We don’t go to bed hungry, but a LOT of the people in the world do. We care about that. We’re committed to solving this problem, even though we have limited resources and so far, are funding this effort entirely by ourselves. If you clicked on this page hoping to see designs for Third-world systems then we apologize to you. We don’t have them YET. However, we know enough about aquaponics to develop them within a year if we had funding. Can you help?

The problem we’re committed to solving is how to produce high-quality protein for Third-World people with almost no resources, without impacting their existing human or animal food sources. We will use garbage that is inedible as human or animal food to create food for fish for humans to eat, and use the fish effluent to produce vegetables for human consumption.

I (Tim) spent five years in a country in which typhoid, diphtheria, syphilis, and dengue outbreaks were common; I met crippled 20-year-olds who had contracted polio as children (I had polio as a child fifty-six years ago). I personally contracted amoebic dysentery, Hepatitis B, and dengue (breakbone fever) during those five years.

I ran a boatbuilding operation in this Third-World country, where I learned to speak the language and trained unskilled workers to become boatbuilders. At its height, my boatshop employed 22 people, few of whom could read or even recognize themselves in a photo. I was at the end of the world’s supply lines. Our shop built eleven 34′ motorboats, three 40′ sailing passenger catamarans, a 32′ cargo boat and a 45′er, and many smaller boats under 30′ long, all constructed in a dirt-floored boatshop under a big tree. I know how things work, and how to get things done in the confusion and political corruption often experienced in Third World countries.

My wife and business partner Susanne Friend grew up in Pakistan, India, Indonesia, West Africa, and China thirty years ago and experienced Third-World life firsthand. She has degrees in biology and chemistry. She and I are knowledgeable, competent, and highly motivated to design workable systems to be built and maintained with available technology and resources, and which will reduce human suffering and improve people’s quality of life.

Susanne and I operate a First-World aquaponics vegetable and fish farm on the island of Hawaii (see www.friendlyaquaponics.com). Our farm produces eight times more vegetable produce in the same time and in the same land area as conventional dirt farming, while using only 12% of the energy per pound of produce as does farming in the ground, with only 2% of the water used. The energy used is all electrical, which means it can be supplied with alternate energy sources (wind power is under development). This is the first food production system which does not require any oil! We are currently producing 2,200 pounds of vegetables and 300 pounds of fish per month, from nothing a year ago. This is a First-World food production system and is not what we’re proposing for developing countries.

We have designed a related system for developing countries that does not require any expensive, technically sophisticated components; it will be built from bamboo or wood, window screen, and black plastic by untrained and unskilled workers; it will be operated and maintained by children; and it will produce high-quality fish protein using garbage that even hungry pigs would not eat, as the food source for the fish. As a side benefit, this system induces a large reduction in the populations of flying insects (which are also disease vectors) around any village or area in which it is employed.

Here’s how it works: insect traps made of bamboo and window screen are baited with insect lure attractants for day-flyers, and solar-powered light attractors for night-flying insects. The insects fly into the traps and are caught in a removable portable portion of the trap we’ll call a “suitcase”, made of bamboo, window screen, and local fiber. This “suitcase” has a small container inside it where trapped flies will go to lay their eggs, which then turn into maggots that will also provide food for the fish. These “suitcases” are collected every morning by children from the traps, which are strategically placed around the village, and are taken to the fish rearing location where they are emptied underwater so no bugs can escape, into the fish ponds or tanks.

The fish will get an incredible high-protein, high-fat food that has been created entirely from garbage; the people who have these systems will get a much-needed high-protein, high-fat food (the fish), which has been created entirely from garbage, some window screen, and a little human ingenuity. Any grains or other vegetables the people already grow will be supplemented with this high-quality protein. If you have ever spent any time in developing countries you will know there are often enough carbohydrates in people’s diets, BUT THERE IS NEVER ENOUGH PROTEIN!

To culture the fish there are many options: where there are bodies of water, systems of raising fish using cheap enclosures called hapas (used extensively in in-ground fish ponds in Thailand) will be utilized. Where there is not much water, we will use holes in the ground or structures built up from rocks with cheap plastic liners to hold the water. If there is existing aquaculture, this idea will increase its yields many times over, as Third-World aquaculturists simply cannot afford to feed their fish anything with real food value because it is necessary for human consumption.

The fish water, which is full of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates (fertilizer) from the fish wastes, is routed through lined vegetable troughs where just about any carbohydrate crop they are already growing locally will grow two times as fast as in the dirt, and larger.

There DOES need to be a source of water somewhere near, or adequate rainfall. This will not work where there is only a single, barely sufficient well for a whole village. It is to some degree site-limited. But it will be highly applicable in a significant portion of the world: where there is more than 50″ of annual rainfall, or near any lake, river, or constantly running stream, or sufficient ground water.

That’s it. We can prototype it economically in Hawaii until it works well, then distribute it and educate people how to build it and use it. It will generate a tremendous level of food independence thoughout small villages, whereby people are feeding themselves, locally and sustainably, rather than going hungry, waiting for someone else to feed them. The funding and administration for this work will be provided by competent locally run microlending programs and woman-owned microbanks. We recommend women be the administrators for these programs wherever culturally acceptable.

We need help to make this a reality. We’ve got the knowledge to develop this solution, but are moving slowly because we have limited resources and have to fund development of these systems ourselves. We just need funding. Can you help?

Build four different sizes of stable, durable, and productive indoor aquaponics systems that can be operated indoors OR outdoors, or even MOVED between indoors and outdoors, depending on the season. These affordable systems range from a COUNTER TOP 2.5 square foot system to one with 32 square feet in grow bed area. The 2.5 square foot system costs $65 for materials, the 32 square foot one costs $250 for materials. Most materials are available locally; some items may need to come from suppliers whose contact information is given in the materials lists. In addition to the four standard sizes of systems in the manual we show you how to build small aquaponics systems out of Igloo coolers, discarded refrigerators and freezers, plastic garbage cans and barrels, concrete mixing tubs, and other easily-procured items. Most importantly, we show you in complete detail how to OPERATE them successfully!

Purchase the Apartment/Condo Aquaponics Systems plans and manual

Rose and Jack with the Pico System setup outdoors. This is just one of the four standard systems for which plans and materials lists are included.

We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours, and built our first commercial aquaponics systems with FAR less information than this manual contains. This manual would have saved us over half of that money and time. We have included all the information learned from spending that money and time in this manual so you don’t have to make any of the same mistakes we did.

This package includes new and easy-to-understand building instructions and complete operating information for small aquaponic systems based on our years of experience operating a commercial aquaponics farm. Anyone can build a system out of plastic barrels, but operating one without good and easily-understood information can be frustrating. Operating information is given in the form of a “Daily Operations Manual” where you simply use the checklist and follow the step-by-step instructions on your way to success with aquaponics.

Indoors: These systems are appropriate for anyone who is limited to growing indoors, or for those who only have limited space outdoors. They are perfect for getting your fingers wet in aquaponics without spending a lot (pun intended!). They can easily be set up in an apartment or condo, on a balcony,  inside a garage or outbuilding, inside a spare room, or even a closet. You can use them for the centerpiece of a living room or family room to show off to your friends. Best of all, they produce food! If you have light and heat you can grow vegetables and fish!

Schools: These systems are perfect for schools because of their low cost and the easily-understood instructions and plans for construction and operation that come with the package.  They are so affordable and understandable that a sixth-grader can easily use one as a science class or science fair project. They are small enough to be easily and affordably operated indoors in cold weather climates and lighted with artificial lighting (instructions included). Cost for plans AND materials for the biggest of these systems is only $350, making them affordable for all schools. This large school system produces a serious amount of vegetables as well as teaching kids aquaponics (read: chemistry, biology, animal husbandry, plant physiology, math, some physics, and business skills) .

If you wish, you can simply follow our instructions and have a productive aquaponics system without needing to understand why it works; just the way you can drive a car without having to know how to repair the engine. However, if you also wish to understand why your aquaponics system works and what is going on in it, there is a complete explanation of all the system processes and chemistry included in the manual (written in easily-understood language) to give you a much deeper knowledge.

Click here to see the Apartment/Condo Systems Table of Contents

These materials for the Pico Aquaponics System were ALL procured locally from WalMart, Home Depot, and PetCo. Although this system has four troughs (the big black thing), we only show one in the photo.

Many small aquaponics “kits” are offered on the internet and elsewhere that are similar in size to these systems. They do not come with  instructions written by someone who runs aquaponics systems for a living as ours do. These expensive “kits” are made from standard tanks and parts marked-up several times which then have shipping tacked on. Our systems are built from economical materials and components, most of which you buy locally.

This package has 150-plus pages including a TON of information, and over 250 pictures showing you how to build aquaponics systems and how to operate them. There are sections on aquaponics history, water chemistry and quality, biological processes happening in your system, all the different life forms that may show up in your system, construction, an operations manual, seed germination and seed saving, tools and materials tutorials, indoor lighting instructions, a “How do I find the right part in the hardware store” section, five pages of results of our first “test” planting with 135 varieties of vegetables, and complete materials lists for four different standard sizes of small aquaponics systems. Most of these materials are procured locally, with a few items coming from Aquatic EcoSystems in Florida or other aquarium suppliers. We derive almost all of our income from actually growing and selling vegetables and fish, and we produced this manual because we wanted to make aquaponics and growing your own food accessible and affordable for EVERYONE.

Purchase the Apartment/Condo Aquaponics Systems plans and manual

DISCLAIMER: UNDER FEDERAL LAW, IT IS UNLAWFUL TO GROW MARIJUANA IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. IN ADDITION, THESE SYSTEMS DO NOT WORK FOR GROWING MARIJUANA. We have a report from a friend of a student of ours, who had grown marijuana successfully using hydroponics for years, who tried for over a year to grow marijuana using Aquaponics systems, and never succeeded. Just so you know: When we say “food”, that is really what we mean.

Unless you use draft horses, organic farming is NO MORE SUSTAINABLE than conventional farming in its use of our oil reserves! As the cost of oil goes up during our lifetimes, so does the cost of farming conventionally AND organically. When we run out of oil, conventional farming with chemical fertilizer AND organic farming with diesel tractors will both be things of the past. The only type of food production whose cost will not go up when oil prices rise is aquaponic food production powered by renewable energy sources. This is more completely explained in the pages that follow this one; BioGas on the Farm, and Alternate Energy On The Farm.

Aquaponics energy usage is from 70% to 92% LESS than a conventional OR organic farm (both of which use fuel and/or petrochemical-intensive fertilizers). All energy used is electrical, so alternate energy systems such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric can be used to power this farm 100%. This alternate energy can be produced locally instead of needing to be shipped in from oil-refining countries, which may be great distances away from the end-user (this shipping over great distances requires still MORE petrochemical energy).

The aquaponics farm of the future won’t need oil! Sooner or later we will be forced to get over our addiction to using fossil fuels for farming; the mover here will be increasing fuel costs and associated energy costs of producing chemical fertilizers. There are no alternate-energy options to substitute for diesel tractors and equipment except draft horses, which are not feasible on the scale at which modern food production systems need to operate. Aquaponics systems can be run entirely using alternate energy, which makes them the only food production systems that don’t require direct oil and oil-derived inputs.

Half of our team (Tim) used to design and build electric wind turbines, so our thoughts a year and a half ago were to design and build a wind turbine to power our aeration blowers, have a more sustainable farm, and save money on electricity. Then we got a year of virtually no wind at our location, courtesy of “massive global climate change” (what they used to refer to as “global warming” until someone realized that some places were actually getting colder rather than warmer).

This failure of wind sent us in another direction in which we learned about biogas and wrote a successful $45,000 grant for a biogas project (biogas is mostly methane, with some carbon dioxide and a small amount of sulfur dioxide). Methane can be used for virtually anything that propane or natural gas is used for, including heating, lighting, and powering internal combustion engine-driven electrical generators. You can use it to power automobiles and farm tractors. It can be made in a relatively low-tech fashion from any organic waste that was once alive, by putting that waste in a biogas digester (AKA a biogas generator) and “fermenting” it. During this process, the digester produces biogas and as a side product, a liquid concentrate that is a wonderful fertilizer. So, we are building our first biogas project now. It looks like it will save us $1,100 of our current $1,500 per month farm energy bill.

Now at this point people often ask “why don’t you just put in solar panels (AKA PV, photovoltaic, or solar electric)? Well, we checked it out and found that we can power the farm for only $250,000 worth of PV panels and charging system. Yes, Martha, solar electric is for rich people. The biogas-powered electric generating system we’re building has a target price tag in the $25-35,000 range for a 10 kW (ten kilowatt) system, which makes it more affordable for a wider range of users than photovoltaic systems. We’ll talk a little about biogas first so you have some background, then explain why the biogas concept has so much potential for aquaponic farmers in cold climates.

The first part of our biogas project consists of building a biogas lab: we are just installing the circulating pumps this week, and should be able to charge our digesters and start our test runs sometime next week (July 1, 2010). The lab will test different substrate recipes (the stuff the biogas digester runs on) and different techniques of making the biogas with different digester designs. It will will allow us to quantify the many variables that go into biogas production and then design a good affordable biogas digester with its attendant support systems and diesel electrical generator that is suitable for small farms. The lab will also give us data to develop methods and techniques so anyone with moderate construction and mechanical skills can produce biogas in an economical manner on a small farm for cooking, heating, and powering small engines.

