of nutrient flows (I know, Charlie, it is easy to add minerals…). There is hope… with our current project, we MAY be able to formally conduct the research you are requesting as we have a microbiologist working with us. I’ll keep you posted.
Wow, just ran across a new publication on use of LABs as a probiotic in shrimp feeds. It was beneficial. The link is
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsi.2023.108707
I do not know if this link will work. Suggest copy and paste into browsers.
Thank you for your constructive post. How would you proposed getting that funded you highlighted it as a weak area thats a great point that needs better newer solutions. What does a research project cost at the academic level is it reasonable or is it astronomical? Plenty of companies already doing the research just need a way to bridge the gap better so academia can catch up. Great points.
It is astronomical and getting higher all the time. A recent budget hiring 1 post-doc, 1 graduate student and 1 technician for 5 years was over $1 million. With graduate students, we have to arrange these such that they have time to complete coursework plus their research (2 years for a M.S., 4 years for a Ph.D.). Commercially supported research is often shorter duration which does not fit the student model, but does fit use of a technician. But who will accept a 4-6 month technician position with no guarantee of continued funding? I understand your frustration, I could add to those from my end…Just need to keep pushing forward as best we can.
Well no wonder there is so many problems with university research thats completely unreasonable and ridiculous. This should absolutely be one of the biggest priorities of the association is to address how to complete new research for something that resembles a reasonable price if we cant address that we are in a really really bad situation as far as the industry goes. Theres absolutely no reason for that, we could run that same test for a few thousand dollars on a normal production farm theres no reason for that kind of insane price. It makes complete sense now why the academic side of things is cripplingly far behind between the 1 year time lines to even start and the million dollar price tags this system is clearly broken completely. How do we fix this? how do we make it sane to do research for all involved.
Likely need to set-up something similar to what the Freshwater Institute does for aquaculture. A nonprofit research aquaponic think tank. Still funding is always going to be an issue.
Great post. This is my first semester in grad school and am looking to lock down my research. Ill be attempting to set up preliminary experiments this summer and fall. I tried getting in touch with social media friends who are doing aquaponics but they never responded to my inquiries of knowledge gaps they’d like to see closed in the realm of academia. Unfortunately Ill most likely be doing special topics/independent studies since NMSU does not have an aquaponics program. But i look forward to reading through all the responses and seeing if there’s anything I might be interested in taking on as part, or whole of my research.
May I know in general is it a good choice to run saltwater aquaponics far away from the sea? If yes, do I need to replace saltwater from time to time, or just need to add a mixture of nutrients to the water from time to time? The reasons I favor saltwater over freshwater aquaponics are: 1. more vegetables grow underwater so more efficient to remove animal waste, and 2. More vegetables can have photosynthesis underwater, providing oxygen instead of consuming oxygen in water. 3. Save energy consumption due to no total water circulation is needed. 4. Crops may yield higher values. 5. Deeper underground tanks might be practical which may simplify temperature control and may not need a green house in places with the range of temperature changes within a year is wide. 6. A greenhouse in urban residential zoon may not look appealing which may discourage residents trying out aquaponics. Many home owner associations may not allow residents to setup a greenhouse unless it is proven aesthetic.
I’m a newbie in urban aquaponics. I wish to find a low maintenance high yield aquaponics design which has automation and remote control over cell phones. I guess the automation and remote control can help to achieve “low maintenance”, and optimizing the animal-vegetable species and densities may help to achieve both “low maintenance” and “high yield”.
I am interested in urban aquaponics system design and application optimization. It’s okay to try everything on my own, but if I can join a team of people who share the same values and wills to contribute to environmental restoration, we might make faster progress and a bigger impact.
I also realize that fingerlings/juveniles/lava are more expensive than I thought and home breeding may not be common. If people need to buy those every cycle, such high prices on fingerlings, etc., may turn off many. Does anyone have information on where to buy fingerlings, etc. in the US?
Thank you so much.
Best Regards,
Shen.
I can easily pick “black clams” (not sure the formal name) near the bank of small public lakes. I tried them, not bad (the edge is a little hard to chew, though). Their sizes range from 1" to 8". Not sure if it is legal to put wild clams into aquaponics, but if legal, that may be a potential source of shellfish and they may do a good job cleaning up your tanks.
Interesting. Where are you located?