A little explanation is in order here: most current biogas technology is from city sewage treatment plants that treat liquid wastes with 2% solids content. This is the amount of solid “stuff” in the waste stream that is fed into the biogas digester. In other words, they’re processing mostly water, and need very large (and expensive) digesters to process the huge volume of stuff that comes through their installations. A small amount of biogas technology comes from the large dairy and swine farms across the United States that also put out liquid wastes with only 2% solids content. The price tag for these biogas/electrical generator installations on dairy and swine farms starts at around a half million dollars. So, the existing technology is unaffordable and also sized way too large for the average small farmer or sustainable community.

A small amount of research has been done that indicates that high solids (10% solids or above) biogas production is feasible and also economically attractive. So, to make a biogas project for a small farm economically feasible, we need to figure out how to do higher solids and a mix of different kinds of solids such as is commonly available on a small diversified farm, rather than the steady-state and steady volume of low-solids waste that a pig or dairy farm puts out. That’s where the biogas lab comes in. It allows us to try out a lot of different ideas in a short time on a small budget to refine our digester design before we have to spend $10-12,000 on our full-size digester that we only have one shot at getting right.

To accomplish the most research economically in a short time, the lab has ten 5-gallon size digesters, six 6-gallon size digesters, and a single 500-gallon digester, with instrumentation to measure total gas production from each digester, plus analysis capabilities to measure the makeup and quality of the biogas we are generating. There are heat exchanger elements inside the digesters that circulate hot water captured from the waste heat of the electrical generator’s diesel exhaust so we can run the digesters in mesophilic mode (90-115 degrees F) as well as psychrophilic (65-70 degrees F) mode.

The reason for the mesophilic mode is that even though the mesophilic digester uses up energy in the form of heat to heat its contents, it produces much more biogas in the same time than the psychrophilic-mode digesters that operate at the lower temperature range. At the time of our next training this October 2010 we should have the biogas lab fully operational, and will be doing hands-on training on building and operating the various elements of a biogas digester and its associated systems.

Now that you have a basic understanding of our biogas project, we’ll explain why this is so important to aquaponics farmers in cold climates. We’re lucky to have a 365-day growing season at our farm in Hawaii, but most farmers in cold climates have a short growing season of only 5 to 7 months. They have to make all their income during this short time while having expenses that last for a full year. The two major problems these farmers face if trying to grow during wintertime are that heating greenhouses is expensive, and there’s not enough sunlight for good plant growth, resulting in a need for expensive supplemental lighting. Thus, they never even bother with the greenhouses because ultimately the cost to produce the vegetables is not tied just to the cost of building the greenhouses but also to unpredictable and continually rising petroleum-based energy costs for their heating and electricity.

Biogas offers a potential and sustainable solution to these problems. The fuel that powers the diesel engine on an electrical generator turns into almost 65% waste heat that goes out the exhaust stack and radiates from the engine and its radiator. Rather than paying for propane or heating oil to heat an aquaponics greenhouse in the cold months, the farmer can just recapture this waste heat with a very simple heat exchanger system, then affordably transfer it to the greenhouse to heat the greenhouse. If the aquaponics farmer either generates enough waste on the farm to feed his biodigester, or can cheaply transport it from a nearby free source (most farmers are happy to have someone show up to haul their piles of animal poop away for no charge), then the farmer can also have a relatively cheap source of electricity to power supplemental lighting for his aquaponic crops.

We feel that breaking food production’s current ties to petroleum costs is a good thing. It is our fondest hope that what comes out of our biogas project is a way for farmers in temperate and cold climates to grow affordably year-round, using renewable farm wastes and animal poop as a sustainable energy source, and that ultimately it will result in lower food prices for everyone.

This should be titled “Why aquaponics needs to replace conventional agriculture as soon as possible so we don’t run out of food”. Aquaponics is the only modern agricultural technique that doesn’t need to rely on oil. Conventional agriculture cannot operate without cheap oil, because all the machines run on it. Manufacturing the chemical fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides is also extremely energy-intensive and requires a LOT of oil. Commercial-scale organic agriculture also must have cheap oil to operate, because it uses exactly the same machines (plus a few more such as compost shredders and spreaders), and the fertilizer it runs on comes from planting and plowing in cover crops, and from composting wastes usually brought in from off-farm; all of which are oil-intensive activities involving tractoring and trucks. Conventional and organic farming both use EXACTLY the same amount of our non-sustainable petroleum resources; there’s NO benefit oil-wise in going organic!. If we wait until our oil runs out, we’re going to be up the proverbial creek without a paddle, scratching rows in the dirt in our backyards with hoes and hoping for the best.

And the oil is running out; the United States stopped being able to supply its oil needs from its own domestic sources in 1972. We’ve been dependent on foreign oil imports since then, and the percentage of imported oil we use has been steadily increasing. Why else do you think that all the overseas conflicts we’ve gotten into since 1972 have been in oil-rich Middle Eastern countries? Where is new oil going to come from? The answer is: there is NO NEW OIL! It’s a limited resource that will never be replenished, which we have to make last for the rest of our history on this planet. And the only way to do that is start switching from technologies that consume oil to alternate technologies that don’t, preferably now. It’s just like planting a tree: the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago; the next best time is today.

Aquaponics offers the best alternative we’ve seen for switching from an unsustainable oil-dependent agricultural system to a sustainable energy-self-sufficient agricultural system. We’ve made improvements in energy-efficiency in our own aquaponics systems in the last three years so that now they run on only ~30% of the energy our first systems used. Given that our first systems used only 50% of the energy that the UVI (University of the Virgin Islands) systems we learned on in 2007 do, our leading-edge systems are only using 14% of the energy the UVI-type systems use. The importance of aquaponics systems in making our food supply sustainable is that they run on electricity, not oil, and thus can be powered from sustainable, alternate-energy sources. Unless you have draft horses and know how to hitch them up and plow (we do!), aquaponics is the only sustainable candidate for the future of the world’s food supply. Everything else uses a non-sustainable resource we are rapidly running out of.

Even in Hawaii, with our prodigious geothermal and wind power resources, almost all our energy comes from burning oil in big diesel generators. It’s not a pretty picture; it happened that way because that’s what our utilities make the most money from. But it’s certainly not sustainable; we know that if the fuel barge doesn’t come, the utilites turn off the power in about a week max. We also have nine days worth of food on our supermarket shelves and import 94% of what we eat. This is absolutely insane in a state with a 365-day per year growing season.

So, the farmily at Friendly Aquaponics has taken a stand. We are saying that we will shift this imbalance of energy and food dependency towards energy and food self-sufficiency and independence. We are only a small mom-and-pop farm with a small research budget, but we see the tremendous importance of this to the future of our communities. We’ve made huge progress in the last two years in making aquaponics more sustainable, even with our lack of funding and need to pay the bills while we do our research. We’d love to be better funded, or to attract a big player who saw the importance of this the way we do. But we’ll keep on keeping on no matter what. We have a window of time to do this in; we don’t know how long it is or how soon it will need to be implemented. So, we are doing everything we can now to make our own farm sustainable and to teach others how to grow in a sustainable manner. If you are interested and want to play, welcome to the Farmily!

click here to contact us.

We have been giving our Do-It-Myself Commercial Aquaponics Training package to accredited NGOs, churches, and bonafide non-profit groups for two years now (we ask for $50 to cover printing and mailing costs for this $995 package so we are not out-of-pocket).

If you feel you qualify as a receiver of our DIY Commercial package for your work, then email us with your request. Please don’t use our generosity to jive us; this is $1,000 worth of aquaponics information we are giving away for free: we will ask for proof of accreditation, non-profit status, or church status, along with a letter from your Board of Directors with your name in it and some phone numbers we can call to verify, as well as a check paying for the $50 printing and mailing fees with the non-profit’s name on it.

If you can get your participant here to Hawaii, we will give you a free Live Group Commercial Aquaponics Training for $100 to cover course materials, room space, and refreshments. This is normally a $1,500 course; same conditions apply as above.

That’s easy to answer: we give good stuff away and help out even when no one pays us. The Hawaiian word for this is kokua; we practice it as a way of showing we care about our community. Check our our new Free Downloads Page for valuable do-it-myself manuals and information. We have also been giving our Do-It-Myself Commercial Aquaponics Training package to accredited NGOs, churches, and bonafide non-profit groups for two years now (we ask for $50 to cover printing and mailing costs for this $995 package so we are not out-of-pocket). We help out!

Check out our free downloads page and feel free to use and distribute freely any of the information you find there (just don’t take credit for it yourself, this is NOT pono (Hawaiian for just), or right). If you feel you qualify as a receiver of our DIY Commercial package for your work, then email us with your request. Please don’t use our generosity to jive us; this is $1,000 worth of aquaponics information we are giving away for free: we will ask for proof of accreditation, non-profit status, or church status, along with a letter from your Board of Directors with your name in it and some phone numbers we can call to verify, as well as a check paying for the $50 printing and mailing fees with the non-profit’s name on it.

Not all the downloads on this page are available yet, because we are still writing some of them!

Plywood Tank Construction Manual

A complete construction manual suitable for beginner’s (or advanced woodworker’s) use in building plywood, epoxy and fiberglass tanks for aquaponics systems use. Based on the author’s 40 years of experience in boat building and composite construction, this 24-page manual shows you how to economically build your own sturdy, durable, and affordable custom tanks using common, easily available materials.
Available soon!

Diseases, Deficiencies, and Toxicities in Aquaponic Plants

A manual of photos and descriptions that will help you identify and treat any diseases, nutrient deficiencies, or toxic exposures you find in your aquaponic plants.

Click here to download the free Diseases, Deficiencies, and Toxicities in Aquaponic Plants Manual

How To Raise Prawns in an Aquaponic System!

A manual that completely explains how to raise prawns in an aquaponics system for the absolute lowest cost possible, both at the backyard and commercial level. Included is a link to a great, free prawn raising manual by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in case you want to build your own prawn hatchery.

Click here to download the free prawn growing manual

Standpipes in an Aquaponic System

A manual that explains how to install and use standpipes in an aquaponics system, along with an explanation of economical fittings to make them from, and demonstrative photos. Available soon!

How To Start Up Your Aquaponic System (And How NOT To Start Up Your Aquaponic System!)

A manual that explains how to start up your aquaponics system with nitrifying bacteria inoculants, along with an explanation of how to avoid the nitrite spike (that is potentially toxic to your fish) during start up. Also covered are many examples of things to NOT do when trying to start up your system. Available soon!

Biosecurity in Aquaponic Systems

A series that explains what biosecurity is and how it works, including real-life examples of how it can get compromised, and how to fix your farm after the security breach.

Click here to download the biosecurity in aquaponics manual, Part 1

Aquaponics is a sustainable food production system that combines aquaculture (raising fish in tanks) and hydroponics (growing plants in water) so that both grow better.

• Aquaponics uses less than 2% of the water that traditional farming does.

• Aquaponics is energy-efficient: our current systems use one-tenth of the energy conventional farming does!

• Aquaponics has eight to ten times more vegetable production in the same area and time.

• Aquaponics is fully scalable from indoor systems to backyard family systems to full commercial systems.

• Aquaponics is pure, clean, and natural: USDA Certified Organic and Food Safety Certified.

• Aquaponics is easy to learn and operate: anyone can do this!

In contrast to hydroponics systems, where the aim is to have a sterile system to avoid disease outbreaks, aquaponics systems are teeming with life. They are miniature human-made ecosystems: there are mosquito fish, prawns, tilapia, water fleas, and little red worms in our systems. Those are just the things visible with the naked eye; there are also myriad smaller creatures and bacteria, all of which contribute to the incredible health, dynamic strength, and stability of these systems.

Things we grow in our aquaponics systems for income are:

Malaysian Giant River Prawn; these grow in the hydroponics troughs under the vegetables and don't eat the roots.

We planted 90 different vegetable varieties in our first aquaponics system for market tests and to see what grew best.

White Tilapia. We think these are a cross between niloticus and mossambicus.

The reason we’ve been so successful with aquaponics in such a short time is that we built on the work of the many researchers who went before us, primarily the excellent research done at the University of the Virgin Islands under Dr. James Rakocy. We’ve done a lot of aquaponics research ourselves in the three years we’ve been operational, coming up with valuable new technology such as our new Low-Density energy-efficient aquaponics systems, new vegetable sprouting and tilapia hatchery techniques, new water circulation designs (that use only 10% of the energy the original UVI designs did) for pumping water, and many other useful cost and labor-saving developments. However, our main interest in aquaponics has always been to make it sustainable in the real world and this is what really sets us apart in the field of Aquaponics, as we are among the first to take the wonderful research that has come from the university setting and apply it to the the economics of business.

Being sustainable in the real world means aquaponics needs to turn a profit for the average person without advanced and expensive technology. There are many good existing hobby systems and university research systems. However, if they don’t pay their way and turn a profit, they have little or no use in the real world! In our course materials we’ve made every effort to make aquaponics accessible and easily duplicatable for anyone anywhere in the world to feed themselves, or feed others and make money doing so.

We have clients currently building commercial aquaponics systems in mainland China, Barbados, Trinidad, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Spain, Singapore, Vermont, Australia, Oklahoma, and California. Our first aquaponics training (in October 2008) had 78 participants, and of those, fifteen have built and are operating aquaponics systems; six of those are small commercial systems (five of our students have gotten organically certified as of June 2010), and we know of four others from the same course that are under construction.

We’ve done our best with this website to help you to see clearly into the new science of Aquaponics. Please see our FAQ and cruise this site for information on how to determine if other “aquaponics experts” really know what they’re talking about.

Aquaponics can feed the world with energy-efficient, sustainable food-production methods. We think individuals and families with backyard aquaponics systems will do a lot of this important work. We have allowed agri-business and mega-farms to become the source of most of our food, and that needs to change. As these systems become more economical and efficient, backyard systems will become more common until every neighborhood has one, and the neighbors will want one too! This will put tremendous power back into the hands of individuals, as they become more and more responsible for their own food security and head toward what we refer to as “food freedom”.

Thank you for your interest in this technology; it is our honor to share it with you. This is what we call “food freedom”, or “food sovereignty”.

Our commitment in Aquaponics is to:

• Share our knowledge and this technology with as many people as possible.

• Develop new and profitable aquaponics applications and technology to share.

• Put ourselves out of business as soon as we can. When you know what we know and are teaching each other aquaponics, we’ve done our job, and we can finally take the family sailing in the 100’ boat that is our dream to build.

Commercial Aquaponics Group Training
Designed for people who want to make money feeding other people (but as we say “Don’t quit your day job just yet!”) These commercial aquaponics systems grow a lot of food in a small space with high energy efficiency, but our aquaponics training will not magically turn you into a businessperson. Please make sure you get training on running a business from local sources.

Enroll now for 2010 Aquaponics Training to reserve your space!

Our next group Aquaponics Training is from October 4th to the 7th, 2010, includes four full days of classroom instruction with additional hands-on instruction at our farm each day. You will learn everything you need to know to build and operate aquaponics systems of any size. You will have all your questions answered, and the trainers will make sure you understand every detail completely.

You’ll learn what we learned at the excellent University of the Virgin Islands 2007 Aquaponics Short Course, which cost over $4,000 with travel, lodging, rental car, and food. This was for ONE participant). You’ll also learn everything we learned this past three years building and operating five aquaponics systems, a tilapia hatchery and nursery, a Health Department Certified vegetable processing facility, and most recently, improved water circulation designs that use as little as one-tenth the electricity for pumping water our original UVI designs did.

We will show you how we got our aquaponics farm USDA Organic Certified AND Food Safety Certified(no small feats! We are certified through Oregon Tilth, and they have said that “as long as people build their systems exactly as Friendly Aquaponics has done, then their certification process will be a slam dunk.”). Five additional Friendly students have gotten their systems USDA organically certified as of June 2010.

We built our systems for less than one half what systems built to the UVI specifications would have cost in Hawaii. This saved us about $100,000 in our three systems. We’ll show you how to value engineer your system to save you $30,000 or more over what it would cost to build the “standard” UVI system. Because of the way we value-engineered our systems for electrical economy, they use from one-tenth to one-half of the electricity the UVI systems use. This saves us $6,800 per year (more, as we grow in size). Forever. We’ll show you how to do this. We will show you how to build your own hatchery for under $300 in materials, not including the cost of whatever tank you use. We spent over $25,000 on our own hatchery before discovering how to build this simple, elegant hatchery system!

The Group Commercial Aquaponics Training material includes: a step-by-step “Construction Manual” with complete materials lists and suppliers contact information that makes it easy for anyone to build a system; an accompanying set of detailed CAD plans including site plans and piping schematics; an “Aquaponics Course Manual” covering all aspects of aquaponics, and an operations manual with checklist covering the day-to-day operations of a commercial aquaponics system.

Complete plans and materials lists are included for three different sizes of outdoors aquaponics systems: a 1,024 square foot system expandable to 4,096 square feet; a 256 square foot system expandable to 512 square feet; and a 64 square foot system expandable to 128 square feet. In addition, plans and instructions are included for four indoor/outdoor systems from 2 square feet in size up to 32 square feet. These systems can be operated outdoors under natural light or indoors under flourescent lights, so you can easily build a small, inexpensive system to gain experience and confidence with aquaponics whether or not you have an outdoor space to grow in. It’s easy to graduate to the larger systems after building and operating a smaller one. Cost to attend the Commercial Training is $1,500, additional persons from the same project are $900 each.

Enroll now for 2010 Aquaponics Training to reserve your space!

Click here for complete training outline.

This year we have added an optional BioGas workshop to the training!
October 7th & 8th will feature a workshop on methane-producing biodigesters given by David House (author of “The BioGas Handbook”). This workshop will cover building, operating, and using the methane from a biodigester (for purposes of heating, powering generators and engines, and more) with working biodigesters demonstrating biogas principles, and a methane-powered electric generator producing our aquaponics farm’s electricity during the hands-on session in the afternoon. The BioGas workshop is an additional $175 for aquaponics workshop participants, but can also be attended separately at a cost of $250 including workshop materials and David’s book “The BioGas Handbook” (even if you do NOT attend the commercial aquaponics training).

Click here for training testimonials.

Your Personal Trainers for the Commercial Aquaponics Training:
Susanne Friend, the owner of the company (with degrees in biology and chemistry) is your personal trainer for questions and issues regarding organic certification, plant and fish diseases, sales and marketing, value-added processing, fish hatchery and nursery design and operation, water and aeration questions, and water quality questions.

Tim Mann (technical staff) has been doing architectural and civil engineering design and drafting since 1990, and was an authorized AutoCAD dealer for 7 years during that period. Tim handles comprehensive system design and site-specific aquaponics questions as well as technical issues having to do with tank, piping, aeration, pumping, and electrical design. Tim also supplies civil, structural, electrical, and mechanical engineering services for those projects needing code-compliant plans and certifications for their local building departments.

Sign Up Now: Space may be limited
Sign up for this course now and we can promise you a space will be available. Our April 2010 course filled the largest room available at our local facility to capacity (78 persons).

Taking either the group Commercial or the Personal Intensive training is the first step in becoming a Friendly Aquaponics Affiliate (click here for more details on our Affiliate Program)

Enroll now for 2010 Aquaponics Training to reserve your space!

If we’ve done our job with whichever of our offerings you purchase (the group training, the personal intensive, or the Do-It-Myself package), you shouldn’t need to pay for any consulting from anyone. That said, we are always available to help you be successful with aquaponics.

One place consulting services could be particularly valuable is in a large start-up operation where sophisticated systems planning and site design needs to be done to ensure success while dealing with multiple variables. You can always email us; although usually swamped, we do our best to answer all questions from our clients.

click here to contact us.

Personal Aquaponics Intensives include two full days of hands-on instruction at our farm by Susanne and Tim, where you will learn everything you need to know to build and operate aquaponics systems of any size. The Personal Intensive uses the same course materials as the group Commercial Trainings, but has a completely different format (please view the “Group Trainings” page for the details of the course materials and the complete course outline).

This training focuses on you and your particular situation and goals in aquaponics. We discuss and offer solutions and approaches for your climate, your site, and your level of business experience. You will have all your questions answered, and we make sure you understand every detail completely. Although there is no contractual support included with the Intensives, we tend to support our Intensive clients (via phone calls and email answers to questions) through construction and into operation at no charge because we are committed to their success. This training will occur at your own pace.

“The Friendly Aquaponics’ Personal Intensive training was worth every dollar and then some. The personalized course gave me the opportunity for even the smallest of my questions to get answered. I would highly recommend this course to everyone who wants extremely effective training in aquaponics technology.”
-Keith Blake, Rainy Day Farms LLC, Kauai

To Purchase Personal Intensive Training, Click Here

Dates and Times: At your convenience. Look at your calendar, then pick dates that work for you, and call us to make sure they’re available. Please call for payment details.

Location: The Complete Aquaponics Intensive takes place on our farm in Honoka’a, with hours of hands-on learning. (If you are coming from off-island, we may be able to pick you up at the airport, and take you back, depending on the farm schedule).

Cost: $2,500 for the Complete Aquaponics Intensive training, $900 per additional participant in the same project. This includes the same course materials we use in our group trainings. For comparison, our group trainings in Hawaii, which are four days in length, include the same material but take place with 40-80 other participants, and cost $1,500. Many hours in the group trainings are spent answering the questions of other participants, which may or may not apply to you, your project, and your level of understanding.

To Purchase Personal Intensive Training, Click Here

Of course, if you can afford the time and travel costs, our live group trainings or live individual trainings are the highest level of assistance we can offer you to get started in aquaponics. If you are unable to attend a live training, our self-taught packages have all the hard-copy information contained in those trainings.

Your package includes a course manual, computer-drawn construction plans, a construction manual with tons of pictures, and a day-to-day operations manual.

Click Here to Purchase The Commercial Aquaponics System Training & Plans

(Please be aware that these Commercial Aquaponics Systems grow food exceedingly well, but will not magically turn you into a business person. Please make sure you get training on running a business from local sources.)

This Do-It-Myself, self-taught course covers all aspects of building and operating three different sizes of outdoors aquaponics systems: a 1,024 square foot system expandable to 4,096 square feet; a 256 square foot system expandable to 512 square feet; and a 64 square foot system expandable to 128 square feet. The smaller systems can be operated outdoors under natural light or indoors under flourescent lights, so you can easily build a small, inexpensive system to gain experience and confidence with aquaponics whether or not you have an outdoor space to grow in. It’s easy to graduate to the larger systems after building and operating a smaller one. This training package is designed for people who want to build their own systems to feed their own families, as well as to have enough to earn an income raising food for others.

Specifics covered are: site selection, system construction and operation, water quality and sources, vegetable and aquatic species qualities and selection, troubleshooting and problem solving of common system problems. $995 total cost includes a 112-page course manual, computer-drawn construction plans, a 47-page construction manual, operations manual, and materials list with contact information for suppliers. We  include the construction drawings and materials list for the Family System, and the complete Micro System 64 & 128 manual and plans as part of the Commercial Do-It-Myself package, to make it easy for you to  build one of these smaller systems to learn and gain confidence on before investing in a larger system.

Click here to purchase these plans

More about the Do-It-Myself Training and Construction Package for COMMERCIAL Systems

With this training package, you’ll learn everything we learned at the excellent University of the Virgin Islands 2007 Aquaponics Short Course, which cost us over $4,000 per person with travel from Hawaii to the Virgin Islands, lodging, rental car, and food.

You’ll also learn everything we learned this past three years building and operating five aquaponics systems, a tilapia hatchery and nursery, a Health Department Certified vegetable processing facility, and most recently, improved water circulation designs that use as little as one-tenth the electricity for pumping water our original UVI designs did. We will show you how we got our aquaponics farm USDA Organic Certified AND Food Safety Certified(no small feats! We are certified through Oregon Tilth, and they have said that “as long as people build their systems exactly as Friendly Aquaponics has done, then their certification process will be a slam dunk.”). Five additional Friendly students have gotten their systems USDA organically certified as of June 2010.

We will show you how we got our aquaponics farm USDA Organic Certified anf Food Safety Certified (no small feats!). And Oregon Tilth, our certifying agency, can certify you wherever you are in the United States. They have said that “as long as people build their systems exactly as Friendly Aquaponics has done, then their certification process will be a slam dunk.” Build something different, and you’ll have to go through the six-month process that we went through, as the certifying agencies are completely unfamiliar with aquaponics systems. Getting our system certified organic actually broke ground (if you’ll pardon the pun!) into an entirely new territory!

We built our systems for less than half what systems built to the UVI specifications would have cost in Hawaii. This saved us about $100,000 in our three systems. We’ll show you how to value engineer your system to save over $30,000 compared to what it would cost to build the UVI system.

Because of the way we value-engineered our systems for electrical economy, we use one-tenth to one-half the electricity the UVI systems use. This saves us $6,800 per year (more, as we grow), every year. We’ll show you how to do this.

We will show you how to build your own hatchery for well under $2,000 in materials. We spent over $25,000 on our hatchery – because we built what the UVI course said we needed – before discovering how to build this simple, elegant system. And this inexpensive system has about 90% less mortality of the fry than the $25,000 system that we built at first! We’ll show you how to easily raise tilapia from swim-up fry (which are very delicate) to fairly bullet-proof 1″ fingerlings, which you can then sell to other aquaculturists.

The training covers all aspects of commercial Aquaponics construction and operation, and how to scale systems to build any size system. Specifics covered will be: site selection, system construction and operation, regulations and permitting, water quality and sources, vegetable and aquatic species qualities and selection, meeting bureaucratic requirements, organic and food safety certifications, sales and marketing of your produce through traditional methods or the creation of a specialized niche market.

The Commercial Aquaponics Training gives you everything you need to successfully build and operate commercial Aquaponics systems. Generally, an aquaponics system can pay for itself within the first year of operation (as it takes a minimum of 2-3 months to get the system into full vegetable production after you have fish in your system, and around one year before you have fish ready to market). $995 total cost.

Lifetime Guarantee: We guarantee a full refund of the purchase price of your Commercial System plans IF you have actually used them. If you have built and operated a system and are still not satisfied, we will refund your money in full.

Click here to purchase these plans

Of course, if you can afford the time and travel costs, the live group trainings or live individual trainings are the highest level of assistance we can offer you to get started in aquaponics. If you are unable to attend a live training, these self-taught packages have all the hard-copy information contained in those trainings, plus construction and operations manuals that walk you through construction and operation of these systems.

DISCLAIMER: UNDER FEDERAL LAW, IT IS UNLAWFUL TO GROW MARIJUANA IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. IN ADDITION, THESE SYSTEMS DO NOT WORK FOR GROWING MARIJUANA. We have a report from a friend of a student of ours, who had grown marijuana successfully using hydroponics for years, who tried for over a year to grow marijuana using Aquaponics systems, and never succeeded. Just so you know: When we say “food”, that is really what we mean.

Click Here to Purchase The Family Aquaponics System Plans

With basic construction and basic plumbing skills, building an aquaponics system easy with our detailed Do-It-Myself Packages!

Our Family Systems are the ideal size for either a LARGE family (our Farmily consists of twelve people at the moment), a small community or a church group. We’ve recently expanded our Family Do-It-Myself aquaponics manual and plans from the original 256 square feet of grow bed area to include construction plans, operating instructions, and materials list for a 512 square foot Aquaponics system as well. Build the 512 square foot system, or build the 256-square-foot system first then expand it to 512 square feet! These systems are designed to use as little energy as necessary while still maintaining the highest possible vegetable and fish production. This saves money for those on the grid and makes these systems feasible for off-grid use when powered with alternate energy systems such as wind, hydroelectric, or solar. Because this package ALSO includes the Micro System 64 & 128 plans, you are equipped to build and operate any aquaponics system from 64 square feet of grow bed area up to 512. This is useful if you wish to start with a small, affordable system such as the Micro System 64, then build a bigger system later when you feel more comfortable and confident.

Click here to purchase these plans

Do-It-Myself Aquaponics Training and Construction Package for FAMILY Systems

Specifics covered are: site selection, system construction and operation, water quality testing and sources for system water, vegetable and aquatic species qualities and selection, seed sources, pest control, vegetable sprouting and planting-out, vegetable and fish harvesting, fish hatching and breeding, and troubleshooting and problem solving of common system problems.

Package includes: Includes a course manual, computer-drawn construction plans, a construction manual, and a day-to-day operations manual. Included in this package is all the information on aquaponics the Commercial package has, PLUS the Micro System 64 & 128 plans. You may ask “Why should I purchase the Commercial package: can’t I just scale this system up and do a commercial operation?” Well, that’s true, if you’re not interested in the information the Commercial package contains on business startup, marketing, permits and regulations, value-added processing, USDA Organic Certification, Food Safety Certification, operating a commercial-scale fish hatchery, and much more. The Family package is appropriate for a large family, a small community or church group, or someone who wants to take some produce to the farmers market once or twice a month for a little additional income. Click here to learn more about how we developed our Family Systems (also known as our Low Density systems) which operate on much smaller amounts of electricity and fish food than ever before possible.

With your basic construction and plumbing skills and this plans package, you will build a stable, easy-to-operate Aquaponics system. Materials for the Family System 256 cost about $1,357 on the mainland, and about $1,759 for the 512 (this is $1,899 in Hawaii for the 256, $3,000 for the 512). The 512 only costs $400 more than the 256 ($1,100 in Hawaii), and only uses 15 watts more per month, so it costs less per square foot. The Family System 256 uses 70 watts, and the 512 uses 85 watts, which is from $5-7 of electricity per month ($19-22 in Hawaii); $4-8 of fish food per month ($8-16 in Hawaii); and $6-8 of seeds and potting media per month ($12-20 in Hawaii) for a monthly cost to operate of $15 for the 256, and $23 for the 512 ($39 for the 256, and $58 for the 512 in Hawaii). The 256 will produce 75-125 pounds of vegetables and 4-7 pounds of fish per month, depending on what varieties of vegetables you grow, how much attention you pay to them, and how much sunlight you get in your location; the production of the 512 is double this, or 150-250 pounds of vegetables and 8-15 pounds of fish.

Assuming you would have to pay at least $4.00 per pound – remember, when you eat food you raised yourself, you are paying yourself what the retail cost of that food would be, and this is a conservative estimate – for organic produce and naturally-raised fish, that means you will be producing between $300 – $500 of high-quality food per month with the Family System 256. Even at the low end of these numbers, your system pays for itself within the first six months of operation, not counting any value from the fish. The Family System 512 costs about $400 more than the 256 but produces twice the vegetables; it pays for itself in a shorter time.

Lifetime Guarantee: We guarantee a full refund of the purchase price of your Family System plans IF you have actually used them. If you have built and operated a system and are still not satisfied, we will refund your money in full.

Click here to purchase these plans

DISCLAIMER: UNDER FEDERAL LAW, IT IS UNLAWFUL TO GROW MARIJUANA IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. IN ADDITION, THESE SYSTEMS DO NOT WORK FOR GROWING MARIJUANA. We have a report from a friend of a student of ours, who had grown marijuana successfully using hydroponics for years, who tried for over a year to grow marijuana using Aquaponics systems, and never succeeded. Just so you know: When we say “food”, that is really what we mean.

Our package shows you how to build AND operate a stable, durable, and productive 64 OR 128 square foot backyard aquaponics system in two weekends for less than $700 (for the 64), or $900 (for the 128) worth of materials you can buy locally. These are average mainland prices; they’re about $250-350 higher in Hawaii. These prices do not include the child or sleeping Siamese cat (both priceless!). Here’s a picture of Rose and the cat with our Micro System 64.

Click here to purchase the plan set for the Micro System 64 and 128

Rose with Micro System and cat, 1-1/2 weeks after planting.

The Micro System package includes most of the information on aquaponics our Family Do-It-Myself package does, and is appropriate for someone with limited space or someone who wants to get their feet wet in aquaponics without spending a lot. It’s also perfect for schools because of its low cost. There are 256 growing spaces in an average Micro System 64 raft layout, allowing plenty of space for student projects. It can be put together by a couple of parents who are handy with tools on a weekend. The Micro System 64 is small enough to put indoors in very cold weather climates and light with artificial lighting (instructions included) for about $21 per month average electrical cost on the Mainland.

Even our smallest Micro System (the 64) is 15% to 600% LARGER than comparable aquaponics “kits” we’ve seen offered on the Internet. Look at these prices:

* Aquaponicsusa.com’s FGS-2 system with 20 sq ft of growbed area for $3,695.00
* Earthsolutions.com’s “Phoenix” Farm in a Box with 56 sq ft growbed area for $2,995.00
* Aquaponics.com’s (Nelson and Pade) 4T50-2-4×6 system with 48 sq ft growbed area for $5,756.00
* Aquaponics.net.au’s (Murray Hallam) Balcony Aquaponics Kit with ~10 sq ft growbed area for $2,280

The Micro System 128 is two times larger than the largest of these kits, but even including all materials and equipment AND the cost of the plans is only one-third the price! You decide if these kits are overpriced, and if our Micro Systems are the best way to go. Micro Systems are stable, durable, productive, and easy to build and operate.

Click here to purchase the plan set for the Micro System 64 and 128

Our package includes a TON of information and pictures showing you how aquaponics systems work and how to operate them, based on our years of experience actually operating a commercial aquaponics farm; including a construction manual, an operations manual, eight sheets of CAD drawings, and a complete materials list. Most of these materials are procured locally, with a few items needing to be mail-ordered from Aquatic EcoSystems in Florida. Ask anyone else you’re considering buying a “kit” from how much of their income comes from growing and selling aquaponic produce, and how much comes from selling their “kits”. We derive almost all of our income from actually growing and selling vegetables and fish.

We took time from operating our aquaponics farm to build and test our Micro System and write the Micro System package. Why? We were offended by the many sellers on the web who are taking advantage of people’s relative lack of knowledge about aquaponics to sell them overpriced collections of standard tanks, pumps, and piping called “aquaponics kits”, that can be purchased locally for a fraction of the cost. If we’d seen even ONE such “kit” that was reasonably priced, that ALSO had realistic claims about how much can be grown with it (the other problem we have with these people), we wouldn’t have felt a need to offer this set of plans.

Our self-taught plans package includes a course manual, a construction manual with eight pages of CAD drawings and tons of pictures of a system under construction, a complete materials list, and a day-to-day operations manual. We’ve done our very best to make this easy to understand and duplicate what we’ve done.

Click here to see the Table of Contents and Introduction to the Micro System 64 and 128 Manual
Click here to see the materials list for the Micro System 64 and 128

Do-It-Myself Aquaponics Training and Construction Package for Micro Systems
Our Do-It-Myself, self-taught course covers all aspects of building and operating a 64 square foot Micro Aquaponics System that can be run off-grid easily using alternate energy sources (of course it can be powered by just plugging it into your house electrical system also). This training package is designed for people who want to build their own small systems to check out aquaponics and get a useful amount of produce at the same time. Average materials and equipment cost for this system is less than $700 for the 64, $900 for the 128, time to build is 16-24 hours; space required is 12 feet by 12 feet for the 64, and 12 feet by 20 feet for the 128.

The Micro System 64 uses 40 watts, and the 128 uses 48 watts, which is $3-4 of electricity per month ($12-15 in Hawaii); $2-4 of fish food per month ($4-6 in Hawaii); and $3-4 of seeds and potting media per month ($6-10 in Hawaii) for a monthly cost to operate of $8-12 ($22-35 in Hawaii). The 64 will produce 20-40 pounds of vegetables and 1-2 pounds of fish per month, depending on what varieties of vegetables you grow, how much attention you pay to them, and how much sunlight you get in your location; the production of the 128 is double this. At average prices for the produce either system pays for itself in three to four months.

Specifics covered are: site selection, system construction and operation, water quality and sources, vegetable and aquatic species qualities and selection, troubleshooting and problem solving of common system problems. Your package includes a course manual, computer-drawn construction plans, a construction manual with tons of pictures, and a day-to-day operations manual.

Lifetime Guarantee: We guarantee a full refund of the purchase price of your Micro System plans IF you have actually used them. If you have built and operated a system and are still not satisfied, we will refund your money in full.

Click here to purchase the plan set for the Micro System 64 and 128

Rose with Micro System three weeks after planting.	Rose with Micro System and cat, 1-1/2 weeks after planting.
Newly Built Micro System	Anyone Can Build One!
Family with Micro System three weeks after planting.	Rose (4 years old) on the screw gun!

DISCLAIMER: UNDER FEDERAL LAW, IT IS UNLAWFUL TO GROW MARIJUANA IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. IN ADDITION, THESE SYSTEMS DO NOT WORK FOR GROWING MARIJUANA. We have a report from a friend of a student of ours, who had grown marijuana successfully using hydroponics for years, who tried for over a year to grow marijuana using Aquaponics systems, and never succeeded. Just so you know: When we say “food”, that is really what we mean.

Micro System FAQ:

1. What are the Micro System's best applications?

   It's ideal for those concerned about electrical consumption and energy efficiency who are on alternate power. It's ideal for classroom learning situations and small schools with limited funding who want to investigate aquaponics with a productive and stable small system. It's perfect for those with a small family (2-4 persons) who wish to grow a large part of their own produce each month.

2. What does the Micro System cost to run?

   It operates on 15 Kw/hours of electricity (about $1.80) per month; it uses 5 pounds of fish food (about $2.25), and another $5-6 worth of seeds and planting media per month, for a $10 per month total. Your return is from 40-60 pounds of organic produce and 2-3 pounds of fish per month. At average prices for the produce it pays for its cost of plans and construction in three to four months.

3. Do you have to be technically-minded to run a Micro System?

   Not at all. The operations manual provided with the package walks you through operating a Micro System with a checklist. If you simply follow the checklist, it's easy. There are also answers to common Micro System problems that users often have (most often when they didn't entirely read the manual). Working with aquaponics is kind of like math; when you first started working with those numbers (remember, you were only three feet tall?), it was hard adding 3 and 6. Now you do it without thinking about it.

   In practice, it's just feeding the fish, planting and harvesting the vegetables. We don't spend much time thinking about the nitrifying cycle or ammonia levels. Even if we did, those things are simple to measure and understand. The hardest thing we've found about aquaponics is that so many people are interested in it. We had to start giving regular farm tours every Saturday because we had fifteen to twenty people showing up at odd times during the week to see our farm, and so far over 1,000 people have come on these tours since June, 2008! If you have a Micro System in your backyard, get ready for all the curiosity it's going to arouse!

4. What is the most important thing to know about the Micro System?

   That it's not about raising fish! Although the fish in your Micro System will attract the most attention, the fish portion of the operation is costly both in terms of consumables and labor, doesn't produce much fish, and CAN'T be made to produce more fish without spending more money than the additional fish would be worth. Based on our last two years experience with commercial systems, a Micro System in our climate will produce about 2-3% of its total production weight in fish and about 97-98% of the total production weight in vegetables. The fish part of our operation creates a large percentage of the operating costs, for fish food, electricity for aeration, and labor for feeding, breeding, and harvesting the fish; while bringing in a very small income percentage.

   When you try to grow MORE fish in the temperature range we are farming in (70-76 degrees F), with the fish food costs we have ($0.90/pound), the electricity costs we have ($0.44/KWhour), and the labor costs we have ($12/hour or more), EVEN with the price we're getting for our fish ($5/pound) the more fish we try to grow, the MORE money we LOSE on the fish part of the operation. If you ever hear an aquaponics farmer or "consultant" who tells you you can grow "X" amount of fish in the system they design, you have just heard a completely misleading statement; because the amount of fish you can grow in any system is entirely dependent on the system water temperature (plus MANY other factors they often forget to mention).

   A lot of people selling aquaponics system information or "kits" know how important the fish production is to potential operators, and often vastly over-state the amount of fish it is possible to grow with these systems (they all too often over-emphasize the vegetable production as well), in an attempt to appeal to buyers and sell more stuff. If you hear these kinds of claims, ask the sellers to back them up with phone numbers of real users you can call to verify the claimed "fish production" and "vegetable production". You can't ever get something for nothing, or as a famous author once wrote: "TANSTAAFL!"

5. What height is the tank outflow fitting (to the hydroponics troughs) installed at?

   The tank outflow fitting should be installed as close to the top of the tank as is possible given the way your particular tank is made. The return water from the pump fills the fish tank up to the level of this outflow fitting, then it flows OUT and back to the troughs. If you put the fitting 8" up from the bottom of the fish tank, the water will only get 8" deep in the fish tank. You are trying to get the maximum depth of water possible in this tank so your fish will feel comfortable and make lots of fertilizer; fish feel nervous in shallow water. Remember to cover the tank with a net so they don't jump out!

6. What do I put the plants in, what is the potting mix, and how do I sprout them?

   The plants go in 2", 3", or larger diameter net pots. Make a mixture of 60% fine coconut fiber (AKA coir), and 40$ vermiculite (NOT perlite, this is abrasive to the pump and the fish's gills!), soak it with system water, then fill the net pots with it, pack down lightly, and plant your seeds. Net pots, coir, vermiculite, and seeds all can be purchased at garden and nursery supply stores.

   You put the pots with seeds onto a wire mesh table or any flat surface that will drain water off, then water them with a watering can filled with SYSTEM water (that good, nutrient-rich water) so that they stay continually moist (not soaking wet). The seeds don't need any nutrients to germinate, because those needs are supplied by the seed body itself, but as soon as you have a little root and a little leaf, they will benefit from nutrient watering rather than just plain tap water. It may help if you are in a cold climate to construct a little hoop frame over this table and cover it with clear greenhouse plastic; remember to leave gaps at the sides and ends so it can get ventilation and not fry the seeds if it gets warm.

7. Do I need to move the plants to bigger pots when they get bigger?

   No, you plant most things in 2" pots. Use 3" or larger diameter net pots for things like leeks, tomatoes, okra, and things with big stems. You will notice that the roots of these plants in aquaponic systems are far fewer but much thicker than their soil-grown counterparts. We think this is because of the constant nutrient flow past the roots, which allows them plenty of nutrients without expending energy growing a huge root mass to search for nutrients (as happens in soil).

8. What kind of fish food do I use, and how much do I feed them?

   Any floating fish food that is around 1/8' diameter pellets, around 30% protein. We use Rangen 3/5 mm floating catfish food.

9. How do I know when to add iron, calcium carbonate, and potassium carbonate to the system, where do I get them, and why do I need to add them?

   You can get these at garden supply stores, and agricultural supply companies that sell fertilizers and other ag chemicals. The iron is any chelated iron product (may also contain nitrogen, this is OK), and you know that you should add iron to your system when the plants are uniformly yellowing between the veins, old leaves and new leaves both. If you find the old leaves yellowing but NOT the new leaves, that indicates a nitrogen deficiency, which we've never seen in one of these systems in two years of operation. You use calcium and potassium carbonates for adjusting system pH when it gets lower than about 6.4 as indicated by your test strips or pH meter. The calcium carbonate is simply coral sand, ground up very finely like powder (the calcium carbonate you can get that is the rougher consistency of sand does not work as well). Potassium carbonate looks like greyish-white gravel. Mix the calcium carbonate half and half with the potassium carbonate. Add about a half cup of this mixture to a 5-gallon bucket of water, let stand for 1/2 hour, mix well with the water, then dump the whole bucket of mixture into the first trough right where the water flows in from the fish tank.

   Although it's difficult to add too much, only add this one-half cup of potassium/calcium carbonate mixture at a time, then let the system stabilize for a day, then measure pH again. If you find it only went up to 6.7 or so from 6.4, do this addition again, then measure again. If you get your system within the range of pH 6.8 to 7.2, STOP. Depending on your system's conditions, it may take a month to three months until the pH again drops to the point where it needs adjusting.

   The reason you add these three safe, non-toxic, and non-caustic elements to your system is because the only other input to the system is the fish food. Although the fish food has iron, calcium, and potassium in it, the fish use most of these elements for growth. The iron is necessary for the hemoglobin in the fish's blood, which provides the fish the ability to use the oxygen it breathes. The fish use the potassium and calcium from the fish food to make scales, bones, and teeth. As a result, there may be little of these elements left for the plants in the system. When we adjust the PH with these two, they have a second benefit of providing needed calcium and potassium for the plants in the system to use.

10. Can I put my troughs higher than the fish tank, or put the fish tank higher than the troughs, or do I have to have a single big piece of level ground to build the system on?

    You can build your system with the fish tank higher than the troughs. Just make sure that the fish tank outflow is as near as possible to the top of the tank, as mentioned previously. If you put the tank more than 2 feet higher than the troughs, you should consider getting the next size larger water pump than is specified because you will have a higher head and the originally specified pump will pump a lower volume at the higher head.

    You can also put the troughs higher than the fish tank. If you do this, you need to put the center of the outflow fitting about ten inches up from the bottom of the trough, because this sets the height of water in the trough. Put it at the end of the second trough in the water circuit, because the water will be flowing downhill to the fish tank powered by gravity. You put the water pump fitting in the side of the fish tank about 12" up from the bottom, and pump water UP from the fish tank to the first one of the hydroponics troughs, where you can just lead it in over the top edge of the trough at one end. Either is good, both are great, and if putting either your fish tank or your troughs higher solves a site problem for you, then just remember to follow these instructions when doing so.

11. Can I feed my fish extra food so they make more "fertilizer", or can I put twice as much fish in the system so that my plants grow faster and bigger?

    No. With the recommended weight of fish in the system it will have plenty of nutrients. If you feed them more than they will eat, this organic material will sink to the bottom of the tank and decay. If you put twice as much fish in the system, you will also generate more decaying organic material. This decaying material turns into ammonia, which turns into nitrites, and then nitrates. If there is more decaying material than all the bacteria in the system can process, it just ends up on the bottom of the troughs and fish tank, where it goes anaerobic and uses up system oxygen. If taken to an extreme, this will stunt, then kill, all your plants and eventually your fish. So you need to just feed your fish what they will eat, no more; and keep the amount of fish in your tank right around 20 pounds.

12. We have a 2 foot high by 9 foot diameter water tank (which equals to about 950 gallons). Do you think that this can be used with the micro system? Is it too large? I know your book says to use a 150-300 gallon tank, but we wanted to see if we could use what we already have.

    When selecting tanks, fish feel uncomfortable in anything less than 2' water depth (not tank height, they are NOT the same!), and feel best if they have 3 feet depth of water, up to 4' deep maximum. They also need some swimming room; an old 55-gallon drum is NOT enough room to swim, even though it satisfies the depth requirement. You can use virtually anything to hold the fish (and the plants too, for that matter), as long as the material is non-toxic to the fish and plants. Materials that ARE toxic and to be avoided include (but are not limited to): copper, galvanized or zinc-coated anything, polyisocyanate foam rafts (this is usually either pink or white, the only guaranteed raft material we know of is Dow Blue Board), EPDM (a stinky black rubber liner that looks and feels like inner tube material), any kind of treated wood, plywood (it's glued with formaldehyde-based resins, which are TOXIC!), roofing tar and tarpaper, and non-food-grade vinyl liner or material. Some examples of usable (but weird) tanks would be: an old freezer with good enamel inside, with the seams sealed with silicone calk; a fiberglassed plywood box (you better know how to fiberglass or this can turn into a nightmare!); and a big steel tank with the top third cut off with a cutting torch, then the inside painted with three coats of a good food-grade epoxy paint.

13. I'm in Maine. Do I need to heat an entire greenhouse or would it be enough to heat the water?

    The short answer is "yes", but the easiest firstest thing you can do is to get a cold-water fish if you can find one that's legal in your state. I've enclosed the section from our manual on cold-weather growing just so you can get a feel for the quality of our information:

    II-A-6. Dealing With Climate: Greenhouses, Fish Houses, and Insulation

    A. Greenhouses: How to understand them and select the right one for you.

    v We're lucky to have our farm in a climate that is pretty hospitable year-round. Even so, we are considering putting in greenhouses for our hydroponics next year after the worst winter in 33 years here. For readers who are not farming in Hawaii, or a similar climate, you may need protection for your crops in the winter, and perhaps even most of the year. This means a greenhouse, and perhaps even heating, if you have a cheap source of heat. How do you tell if you need a greenhouse? Ask the other farmers in your area. If they're growing a produce item in greenhouses, you can too, with the added benefits of your produce being organic, and of raising fish in addition to the vegetables. At the very least, you need to keep your fish alive and well through the winter, even if you don't plan on growing produce year-round.

    v Greenhouses come in a confusing variety of types, shapes, materials, and costs. The cheaper ones let less light through and more heat out. The more expensive ones let more light in and less heat out. When you're selecting a greenhouse, you need to strike a balance between the climate conditions you want inside, and what your budget can stand. Your local trusted greenhouse supplier, or a farmer with a lot of experience with greenhouses, is the person you want to talk to about this. Don't just let a salesperson sell you something.

    The cheapest greenhouse is what's known as a cold frame. These are usually semicircular steel frames with plastic sheeting stretched over the frame. They are easy to erect yourself, and relatively easy and cheap to repair if there is wind or hail damage to the structure. A good example of this kind of greenhouse is Conleys CF Series 1000 Cold Frames (Conley Mfg and Sales, 800-377-8441, www.conleys.com on the Web).

    More expensive greenhouses meet Building Code requirements, often have double- or triple-layer insulated plastic sheeting, either rigid or inflated, for insulation, and often have large venting systems for getting rid of summer heat as well as heating systems for keeping temperatures comfortable for the plants in the winter. Good examples are the Conley's 4000, 5000, and 7500 Series greenhouses.

    B. Fish Houses: (Why would fish need a house? They live in tanks!)

    v The first step you take if your climate is too cold is get a cold-water fish to use in your aquaponics. Trout, yellow perch (and some other perch species), some varieties of catfish, and many other fish thrive in a much lower water temperature range than the tilapia we use in Hawaii. How your find out about what's available in your area is to contact the local University Aquaculture Extension Agent or SeaGrant agent (see VI-C-2. State Extension Agents: Agriculture, Aquaculture, State Fish Vet.) . Tilapia need water temperatures between 70-79 degrees to do well. One way you can get the water warmer, if all you have to use is warm-water fish and you are in a cold climate, is to put the fish in a fish house. What's a fish house? Like a greenhouse, but it isn't green, it's black. A simple fish house would be a 2x4 framed structure with black plastic sheeting tacked to three sides and the roof, with clear plastic tacked over the south-facing side (and a door, of course). The fish house will suck in heat and keep it in. This is the cheapest way to get your fish a little warmer.

    v As we've found with our LD systems, you can stop pumping during the dark hours, when the water would lose the most heat back to the environment. So, set your timer to turn off the circulation pump about an hour to half hour before dark, and keep it off until the sun is well up in the morning. Then the heat that has built up in the system water during the day will stay in the fish tank overnight as much as possible. If the fish tank is insulated, then you lose a minimum of heat overnight and the fish stay happy as possible.

    C. Insulation: How to keep what you've gained

    v If you've gone to the trouble of building greenhouses, fish houses, and maybe heating your system water, you want to hang onto what you've paid for (the heat) as much as possible. You do this with insulation. In order of effectiveness compared to cost, we suggest that you first insulate your fish tank. This can be done with 2" raft material floating on top of the tank, and installed under the tank liner when installing the fish tank. You can also put 2" sheet styrofoam outside the tank, cover it with tightly stretched black plastic, and that will insulate the tank nicely.

    v The next thing to insulate is the hydroponics troughs. When you're building them, install a layer of 2" styrofoam under the liner and between the liner sides and the trough sides. IMPORTANT! This will make the troughs 4" wider, and 2" deeper, than the dimensions shown in the construction drawings, so allow for it when constructing troughs.

    v If you're going to buy a greenhouse, you could try installing the fish tank and trough insulation first, and see what kind of heat conservation you get with them alone, before you spend money on a greenhouse. Then you will have some idea how much more heat the greenhouse needs to conserve. You've done the least expensive, most productive insulation first.

    v Here's how we would do it if we were faced with an inclement weather situation, and wanted to save money. We would try the following, in order of effectiveness compared to cost: First, install a minimum of 2" foam insulation on and under the tanks when installing the fish tank and other tanks; THEN build a black plastic fish house around the tanks and stop pumping at night; THEN insulate the hydroponics troughs; THEN buy and install the best greenhouse we could afford; THEN figure out a way to put cheap heat into the water (lots of options here). If we had the time, we would try these options one at a time, testing water temperatures before and after, until we reached our goal. If you can't afford the time, talk to your greenhouse supplier, look at your budget, and make a good guess.

    v Look at it this way: most farmers in temperate climates ONLY have a 5-month to 7-month long growing season. If you can stretch your growing season even by a month or two with the preceding tactics and methods, you will have a competitive advantage over them. If you grow in even a small greenhouse using high-value crops during the worst of the winter, you will have an even bigger competitive advantage.

    I hope this answers some of your questions. It's doable, it's just a combined equation of your budget, your skills level (how much you can build yourself and how much you need to buy), and your business skills. If ANYONE is growing in your area in a greenhouse, then I guarantee you can do better than them with aquaponics, AND get organically certified, which is worth a lot more on the market than conventionally-farmed produce.

14. How do you grow fresh water prawns in the same system?

    Here's everything we know about growing prawns in an aquaponic system: (also from our commercial training manual)

    Tilapia (or any other fish you try to keep them with) will eat the prawns, so you need to keep the prawns separated from the fish. Everyone likes to eat prawns, even other prawns. To raise prawns commercially, breeders with big ponds stock PL's (post larvae, or juvenile prawns) at 3 to 4 PER SQUARE YARD of pond space, and harvest at 1 to 2 per square yard of pond space. The reason they harvest so many fewer prawns than they stock is that the prawns are territorial and fight with and eat each other. Apparently a lot of the mortalities come from large prawns being eaten by smaller prawns when the larger ones are molting and unable to protect themselves because their shells are quite soft for a long time during the molting process. The only way to successfully raise prawns commercially is to have tens or even hundreds of ACRES of pond space, and even then success is in question because the prawns are susceptible to disease, and predation by fence-hoppers (human thieves).

    The reason we're successful raising prawns is that they are an auxiliary crop to our two main crops of vegetables and fish. The prawns are raised in the hydroponic troughs under the vegetables. We don't feed them anything; they eat the detritus of dead roots and mosquito fish that falls to the bottom of the troughs and seem to thrive on it. We stock 300 +- PL's into a total of 1,024 square feet of hydroponics troughs in a commercial system (a stocking density of 3 per square yard), and 4 months later harvest 50-70 lbs of prawns from that system that sell off the back of the truck for $10/lb in Hawaii. So this would total 150 to 210 lbs of prawns a year from a system that can produce up to 10,500 lbs of organic lettuce and 1,200 lbs of tilapia a year. You can see it is not the largest or even the second largest system output.

    We are experimenting with higher stocking densities and with using substrate inside the troughs to increase the survival rate of the prawns. Substrate is basically wadded-up plastic with a lot of holes in it that the prawns can hide from each other in. We'll put this information up on the website when the experiments are complete. Freshwater prawns have a brackish water phase in their breeding cycle, and because of this, a prawn hatchery is somewhat involved. We figure we can build a basic prawn hatchery for about $1,000 or so, and learn how to run it successfully in two to three months. Because we don’t have a prawn hatchery yet, the only way we can obtain prawns is to buy PL's from a local breeder. Most of the commercial breeders have minimum orders of 10,000 or so and high shipping costs, so unless you can find a local prawn breeder that will sell you small amounts, you can’t raise prawns easily or affordably. So, don't expect to make a lot of money on prawns or grow a lot of them unless you can solve all these problems, or figure ways around them that no one else has figured out in 50+ years of commercial prawn farming.

    A GREAT source of information on growing prawns can be found at the following downloadable link; this is a reference work on breeding and rearing freshwater prawns at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's website at http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4100e/y4100e00.htm#TOC. Look for, then click on "PDF Version" in little blue print at the top right of this document for the downloadable version in PDF format.

15. What climatic conditions are needed for this to be productive? i.e. at what latitudes will it work, is it suitable in temperate climates?

    Please see the answer to "I'm in Maine" in this same FAQ. It is an explanation of how to do cold-weather aquaponics affordably.

16. I bought the download of your micro-system, but the lost the download on my computer...how can I get the pdf again?

    We'll just email you if the download failed, or mail you a hard copy if for some reason your download doesn't work.

17. As for the last question of the size of the tub, are you saying that one may use a larger diameter vessel but must maintain at least 2 to 3 feet in depth? I would like to dress up the fish tub for a more aesthetic look like a backyard koi pond.

    Fish get nervous in shallow water because they can see the predators (us) so much more easily, and they also know they are vulnerable in shallow water. They feel safer, and are less stressed (leading to less disease and fish-related problems) in deeper water up to 48" deep. If you are going for aesthetics, you will still need to come up with a way to shade the tub (to keep from killing the light-sensitive nitrifying bacteria), as the manual explains; as well as some kind of cover or net to keep the fish from jumping out and committing suicide.

18. I live in PA and am thinking of going into the aquaponics field. You have a great site and i'm planning on coming out to one of your classes. You seem to cover every aspect of this business, but one... Because of the winters here would I need to build a greenhouse and light/heat it using bio-fuels? If so where can I get trusted information in building/maintaining the system to create and use bio-fuels as well as building/maintaining a greenhouse?

    First, thanks for your compliment on the site! Please see "I'm in Maine....." previously answered in this FAQ about cold-weather affordable aquaponics growing. As to the bio-fuel aspect, we are currently building a large biodigester installation under a USDA grant to produce methane to power our diesel electric generator and produce waste heat to heat our residential hot water. The biodigester is a device that produces methane from farm wastes, including animal manure, slaughterhouse waste, vegetable processing waste, and silage. The diesel generator that is run off this methane takes it and turns it into electricity and waste heat as a by product, which can be used to heat greenhouses and fish tank water.

    Because our electricity and propane gas costs for heating water are the highest in the country, we stand to save up to $1,700 per month when we bring this online. We are super excited about the possibilities for cold-climate aquaponics growing this opens up. The biggest barrier to growing through the colder months in a temperate climate is the cost of heating your greenhouses, which is not cheap even where energy is cheap. The waste heat from the diesel generator neatly solves this problem. We WISH there was already "trusted information" as you ask for, on building and maintaining such a system; we'd be doing that instead of developing it ourselves! Unfortunately, the cost of the "small" systems for which there's "trusted information" on construction and operation start at around $500,000. That's why we're developing this; we expect to have plans available in about a year for a range of systems of different capacities costing from $5,000 up to $50,000.

19. Do you have an automated system, if someone is not present to feed the fish every day?

    We've found out that automated systems are not a good idea because they make you think you can ignore them. You come out a few days later when you remember, and you've got dead fish or plants, or both. This doesn't happen very often when you are paying attention, because these systems are largely self-balancing, but they DO need the farmer's shadow (they need you to PAY attention to them, just like anything else living does!). That said, you can skip feeding the fish for up to 2 weeks easily without killing them, in the case of tilapia.

20. Why can't I have the grow beds raised up at waist level so I don't have to bend for gardening. The pictures you have shown are at ground level . Can the grow beds be raised to waist level and the fish tank placed beneath it ?

    There's no reason you can't raise these beds to waist level, if you don't mind the expense and nuisance of having to build a structure that can hold a ton of water for each grow bed. You can do it, but it will probably add $3-400 and quite a bit of labor to the cost of a 64-square-foot Micro System, and much more to the larger systems. Also, we don't plant into or harvest out of the beds themselves, so there's no bending over. Because the vegetables are on light and easily-moved foam rafts, you simply take a raft out and put it on two sawhorses to either harvest from that raft or plant into it.

21. Where can the recommended 150-gallon Rubbermaid or Behlen fish tank be obtained?

    At farm and ranch stores, and often at feed and grain stores. These are places that sell stuff to farmers and ranchers, and are often NOT real visible from the road because all the farmers and ranchers know where they are. Look in the phone book.

22. I'm ready for system startup only one problem. I don't know when I'm going to get my fish. Should I go ahead and do the startup or should I wait until I know when I'm going to get the fish? Thanks!

    Go ahead and do the startup if you think you'll get the fish within the next month or so. You can use all kinds of fish: tilapia, mosquito fish, carp, smallmouth or largemouth bass, catfish, koi (Japanese ornamental carp), so don't get fixated on a particular species or even SIZE of fish. You eventually want about 20 pounds of fish in the system, but you can start out with 10 pounds; this can be 2,000 mosquito fish, because they eat fish food and poop just as well as any other fish do!

23. Is there a way to use the micro system indoors with grow lights?

    Yes, we suggest you use 48-inch double lights with T8 or T12 bulbs (the T8's are more energy-efficient!). Get bulbs that have a 6500 Kelvin color temperature (all flourescent bulbs have a color temperature listed on the box). BARELY ENOUGH light would be two 48-inch double lights over each 4' by 8' trough, GOOD light would be three 48-inch double lights over each 4' by 8' trough, and EXCELLENT light would be four 48-inch double lights over each 4' by 8' trough. Take a look at what electricity costs in your area, get out your calculator, multiply the total wattage of your lights by 24 hours, then by 31 days, then by what your electric utility charges for juice, and you'll know how much you'll spend to light your system.

We have four different sizes of aquaponics system construction plans and instruction  manuals (what we call the “package”). If you know which size you’re interested in, you can just jump to that page by clicking the links below without reading all this. However, if you wish to understand a lot more about how ALL these systems work and which one is the right one for you, please read this whole page:

The Apartment/Condo Systems of 2-1/2 square feet on up to 32 square feet of growing area

The Micro Systems of 64 and 128 square feet

The Family Systems of 256 and 512 square feet

The Commercial Systems of 1,024 and 4,096 square feet, with information on how to design and scale aquaponics systems to be any size from 10 square feet up to 100,000.

Our Aquaponics systems are designed to be built and operated economically by first-time builders and growers. The designs for the systems in our Do-It-Myself plans packages are derived from the organically certified aquaponics systems that comprise our commercial aquaponics farm. We’ll talk about the different systems a little so you can see which fits your needs best.

We state this on each system’s page, but also wanted to include it here: We offer a Lifetime Guarantee on all our Aquaponics Systems Plans Packages: We guarantee a full refund of the purchase price of your Micro System plans IF you have actually used them. If you have built and operated a system and are still not satisfied, we will refund your money in full.

Everyone wants to know “How much fish can I grow?”; so first, a word about fish before we describe the aquaponics systems. After we’d operated our systems for a year and a half, we had good data on how much it cost to raise fish and what they sold for in our local market (by fish, we mean tilapia). Our fish cost between $4.00-4.50 per pound to raise to market size and deliver. We get from $2.50 per pound (wholesale price) to $5 per pound (retail price) for them. This equation is NOT in our favor; we lose money on the fish portion of the operation. The more fish we grew, the more money we lost there. We could have subsidized our fish production from our vegetable income, but this is kind of like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

This equation gets worse in the smaller systems, because our larger commercial systems are more energy-efficient than our small home systems. You can safely figure it costs you $3-4 per pound to raise the fish in a Micro System or Family System on the mainland with NO labor costs included ($5-6 per pound in Hawaii). If you include the value of the vegetables in your equation, you may think you’re making a profit on your system, but all you have done is hidden the loss from the fish in the profit from the vegetables. If you try to grow more fish, it will cost you more money. And it’s OK if you want to grow more fish! Just realize you’re doing it as a hobby for fun, not because you can grow them for less than you can buy them for at the store.

Our systems are designed so that the amount of fish in the system balances out the amount of nutrients required by the plants, with none left over. We call them Low Density (LD) systems because the fish are at a low density compared to some aquaponics systems. Because of this low density of fish, our systems do not require solids settling tanks (some call these clarifiers), fine solids settling tanks (some call these net tanks), degas tanks, or other types of filter tanks . These tanks are often seen in high-density aquaponics systems that operate with much more fish in them.

These high-density systems have such a large amount of fish in them that the plants CANNOT filter all the fish effluent out of the water, and need the extra tanks to take out the fish poop. Both systems work, but ours are much less expensive to build than other types of systems because they have fewer tanks and plumbing. They also operate with a LOT less fish in them than high-density system designs, at a much lower cost for fish food, electricity, and labor. This makes us more money.

There’s only ONE situation when it makes sense to grow more fish than these LD systems need for the vegetables. That’s when your costs for fish food, electricity, labor, and overhead are LESS than what you get for your fish; ergo, you can make a profit! We know just a few places in the world where all the costs are this low but fish prices are still high enough to make money: Thailand, the Phillipines, Vietnam, Honduras, Costa Rica. We have system designs in our Commercial DIY package that allow you to do this, but (please listen well here) the ONLY reason for building such a system in most first-world countries is that you have FREE electricity, FREE fish food, and NEARLY free labor at your location. This is really RARE outside the locations listed, so step carefully here!

If you have free electricity and free fish food at your location, (and PLENTY of them), AND you’ve purchased the plans for a Micro System or Family System from us, we will make this offer: contact us (at training@friendlyaquaponics.com) and we will give you instructions and a FREE set of drawings on how to build or convert your system to grow roughly five times the amount of fish it is currently designed to operate on. You must realize that if you do this, you’ll use five times the electricity AND fish food that these systems use; you’ll need a bigger fish tank and air pumps or blowers five to ten times the size of the ones in the system plans (you CAN’T just use the ones from the regular Micro System, they’re too small), more airstones and airstone tubing, a couple of other filter tanks, and some additional plumbing. To build a Micro System to these specifications, you will have to spend an additional $1,200 or so, on a system that only cost $700 in the first place. To be safe, figure you’ll at least double or triple the original cost of building the system from the estimates we’ve given here, and unless you also increase the size of your hydroponics troughs, you will NOT grow any more vegetables than these systems do. You should be REALLY SURE your fish food and electricity is free before you take this road! And if for some reason you miscalculated, and it costs more to raise the additional fish than you could have just bought them for, please don’t blame us!

Apartment/Condo Aquaponics Systems (for Schools also!)

Indoors: These systems are appropriate for anyone who is limited to growing indoors, or for those who only have limited space outdoors. They are perfect for getting your fingers wet in aquaponics without spending a lot (pun intended!). They can easily be set up in an apartment or condo, on a balcony,  inside a garage or outbuilding, inside a spare room, or even a closet. You can use them for the centerpiece of a living room or family room to show off to your friends. Best of all, they produce food! If you have light and heat you can grow vegetables and fish!

Schools: These systems are perfect for schools because of their low cost and the easily-understood instructions and plans for construction and operation that come with the package.  They are so affordable and understandable that a sixth-grader can easily use one as a science class or science fair project. They are small enough to be easily and affordably operated indoors in cold weather climates and lighted with artificial lighting (instructions included). Cost for plans AND materials for the biggest of these systems is only $350, making them affordable for all schools. This large school system produces a serious amount of vegetables as well as teaching kids aquaponics (read: chemistry, biology, animal husbandry, plant physiology, math, some physics, and business skills) . Learn More

Purchase the Apartment/Condo Aquaponics Systems plans and manual

Micro Aquaponics System

The Micro System is a perfect backyard system for families or singles, and also is a good economical system to use teaching Aquaponics in the classroom. If you have a large family, or want a little extra produce to trade with friends, you can build the larger of the two Micro Systems. There’s the Micro System 64 (64 square feet of growing area), which fits into a 12-foot by 12-foot area; and the Micro System128 (128 square feet of growing area), which fits into either a 10-foot by 30-foot area or a 12-foot by 20-foot area. This includes room for the fish tank, and walkways between grow troughs and around the outsides of them. Materials for the Micro System 64 cost about $600 on the mainland, and about $900 for the 128 (this is $852 in Hawaii for the 64, $1,275 for the 128). The 128 only costs $350 more than the 64 ($450 in Hawaii), and only uses 8 watts more per month, so it costs less per square foot.

The Micro System 64 uses 40 watts, and the 128 uses 48 watts, which is $3-4 of electricity per month ($12-15 in Hawaii); $2-4 of fish food per month ($4-6 in Hawaii); and $3-4 of seeds and potting media per month ($6-10 in Hawaii) for a monthly cost to operate of $8-12 ($22-35 in Hawaii). The 64 will produce 20-40 pounds of vegetables and 1-2 pounds of fish per month, depending on what varieties of vegetables you grow, how much attention you pay to them, and how much sunlight you get in your location; the production of the 128 is double this. Learn More

Click Here to Purchase Micro Aquaponics System Plans

Family Off-Grid Aquaponics System

The Family System plans package includes the entire Micro System plans package! This feature allows you to build one of the smaller, more affordable Micro Systems first and gain experience and confidence before tackling a larger system. A Micro System will always produce the same amount per square foot as the bigger systems, thus is always useful to have. A Micro System is also small enough to put inside your garage in the winter and run under artificial lighting.

A Family System is much larger than the Micro System, and is a perfect system for a small community of 10-12 people, or for families or singles who want to make a part-time income selling or trading their produce. While it is not big enough to produce the equivalent of one person’s income when used commercially, it is a good intermediate step if you are thinking of doing a commercial operation and want more experience. A 256-square-foot Family system is a good-sized classroom Aquaponics system, as it has enough area for 40 students to each have 25 different plants in the system. If you have a larger community, or want enough produce to be able to sell more, build the larger of the two Family Systems.

Plans for this system comes in two sizes, the Family System 256 (256 square feet of growing area), which fits into a 12-foot by 40-foot area; and the Family System 512 (512 square feet of growing area), which fits into either a 12-foot by 75-foot area or a 30-foot by 40-foot area. These numbers include room for the fish tank, and walkways between grow troughs and around the outsides of them. Materials for the Family System 256 cost about $1,357 on the mainland, and about $1,759 for the 512 (this is $1,899 in Hawaii for the 256, $3,000 for the 512). The 512 only costs $400 more than the 256 ($1,100 in Hawaii), and only uses 15 watts more per month, so it costs less per square foot.

The Family System 256 uses 70 watts, and the 512 uses 85 watts, which is from $5-7 of electricity per month ($19-22 in Hawaii); $4-8 of fish food per month ($8-16 in Hawaii); and $6-8 of seeds and potting media per month ($12-20 in Hawaii) for a monthly cost to operate of $15 for the 256, and $23 for the 512 ($39 for the 256, and $58 for the 512 in Hawaii). The 256 will produce 75-125 pounds of vegetables and 4-7 pounds of fish per month, depending on what varieties of vegetables you grow, how much attention you pay to them, and how much sunlight you get in your location; the production of the 512 is double this. Learn More

Click Here to Purchase The Family Aquaponics System Plans

Commercial Aquaponics System

The Commercial System plans package includes the entire Family System plans package and the entire Micro System plans package! This feature allows you to build one of the smaller, more affordable systems first and gain experience and confidence before tackling a larger system. The smaller systems will always produce the same amount per square foot as the bigger systems, and are always useful to have. The Micro System and smaller systems are small enough to put inside your garage in the winter and run under artificial lighting.

Commercial systems are for those who want to earn their living growing professionally. It is difficult to say what is a “minimum” size system since there are so many variables. We currently have 5,600 square feet of grow trough area supported by 1,200 square feet of plant nursery sprouting tables, and that is still only HALF to ONE-THIRD the size we need to supply our local Costco with just ONE product!

So here are some good general rules-of-thumb for determining what size aquaponics system you need: If you’re planning on selling through farmers markets, a small CSA, or to small local accounts, you need 1,200 square feet up to 2,500 square feet of trough area; if you’re planning on selling wholesale to distributors or produce brokers, you probably need a minimum of 3,000 to 5,000 square feet of trough area OR MORE; if you’re planning on selling a SINGLE produce item to Costco or one of the other “Big Box” stores (Walmart, Sam’s Club, etc), you need a minimum of 12,000 to 20,000 square feet of trough area.

In addition to this, you may need other infrastructure if you’re planning on processing your vegetables. This depends largely on what your local Department of Health requirements are, but a partial list could include: processing building with produce cutting and rinsing area, wash-and-chill sinks, ice machine, refrigerators, walk-in refrigerator(s), storage for boxes, clamshells, and bags used to package produce, scaling area, shrink-wrap and/or heat-sealing machines and area, box assembly area, employee washroom and break areas, loading dock, small forklift or pallet jack(s). This is a small list for a simple operation; things can get much more complex.

Aquaponics systems are scalable IF you know what you’re doing. We include complete instructions on how to scale systems up or down in size with the Commercial plans package; so the two standard system plans included with this package can easily be made larger or smaller to fit your needs. The two sizes of plans are for a 1,024-square foot system, AND a 4,096-square-foot system, with materials lists and construction drawings for both. You can build a 1,024 for about $15,000 worth of materials in Hawaii, a 4,096 for about $15,000 MORE, or $30,000 total. Mainland prices for materials should be 30-40% less, if you do your homework and shop intelligently. These figures are for aquaponics system materials ONLY, and do not include costs of greenhouses, site grading and prep, labor, design work, or other items which can vary hugely from area to area.

The 1,024 uses 200 watts, or $17 of electricity per month ($56 in Hawaii), $64 of fish food per month ($120 in Hawaii); and $25 of seeds and potting media per month ($48-80 in Hawaii) for a monthly cost to operate of $106. The 4,096 uses 650 watts, or $54 of electricity per month ($184 in Hawaii) , $250 of fish food per month ($480 in Hawaii); and $100 of seeds and potting media per month ($96-160 in Hawaii) for a monthly cost to operate of $404. The 1,024 will produce 300-600 pounds of vegetables and 20-25 pounds of fish per month, depending on what varieties of vegetables you grow, how much attention you pay to them, and how much sunlight you get in your location; the production of the 4,096 is four times this. You can use these numbers to extrapolate what larger or smaller systems will cost to run or build, but realize that the larger the system, the more energy-efficient it becomes, and the smaller it is, the opposite is true. Learn More

Click Here to Purchase The Commercial Aquaponics System Plans

Off-Grid Aquaponics Systems

We’re not making any more oil, so these systems have ALL been designed to be as energy-efficient as possible. Because aquaponics is a sustainable food production technology to begin with, we are frequently asked about running our systems off grid. We are all in favor of doing so: I once designed and built electric wind turbines, and have always been an alternate energy advocate. But you should look at complete system costs and your budget, as well as your desire to produce your own energy, before you blindly purchase a windmill or solar panel.

If you elect to do so, realize that you will be adding another SYSTEM to your aquaponics system that you will need to maintain, repair, and troubleshoot when it breaks. You will need to educate yourself enough so that, even if you purchase a turn-key system that someone else installs and maintains, you get the RIGHT system for your needs. If you are going to put together a system yourself, you will need to learn a LOT about the technology and its applications, as well as be very handy with tools and materials.

As an example, the Commercial 4,096 square foot system (if built as a stand-alone system) uses a total of 650 watts. But this is 650 watts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; ~$2,163 worth at current rates for ~5,694 kilowatt hours per year. If you have good wind or sun at your location AND are also on the grid, you could run this commercial system off a 3 kW grid-tied electric wind turbine, or a grid-tied solar photovoltaic array of about 3.5 kW.

One problem with this is that the windmill system costs ~$18,000, and the PV array system costs ~$35,000. In other words, for an alternate energy system to power an aquaponics system that only costs $30,000 in parts (if you build it yourself), your cost will be from $18-35,000. This is ONLY IF you are connected to the grid and can use grid-tied alternate energy systems (a grid-tied system is one that is located ON the grid, and can use it as a backup). If you’re not on the grid, add another $10,000 or so for a gas or diesel generator, storage batteries, inverter, and charge controller so that you have storage capabilities to get you through non-windy or non-sunny periods.

Smaller aquaponics systems will need alternate energy systems that cost proportionately MORE than this per watt. This is because the principle of economy of scale is working in the wrong direction here: AGAINST you. Economy of scale means that when things get larger, they use less energy to accomplish the same amount of work. A train, for example, will move a ton of cargo a mile on FAR less fuel than a pickup truck will, and a ship will move a ton of cargo a mile for FAR less fuel than the train will. Thus, because the smaller systems are less energy-efficient, the Micro System uses about four times as much energy per square foot of growing area as the Commercial 4,096 square foot system, and needs an alternate energy system that has proportionately more capacity and is more expensive (as compared to the aquaponics system cost). So it’s possible to run these systems off-grid, but expensive. If you’re on-grid, just paying the electric bill can be much cheaper.

Friendly Aquaponics: Commercial and Home-Scale Fish and Vegetable Production
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 11.12.09
Food & Health (food)

It always appeals to me when I see a business that lists, as one of its goals, to “put ourselves out of business as soon as we can” by spreading its knowledge as freely as generously as possible—especially when Leonard Nimoy is quoted as inspiration. But I suspect Friendly Aquaponics in Hawaii will be in business for some time to come. And that’s no bad thing. If their website is anything to go by, their aquaponics system is one of the most impressive I’ve seen.

From the Urban Aquaponics of Will Allen’s Growing Power to the ready-to-use aquaponics kits of Aquaponics USA, the idea of combining hydroponics and aquaculture in a mutually beneficial system is appealing from an efficiency standpoint. And while some have argued that aquaponics is cruel, it’s certainly no more cruel than any other type of aquaculture.

Despite being relative newcomers to the field, and despite “a long history of killing houseplants”, Susanne Friend and Tim Mann of Friendly Aquaponics seem to have their system down. Having decided in 2007 that the construction industry was no longer for them, the couple attended an aquaponics course at the University of the Virgin Islands. They now run their own commercial aquaponics system which they claim produced $5000 worth of produce and fish per month. The couple is also running a smaller off-grid system, ideal for family use. They are growing lettuce, two types of tillapia, prawns, cut flowers and taro—a root and leaf crop traditionally grown by Pacific Islanders.

The couple are also running trainings, offering consultancy, and selling their copyrighted plans for commercial and domestic aquaponics systems online. Their plans don’t come cheap—but by the looks of things they’ve invested a lot of time and effort into making them work.

Great to see yet another entrepreneurial outfit pushing aquaponics forward. Whether they’ll ever put themselves out of business remains to be seen.

Hawaii Business News, May 2010

Click here for the full article

Susanne Friend wants Hawaii to take back its food supply. “Over the last 50 or 60 years, we’ve let our food supply be taken over by agro-businesses with massive transportation lines,” Friend says. In response, she and her husband, Tim Mann, founded Friendly Aquaponics to help teach others about aquaponics, a hybrid system of aquaculture (raising marine life) and hydroponics (cultivating plants in water). “We have a natural ecosystem inside a man-made environment,” Friend says.

Sustainability

The aquaponics system 
uses 2 percent of the water, 
33 percent less electricity 
and yields up to 10 times 
more produce than tradi-
tional farming, says Friend.

Options

Friendly Aquaponics sells manuals that show people how to build three different sizes: the “microsystem” for backyards; a “family system” for a community or church garden; and a “full commercial system.” Friend says they are planning a manual for a small windowsill or lanai system. “We don’t make it hard to figure out,” she says. “What we do in the manual is tell you everything we figured out.”

Future

Friend says Friendly Aquaponics now supplies the Big Island’s Costco outlet with lettuce, using three commercial systems. She says that if Friendly Aquaponics was large enough it could supply all seven Costco stores in Hawaii, but adds, “I have no desire to be the Lettuce Queen of Hawaii. I want to teach other people how to do this, and build a sailboat and sail away.”

friendlyaquaponics.com

Wakea (“Sky Father”) and Ho’ohokukalani (his wife) had two children. Their first child Haloanaka (“long stalk trembling leaf”) was keiki alualu (misshapen) and still born at birth. Wakea buried Haloanaka at the end of the hale (house), where he sprouted into the first taro plant. Their second child, Haloanaka’s younger brother, was Haloa, who was the first of the human race.

Thus, the eldest relative of the human race, to whom the most respect and honor is due, is the taro plant. He is our elder brother, and because he supports and nourishes us, is the best elder brother a human can have. This story repeats itself over and over again in other cultures around the world.

The Japanese have a story about rice and the first humans; Native Americans have stories about maize (corn) and the human race; Nuku Hivans have a legend about breadfruit and the first people. We hear similar stories from the many different cultures in our world; their common thread is that we are here because of the food that sustains us. Anciently, people were very in touch and thankful for the source of their lives, a lesson that can still inspire and guide us today.

Why We Love Taro

Taro is a root and leaf crop traditionally grown by Pacific Islanders as a main dietary staple. It is extremely digestible and is a perfect first food for

infants. It is good for those with sensitive digestive systems or severe food allergies because it is a completely non-allergenic food. It is high in protein and easily digestible carbohydrates. It tastes really good even if you aren’t a baby or do not have food allergies. Here’s why we love taro:

Taro is a voyager: Taro came to Hawaii and many other Pacific nations on a canoe with the original settlers. We don’t know where taro started out, centuries ago, but it is grown in nations all over the world and is cherished by the cultures that nurture it.

Taro has a history: Many different varieties of taro came to Hawaii with the original settlers a
thousand years ago and thrived. There are hundreds of varieties of taro, and tens of varieties in active cultivation in Hawaii where we live. Taro has names and lineages just like royalty does: families have records of growing a certain type of taro for extended periods of time, sometimes hundreds of years.

Taro is versatile: Taro grows in flooded lo’i (paddies) just like rice (see photo to the right, of the loi taro in Hanalei, on the Island of Kauai), but also grows in dry land. It grows near the sea and up on the mountain. Taro can be eaten cooked, pounded into poi (a flavorful nutritious paste), made up like potato salad, and many other ways. The ancients made poi, wrapped it in leaves, and buried it underground in a special pit, to be dug up months later if there was hunger in the land. The poi, although fermented and soured by its long stay underground, was still edible and nutritious enough to get the people through the famine.

Taro is friendly: Working with taro makes us smile, as does spending time with our friends. Taro is a lot of hard work with a reward that makes it seem effortless. Taro supports us and nourishes our lives.

Taro is more than just a plant: Taro feeds and nourishes our spirits as well as our bodies. It grows higher than our heads and causes us to look up towards the sky, as well as look down to its roots in the earth. Every taro plant has many children which can carry on its genealogy, and that gives us hope for our future and our children’s future.

What we’ve seen: We’ve been growing taro aquaponically for a short time, but it demonstrates the same characteristics that all the other crops we’ve grown this way have: it grows in half the time or less as it takes to mature in the soil. (Vegetables grow two to three times faster in our system than in the ground.

Our first experiment was to build a recirculating taro lo’i lined with a food-grade waterproof liner. These are similar to traditional taro lo’i in that they are filled with water from our fish tanks that circulates over and over from the fish tank to the taro, then back to the fish tank. The difference is that in traditional taro lo’i, river water is flowed through the taro then back to the river. It is necessary to have a free source of thousands of gallons of water a day from a stream or spring to be able to grow taro traditionally.

Aquaponics technology will hopefully allow anyone, anywhere, who has any water at all to grow wetland taro, in the wetland tradition. If this works, you will no longer need expensive (and often scarce) land next to a river or with a year-round spring on it. Because the taro seems to be growing twice as fast as conventionally-grown taro, this technique has the potential to grow two crops in the same time! We hope this ability to produce more crops in the same time, and grow in areas not limited by the availability of river water, will lead to renewed interest and commitment by young farmers to grow taro.

Images of our first generation recirculating aquaponics taro system construction below:

Many, many thanks to Kawelo Lopez (below, left) for sharing his manao [wisdom] with us to build this first taro system. Mahalo nui loa, mau loa.

Our second generation experimental system, planted in late November, is planted in 3″ and 6″ net pots in rafts. We have seen tremendous growth rates, both in root and leaf formation. These pictures were taken on 1/2/09, when the huli had been in the system for six weeks. And almost unbelievably, we had oha forming in the first six weeks! (Oha are the starts that come up from the root, that usually take ~4 months to show up – see photo below on the left.)

Below are photos of our most recent taro experiment, begun in January 2009. We harvested huli from a lo’i in Waipio Valley, and being very mindful of biosecurity (no apple snail eggs, no earwigs, etc.), and then we planted them in 10″ pots with 3/4″ base gravel for support. Holes were drilled in the pots to allow water flow in and out of the pots, and the pots with the newly planted huli were put into the system. Update November 2009: it didn’t work. The taro grew slowly with this method and didn’t prosper. We had success with 3″ net pots and the taro planted in our normal planting mix of 60% coir and 40% vermiculite: except that the kalo (corm) grew out of the small 3″ diameter pot (the biggest we had at the time) and stood up to 6 inches above the raft. We are now experimenting with variations on this mix using coarser coir, different methods of supporting the taro, and varied planting densities to see if growing taro aquaponically is commercially possible.

If we are successful with these experiments, we hope to be able to eliminate approximately 80% of the work involved in growing wetland taro and take the remaining work required into the shade, to be done sitting down. And when we harvest, the kalo will be clean! We will know a lot more over the next six months, so come on a farm tour to see how things are progressing!

Every Saturday at 10am we give a free, in-depth tour of our farm. Tours last between one and two hours, and there is some slightly steep terrain, so come with good walking shoes. Also, make sure to apply sunscreen before your arrival!

Directions To The Farm
The farm is between the 40 and 41 mile markers on the highway from Hilo to Waimea. Look for the signs that say “FARM TOUR”, on the makai side of the road. You’ll see a three-story peach-colored house with a weird roof. Turn off the highway onto the paved road that is just on the Hilo side of the house, go to the bottom of the road and turn left staying on the pavement, and follow the paved road 500 feet, go left through the first open double steel ranch gate and up the gravel driveway to the peach house; the farm is right there.

“I recommend Friendly Aquaponics’ trainings to anyone that is interested in making money by using the combination of hydroponics and aquaculture. I learned a lot more in four days from the Friendly Aquaponics training than I did in one full academic week at the University of the Virgin Islands! Tim and Susanne will take you by the hand and show you the aquaponics system step-by-step and even build it for you. They explain everything in layman’s terms until you can understand how the system works and even after the training they are readily available for follow up questions or concerns–with their support and advice, I built my system within 30-days and I am awaiting for organic certification inspection in the 1st week of December 08. I love Tim, Susanne and their family.” (In this statement, Vinny refers to his organic certification inspection: we are certified through Oregon Tilth, and they have said that “as long as people build their systems exactly as Friendly Aquaponics has done, then their certification process will be a slam dunk.” Needless to say, Vinny is getting inspected through Oregon Tilth, even though he’s in Louisiana!) ***Update January 2009: Vinny passed his Certification Inspection with flying colors!
-Dr. Vinny Mendoza, Ph.D., USAF (Ret.), Kenner, LA

“…a very ambitious and well thought-out program.”
-Dr. James Rakocy, Ph.D., Professor and Director of University of the Virgin Islands Agricultural Experiment Station (UVI), and the driving force behind their 25 years of research done on aquaponics in the academic setting.

“You are an inspiration, and are doing so much to empower people and communities to take control of their own food security. This course was life-changing.”
-Leyla Cabugos, MS Botany, UH Manoa, and Founder of the Urban Roof Garden Project, Honolulu, Hawaii

And from our October 2009, 4-four day Training, with 42 participants:

“I am so excited about the whole time I spent in your class and at the farm. I can not remember the last time I have experienced such a rewarding seminar. It is hard to believe that you are so generous to have shared with us all the details of your last 2 years hard work. You have made our job easy compared to what you have endured. I am spreading the word everywhere I can. As soon as I get a system up and running well I plan to invite all the people I can to come see it.

I want you to know that I have never met 2 people who exhibit so much Intelligence, are so Innovative, and possess so much Integrity. I was a great honor to sit in your class and to have the privilege to eat with you at your home.”
-Raychel Watkins, Waianae, HI

“Tim, Susanne and Family: Thank you very much for your training. I tried to say thanks before I left, but was at a loss for words. I also have a quite varied background, (professional welder, machinist, mechanic, farmer, computer programmer, software consultant, painter, etc.) and thus, I am in awe of very few men when it comes to creativity and the breadth of knowledge and abilities and experience. Tim, I am in awe of you. You not only have an incredible range of knowledge and talents, that knowledge is deep as well, and your ability to implement your knowledge is incredible. Some can think it, some can do it, some can teach it. You do it all, need I say more. Thanks for who you are and what you do! Susanne, The same goes for you, but on a different plain. You are on the personal plane. I appreciate your perspectives and enthusiasm. You have proven to be a most worthy opponent of the most recalcitrant government agencies and corporations. I so much appreciate your open sharing of the trials and tribulations you have gone through to get you where you are and your encouragement for others! Thanks again.

I know we have only a small hint of the incredible effort and stress your family has endured over the last few years. The stress involved with the situation in which you found yourself cannot be communicated. I know that.

I want to work with you guys in the future in any way I can. You have the solution to a huge number of the world’s issues. The biggest challenge will be to communicate the solution as far and as wide as possible, and prevent the people who control our government (along with the rest of the world), the large corporations from taking this solution from the rest of us.

Since I am one of the few who have attended both your training and the other intensive aquaponics training available on the mainland, I must say there is simply no comparison. Though the other training was valuable, you covered many more issues, covered them in much more depth, provided more complete and practical knowledge. You left no stone unturned to do your very best to insure that everyone in the training could be successful in Aquaponics if they chose to do so. I also appreciated your willingness to say you didn’t know, if you didn’t know!

Thank you very much! You guys must be totally beat after such an extraordinary training! And thank your children for participating. That is so missing in our world today. It looks like there is finally light at the end of your very long tunnel. I certainly hope so, you deserve it.”
-Joe Weatherby, Boise, ID

Lettuce Testimonials

Sold under the brand name “World Tribe Foods” with a 15 day freshness guarantee!

The quotes below are from a few of the people who make a special point to buy our lettuce, even if they have to come to the farm!

“Sweet, crisp, yummy!” Dr. Marcel Hernandez, Naturopathic Physician, Pacific Naturopathic Center, Kapulena, Hawaii

“In 20 years of organic gardening in the ground, this is the sweetest lettuce I have ever eaten.” Linaka Washburn, Honoka’a, Hawaii.

“Grrr! Best lettuce I’ve ever eaten!Now I just have to figure out how to open the bag!” Christopher Flynt, Tucson, Arizona

“I like our lettuce, it’s Hawaiian.” Jack Friend, age seven, Kalopa, Hawaii.

“Lettuce is healthy. Mom makes me eat it a lot.” (Admittedly, Jack is somewhat biased! But he does eat a lot of our lettuce!) Lucky Friend, age six, Kalopa, Hawaii